Blago Enters Prison Smiling, High Fiving, Media In Tow Up to The Gate

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 16, 2012 8:20PM

Rod Blagojevich has spent more than 24 hours in prison, so our long civic nightmare is behind us. But it wasn't without a media frenzy up until the moment he finally crossed the gate into—as he called it—his new journey. Chicago media outlets followed Blagojevich to Denver, where he stopped at Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers for one last photo opp before prison. Here's the front page of this morning's Denver Post.

According to sources cited by CBS 2, Blagojevich was in campaign mode at the Federal Correction Institution Englewood, high-fiving fellow inmates at dinner. That, his self-serving final remarks Wednesday and the media scrum that resulted were enough for Rob Feder to pen a scathing column that took everyone involved to task.

"I swear I wanted to reach into my TV and shake Allison Rosati every time the NBC 5 senior news anchor opined about how 'sincere' and 'heartfelt' Blago’s comments were. What qualified her to make that judgment? And more to the point, how could she believe that tripe? Her vapid sentimentality was never more grating.

'They keep talking about how he's sincere,' one astute friend messaged me while it was going on. 'He's a fucking nut! A nut can't be sincere!'

"All five stations were complicit. To one extent or another, they all allowed a crook who was found guilty of abusing the public trust to obscure the venality of his crimes by exploiting his wife and children for sympathy. In the end, Blago’s pathological need for attention matched up with television’s insatiable demand for performers who can draw a crowd. It was the perfect combination on a perfectly lovely afternoon.

"Credit the always ballsy Chuck Goudie of ABC 7 with the line of the day when he asked Blago’s wife, Patti: 'Do you plan to stay with him?'"

At least one station continued to hound the Blagojevich family with Rod settling into prison life. Fox News Chicago talked briefly to nine-year-old Annie Blagojevich, who tried in vain to get her father back in the house Wednesday.

Why would Fox News Chicago bother a 9-year-old? And how sad is it that Rod Blagojevich is such a media whore his daughter wanted him out of the spotlight?