In his short, strange press conference, Blago took a go-down-swinging stance, vowing to fight, fight fight "until I take my last breath," and repeatedly assured voters that he's "dying to answer these charges." Then he went on to quote passages from Rudyard Kipling's "If."
Now I like "If" as much as the next gal, but Blago's appearance put me more in mind of Kipling's intro to the tale of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi:
At the hole where he went in
Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.
Hear what little Red-Eye saith:
"Nag come up and dance with death!"Eye to eye and head to head,
(Keep the measure, Nag,)
This shall end when one is dead;
(At they pleasure, Nag.)
Turn for turn and twist for twist--
(Run and hide thee, Nag.)
Hah! The hooded Death has missed!
(Woe betwde thee, Nag!)
Picture Blago as Nag and Patrick Fitzgerald as Rikki Tikki Tavi, and you'll see where I'm going with this.
--Michelle Cottle