Blago Dialogue Worthy of Mamet

An astute reader of the criminal complaint against Rod Blagojevich will notice that, with shockingly little tweaking, the wiretapped conversations between the Illinois governor and his co-conspirators could be dialogue from a David Mamet play. Choire Sicha demonstrates in Salon, turning it into a quick one-acter. From the trash-talking femme fatale to the gangsterish attempts at logic, the story of the pol laid low by his arrogance and ambition almost seems like plagiarism.

Sicha embroiders a bit on Patricia Blagojevich’s expletive-laced interjection, telling her husband to hold up Tribune Co.'s sale of the Cubs unless the Trib editorial board stops publishing negative editorials. And the governor’s equally expletive-laced appraisal of the company: “Just f---ing get rid of these people. They wanna be moving this stuff forward, it's a political f---ing operation in here.” The coup de grace is Blago’s opinion of Barack Obama’s Senate seat: “I've got this thing and it’s f---ing golden. And I’m just not giving it up for f---in' nothing." (More Rod Blagojevich stories.)