With the news that the head of the family is to serve more than a decade in prison for attempting to solicit bribes and getting caught on a wire, the Blagojevich family welcomed a new member of the family– a homeless puppy likely to be named Twix Blagojevich. Twix was welcomed at a press conference along with former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich his wife and children, and the family’s elder pooch, Skittles.

Disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison and a $25,000 fine today.

It’s been nearly three years since former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich stole the national spotlight after being arrested for dozens of counts of corruption, including attempting to sell then-Sen. Barack Obama‘s Senate seat. Today, after two reality shows, a mistrial, and an extended, confusing second trial for the former governor, Blagojevich was found guilty of 20 counts of corruption, including selling the President’s former Senate seat.

After a Memorial Day respite that likely only served to give everyone involved time to catch up on “weinergate,” the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial has resumed. Blagojevich, still on the stand but now being forced to answer to his incriminating conversations with staffers has found a new roadblock in his testimony, however, and it has nothing to do with the facts of the crime: the prosecution is “making faces” at him.

It finally happened. After two and a half years of pleading with the public for a chance to be heard, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich finally took the stand today in his defense. As one would expect from his many media appearances, Blagojevich adamantly denied any wrongdoing, but also, according to press in the room, put the jury to sleep with an unnecessarily elongated biography that detailed his disco years and love of Elvis.

You can’t please everyone: nearly two years after former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich became the face of disgraceful political mischief worldwide, the ethics lecturer and warrior poet has become so predictable and trite that even Chicago media– who actually have to deal with the circumstances of his governorship, are bored with his current trial.

Remember Rod Blagojevich? He was a tragic hero for a different, more innocent time, a delightfully delusional corruptocrat who to this day denies that taped evidence of him selling a U.S. Senate seat does not, actually, prove that he did any such thing. Well, he somehow didn’t get fully indicted the first time around and the Illinois courts are trying to round up new jurors and even before the trial has started, Blago’s lawyers are playing the race/class cards.

MSNBC Live host Cenk Uygur (can we get his show a name, please?) expended nearly half of Tuesday’s show on the subject of wildcard GOP hopeful Donald Trump, which is somewhat in line with the attention the rest of the media has been giving Trump. But just when you’re ready to throw up your hands and exclaim “Enough,” Trump justifies the coverage by doing something impossible to ignore.

On Tuesday’s Daily Rundown, co-anchor Chuck Todd delivered an innocuous “On This Date” segment about the 1999 swearing in of Jesse Ventura (I-Mn) as Governor, but the 30-second spot did not escape the notice of The Daily Caller‘s Jeff Poor, who wondered if there was a shot at former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin embedded in the clip.

It’s a fair question, especially if you’re inclined to be defensive about Palin, but Todd’s remark was actually fairly broad. Even so, rather than wonder, I actually asked Chuck about it.

For a little over a week, an eternity in news cycle dog years, the uproar over TSA pat-downs has dominated the media landscape like the bastard spawn of Rod Blagojevich, Sarah Palin, and Balloon Boy. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend news dead zone, there seems little chance its momentum will slow, but The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz may be ushering in the most welcome phase of this story’s arc: the inevitable backlash against the TSA backlash.

If you were wondering what Fox News was going to be up to all day while Washington flooded with ironic liberals rallying for sanity and against, well, Fox News, here’s a taste: former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich told Neil Cavuto this morning that, while he is still unsure what his positions are, he believes “Donald Trump is a very capable, obviously very successful person” with “a voice” who could impact the 2012 elections.

Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel‘s campaign for mayor of Chicago is going… well, mostly as expected. The feisty former Congressman has been conducting “listening tours” of the city where he’s been caught using hand sanitizer (!) after talking to constituents and driving reporters to paroxysms of violent rage. Now he brings the fun to the Chicago Sun-Times, who describe him as “characteristically combative” and “downright annoyed” at some of their questions.

Americans are facing one of the toughest economies of their history, and finding a job just isn’t what it used to be. In a move that appears to indicate a hiring freeze in the reality TV and Elvis impersonation industries, former Illinois governor and America’s sweetheart Rod Blagojevich has landed a gig as a panelist during Advertising Week 2010, discussing his “unique take on trust.”

The panel, named “Advertising Week Trust Forum,” will also include representatives from Facebook, Google, and Yahoo! Organizers have provided the scintillating proposition that, among all the tech darlings, Blagojevich will offer “his experience and unique take on trust. A must-see event.” Meanwhile, his publicist told the AP (via NBC’s Ward Room Chicago blog) that “The Rod Blagojevich brand was completely attacked and he went about restoring it – and did so successfully.”

Disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevitch made his Sunday morning debut today following this week’s mistrial in Chicago…and boy he did not disappoint. An irritated-sounding Chris Wallace started the interview by revealing that at the last minute Blago had skipped a scheduled trip to D.C., presumably to appear on the show in person, so he could attend the Comic-Con convention and “pose with superheroes.” Priceless.

I know we said that we were going to stop posting every single thing Taiwan’s Next Media Animation does (they post new stuff every day and, y’know, diminishing returns and all), but this is pretty great. And it is a Friday. So, they’ve tackled the Rod Blagojevich story and, as always, we can learn new things about America when viewed through the eyes of outsiders. This time we learned that Blago’s visage can shatter mirrors, when he runs he sounds like Fred Flintstone, and, most importantly, that the state of Illinois is apparently run out of a series of nondescript tract houses. Fascinating.

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said on the first leg of his media tour that he may do another reality TV show if the opportunity presents itself.

But isn’t this all reality TV at this point? Today Blago sat down with Meredith Vieira of the Today show, who didn’t hold back on firing hard-hitting questions (that Blago deflected).

For most people who have been following the Rod Blagojevich corruption scandal and subsequent near-acquittal, the only question left to ask when he was found innocent (sort of/not really) of 23 of 24 corruption charges was how long it would take for the media-loving personality to come running back to television. Answer: three days. Blagojevich will be on Today tomorrow to describe his court experience and will be paying Jon Stewart a visit on Monday.

It’s been a big week for Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois who made a name for himself after committing acts that US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald declared would “make Abe Lincoln roll in his grave.” Except the jury couldn’t convict him on 23 of those 24 charges, and now the tables have turned on Fitzgerald, with the media rallying against a retrial and the Wall Street Journal calling for Fitzgerald’s resignation.

The mass confusion surrounding the trials and mistrials of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich continue, a day after he was found guilty of one charge of lying to the FBI and the judge called a mistrial on the other 23 racketeering, bribery, and other corruption charges. Now some of the jurors have come out and said that eleven of the twelve of them were ready to convict, but one lone juror refused to vote “guilty” on 23 of the charges.

Oh Blago, what will we do with ourselves if you go away to jail? After receiving the relatively positive message that he was found guilty of only one of 23 counts of various types of corruption, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich gave a barn-burner of a speech in front of the press with the kind of vigor we haven’t seen in months– complete with headstrong pleas of innocence graphic images of children shot in the streets (but sadly no poetry).

After two and a half months of deliberation, tension, confusion, impersonation and the one of the most impressive manes in American politics, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich has been found guilty of one count of lying to federal prosecutors– but not much else. The jury has yet to decide on the other twenty-three charges, including the bribery, extortion, and wire fraud, and the alleged attempt to sell Barack Obama‘s Senate seat. Judge James Zagel has called a mistrial.

Last Monday, we wondered what could possibly be going on with the corruption trial of America’s favorite coif, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. What could be taking them so long? Well, today the tragic hero himself made an appearance at the court, along with his brother Rob, because the jury has told the judge they are unable to agree on “any given count” of the 24 Blagojevich has been charged with.

A former Lifetime movie actor and civil attorney who had been told by several people that he resembles former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich decided to fly to Chicago and visit the court in which Blagojevich is being tried. According to reports, Jerry Kroll‘s decision was “for kicks,” and he was given the full “Blago” treatment.

Former Illinois Governor (and reality TV star) Rod Blagojevich has been starring in his own trial for more than two months now, but closing arguments were nine days ago.

So what’s the deal, Blago’s jury? Guilty or not?

Jon Stewart unveiled a new segment last night in which he ran down the latest news of alleged corruption of elected officials that included John Kerry, Charlie Rangel and Rod Blagojevich. (Yes, some are sure to note that all of his targets are Democrats.) But if one needs evidence that we’ve entered a slow news cycle, just know that The Daily Show mocked of Kerry’s rhetorical style from his presidential run of six years ago!