He's No Henry V! Or Is He?

Righteous indignation can be a fascinating phenomenon, particularly when the righteously indignant one has been caught with a hand in the cookie jar. I've probably resorted to it a few times in my day, reasoning, I assume, that the best defense is a good offense. Still, though, I'd like to think my arrogance knows some bounds.

My favorite perpetual perpetrator of totally unwarranted righteous indignation is our former governor. On the eve of his second corruption trial, Blago has been relatively quiet, but still managed, the other day, to come up with an absurd little gem. He compared himself to the brave medieval King Henry V, a medieval king who, at least according to Shakespeare, believed so wholeheartedly in peace and his country's well-being he was willing to die for it. I'm no historian, but I don't think the revered king ever waged a battle to just save his own ass. My guess is Blago wouldn't even risk a paper cut unless there was something big in it for him. Really big.

So, if Blago was referring to selfless heroics and the honor earned by a leader who risks his own hide to join his men in battle, I am truly in awe of his capacity for delusional self importance. I don't think that's the comparison to which he was referring, though. I did a little research, and discovered that Henry V died of dysentery. Aha! Therein lies the more credible parallel. Blago is nowhere near death (if his enthusiastic hair growth is any indication), but the shit that flows out of his mouth is surely symptomatic of the disease that killed the great king.

It's Easter, and even we non-believers could certainly benefit from a bit of reflection and self awareness. I just received an email full of Easter Bunny wisdom, and one bit of advice seemed particularly pertinent to Blago. "Keep your paws off everyone else's jelly beans!" Come to think of it, Bugs Bunny also weighs in with some insightful commentary: "If an interesting monster can't have an interesting hairdo I don't know what this world is coming to."

Whatever. With Blago back on the front page, it's time for all of us to take another dive into the rabbit hole.