AP interview with Illinois governor Blagojevich — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00if i'm not governor anymore can i come
2. 0:01on your show
3. 0:04you're the man
4. 0:10responsibilities like feeding her and
5. 0:12cleaning up after her and all the rest
6. 0:14and i'll respect the law and the
7. 0:16constitution
8. 0:17and uh and the rules and whether or not
9. 0:20uh there are legal remedies to pursue
10. 0:22beyond this um
11. 0:24we haven't really discussed that but i'm
12. 0:25not gonna rule out what some of those
13. 0:27options might be you specifically in
14. 0:30that sense given that illinois is in
15. 0:32these worlds given that this whole
16. 0:33situation one of the best things that
17. 0:35could clear all of this up would be if i
18. 0:37was allowed to bring in every one of
19. 0:39those tape conversations not two or
20. 0:41three or four but every one of those
21. 0:43tape conversations so that the people of
22. 0:45illinois can hold here the full context
23. 0:47of what i was discussing with regard to
24. 0:49who the next u.s senator might be and if
25. 0:51they hear that they'll hear the whole
26. 0:53truth nothing but the truth and that
27. 0:55will set me free this is completely
28. 0:58opposite of what president nixon was
29. 1:00doing during watergate when he fought
30. 1:02every step of the way to keep those
31. 1:03tapes of his from being made public
32. 1:06right so what would that make the puppy
33. 1:08three months old right a little over
34. 1:10three months old and for me to quit
35. 1:13is just is to say somehow that that what
36. 1:16they're saying about their dad is true
37. 1:18and the last thing i ever want are my
38. 1:20daughters to feel that their father did
39. 1:22things wrong that he didn't do and
40. 1:23somehow resigning would somehow indicate
41. 1:25that i did and so if it means they have
42. 1:27to throw me out and i go down right to
43. 1:29the very end i'm going to do it first
44. 1:31and foremost because i want to protect
45. 1:33the people
46. 1:34from higher taxes and i want to still
47. 1:35work for them
48. 1:36and
49. 1:37secondly i don't want my kids to be
50. 1:39ashamed of their father
51. 1:40talking about all this you have
52. 1:43raised references i wasn't comparing
53. 1:45myself to gandhi i wasn't comparing
54. 1:46myself to nelson mandela or dr king i
55. 1:49was just seeking some kind of
56. 1:51inspiration
57. 1:52to have some understanding that maybe
58. 1:54other people who have been on the side
59. 1:56of the people have gone through
60. 1:58something like i was going through and
61. 2:00uh to somehow suggest that i'm comparing
62. 2:02myself to nelson mandela or mahatma
63. 2:04gandhi or dr king is just flat out
64. 2:07erroneous and it's being twisted by
65. 2:08people who like to do that
66. 2:10specifically in that sense given that
67. 2:12illinois
68. 2:13this whole situation is taking up
69. 2:16when something like this happens to you
70. 2:18it it's a very lonely thing
71. 2:20because people who just the day before
72. 2:22were in your office asking for all kinds
73. 2:24of things
74. 2:25people who just the day before you know
75. 2:27would call you back right away and you
76. 2:29know had all kinds of
77. 2:31deference and regard and excessive
78. 2:34obsequiousness
79. 2:36the day after you can't find them and uh
80. 2:40this is just another example of how the
81. 2:41human dynamic works
82. 2:43and so uh
83. 2:45it
84. 2:46the phone isn't ringing as much as it
85. 2:47used to there's some plus to that um
86. 2:50but the jokes don't bother me at all
87. 2:53i'm not asking for you guys to to think
88. 2:55somehow that my situation is any worse
89. 2:57than
90. 2:58than a guy who may have been laid off
91. 2:59from general motors because of these
92. 3:01hard economic times i joined the legions
93. 3:04of americans who are
94. 3:06suffering during hard economic times
95. 3:08what i'm trying to do is fight for them
96. 3:09and protect them from higher taxes at a
97. 3:11time when they can least afford it and
98. 3:13if i lose my job like many others i'll
99. 3:16pick myself up and i'll find a way to to
100. 3:18work and support my family and and we'll
101. 3:20begin the process of rebuilding our
102. 3:22lives
103. 3:23she sits with that little puppy hunter
104. 3:25laugh while she reads for hours
105. 3:27but when there's responsibility