Blagojevich Maintains Innocence

Disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D.) has brashly declared his innocence, against the advice of his lawyers.

"I'm dying to answer these charges," Blagojevich told Chicagoland reporters on Friday afternoon."I am dying to show you how innocent I am."

He promised he would not let a "political lynchmob" stop him "from doing the job he was hired to do"  and read lines from the poem  "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

"I will fight, I will fight and I will fight until I take my last breath," he said. "I have done nothing wrong."

The press conference ended just as abruptly as it started. The governor did not take any questions and simply wished the media a Merry Christmas before departing from the podium.