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December 10, 2008

Cashing In on Hope

In what might very well go down as the worst memorabilia promotion in post-election history, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested for attempting to sell Barack Obama's freshly vacant U.S. Senate seat as a limited edition keepsake. Blagojevich, who had reportedly been subject to a good Sopranos-style wire-tapping for a month leading up to the sting, was recorded saying ridiculously illegal things such as, "Unless I get something real good [for Senate candidate 1], shit, I'll just send myself, you know what I'm saying," and that "[the Senate seat] is a fucking valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing."

Birmingham Firm Strikes President Obama Coin
Blagojevich officially rounds out Illinois as the Crookedest Little State in the Union, between already-incarcerated previous governor George Ryan and the indefatigable ruling Daleys, the latter-day Boss Tweeds of Chicago politics. The upside, of course, is that this is a nice crescendo of Americans' desperate attempts to cash in on Obama's ascendancy. Blagojevich was simply joining the host of other late-night coin and calendar dealers trying to make a quick buck off of the Hope Train. Now that he's raised the stakes, though, tchotchkes aren't going to cut it anymore. (T-shirt guys in Union Square, stop trying to unload your ill-fitting wares on me.) We're talking about Bam's actual senate seat now. If you're going to compete in this market, your cynical capitalism needs to be supplemented with quality wares: might we suggest an Obama expansion platform for Rock Band, where you can recite his speeches to massive applause?






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- Politics
- posted on Dec 10, 08
Vin

Just in time for the holidays, the Gelflog is filled with hope.

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