Blagojevich on Letterman: He Huffed, Host Puffed

Rod Blagojevich, the disgraced, impeached ex-governor of Illinois, did as well as was possible on Letterman last night, thanks to the host's relatively friendly questioning. (Dave was much tougher on Bill O'Reilly.) Though Blagojevich told Letterman he asked "tough questions," Letterman's one probing line questioned Blagojevich's claim that he had been "deprived" of due process, but though Letterman clearly disputed this, he never pointed out that impeachment is a form of due process, albeit different from a jury trial (which Blagojevich will probably get to try out and see how he likes it).

The former governor projected the puppy-dog earnestness he usually displays when he is not shaking people down, insisting on his innocence and even suggesting that he had been muscled out because he wanted to lower taxes, from which peculiar claim Letterman helped him to climb down. The band was tougher, playing "My Way" when Blagojevich came out, and Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression" at the interval.