Inherit The Windbag: Blago Comes Out Swinging

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Apr 21, 2010 2:00PM

We're just six weeks from what is sure to be one of the more surreal, highly publicized trials we've seen in years (and that includes R. Kelly) and we hadn't heard a whole lot from our ex-gov since he was booted from The Celebrity Apprentice a few weeks back. Until now. Blago is back and, holy Hell, is he pissed. Former governor Rod Blagojevich came out swinging yesterday, laying down the thunder in a scheduled appearance before the press. Referring to the Santiago proffer, the document laying out the government's case against him, an outraged Blago called the feds "cowards and liars" and had particularly strong words regarding the alleged involvement of wife Patti, accusing the feds of "hitting below the belt" and defending her as, "a devoted mother; she's a loving wife...and all that money she earned she worked for." Blago than lambasted U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, accusing him of shenanigans for not wanting all 500 hours of surveillance tapes played because the accusation against him was "a lie" and continued, "the reason they won't play all those tapes is because they're covering up that big lie that foreseeably led to a chain of events that stole a governor from the people of Illinois and undid the will of the people."

But then came the most compelling moment of the appearance, when Blago essentially took off his white glove, slapped Fitzy in the face, and challenged him to a duel at high noon. Literally.

"Why don't you show up in court tomorrow and explain to everybody, explain to the whole world, why you don't want those tapes that you made played in court. I'll be in court tomorrow, I hope you're man enough to be there tomorrow, too."

There is a hearing scheduled for today at noon, so we hope Blago shows up wearing his best boots and spurs. The feds, though, aren't commenting on whether or not Fitzgerald would show up to today's hearing.