A tough-talking, Rudyard Kipling-referencing Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich said today he is sticking with his job. At a brief, no-questions press conference in Chicago, the Governor said he was not going to quit, despite accusations he tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat. Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges nearly two weeks ago.
He said repeatedly he would fight the charges, and that he had truth on his side. "I have not done anything wrong."
Illinois lawmakers have begun an impeachment inquiry that is expected to take several weeks.
Blagojevich read an excerpt of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If." This is the full text of the famous work:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
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Larry of CA 5:40PM December 19, 2008