newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

When Rod Blagojevich appeared Monday on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, the comedic host from New Jersey didn't know whether to congratulate him or tell him he's sorry following his conviction last week on one of the 24 charges he faced in his corruption trial.

The disgraced former governor's response: "Twenty-three down, one to go."

Blagojevich appeared on Stewart's TV show on Comedy Central as part of a media blitz which has included national television appearances on NBC's "Today" show and " Fox News Sunday" since he was convicted of making false statements to the FBI about his involvement in campaign fund-raising.

He continued to proclaim his innocence and to attack what he said was the weak case of federal prosecutors.

Myfoxchicago.com reports Blagojevich largely repeated the same talking points since he began touring last week as Stewart pressed him on why he didn't take the stand.

"I would like to see you as a Dickens character, I would like to see you as a victim, but you make it so hard to take your side completely by not [testifying]," Stewart said.

Blagojevich did not testify during his two-and-a-half month trial, and Stewart repeatedly reminded the impeached governor of earlier promises to take the stand. Stewart challenged Blagojevich to make good on that boast.

"You're a guy that's the most adamant about his innocence of anyone I ever met, so you're either the victim of a terrible persecution or you're a sociopath," Stewart said, according to a report in the Daily Record. "I want to believe you're not a sociopath, so you have to come out — and not on talk shows — in a court of law, and clear your name."

Blagojevich still declined to promise to testify if he is retried on corruption charges, saying he would have a "chance" to do so in a retrial.

Prosecutors have said they will retry him on the 23 other counts, including the accusation that the former Democratic governor schemed to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama's former Senate seat.

Blagojevich told Stewart on Monday that nine of the witnesses who testified for the federal government had either admitted committing crimes or had been found guilty and were vulnerable to prosecution threats to lengthen their possible sentences.

According to an Associated Press article on npr.org, Blagojevich said of the prosecutors, "They charged me with political horse trading. They ought to charge themselves with crimes and throw another count of hypocrisy in there."

Last time he was on the program, Blagojevich told Stewart, who graduated from Lawrence High School in Mercer County, that a full airing of the FBI recordings would show he was only looking out for the people of Illinois.

The complete interview has been posted in two parts on the Daily Show's web site on Comedy Central.