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!

One of the saddest indirect consequences of the Shirley Sherrod story—after the obvious direct ones— has been the fact that it has completely eclipsed what could have been one of the summer’s most fascinating spectacles: the Rod Blagojevich trial. In today’s chapter of the ongoing dramady, Judge James Zagel sent the jury home after objecting to the defense’s attempt to attack prosecutors for not calling certain witnesses to the stand.

The audio from wiretapped phone conversations between Rod Blagojevich and his closest aides was so entertaining to reporter Brian Mackey that he decided to pull the best snippets and turn them into ringtones, which are now available for free on the SJR affiliate blog Off the Clock.

Not only is Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich a master of silly, short-lived enterprises (see both his run on Celebrity Apprentice and his attempt to live tweet his own corruption trial), but he’s also apparently a master of procrastination. Testifying at his trial yesterday, Blagojevich’s former deputy governor Robert Greenlee said Blagojevich took to hiding in the bathroom and cutting out of work early to avoid his budget director and other aides.

Gary Brooks Faulkner– the 52-year-old construction worker who took it upon himself to find and kill Osama Bin Laden armed with only a 40-inch sword, a dagger, a small gun, and night vision goggles– is vowing to return to his mission. Faulkner says he’s “absolutely” going back to the Afghanistan/Pakistan border to finish the job, but this time he’s got a formidable media army behind him: Rod Blagojevich‘s PR team.

If those rumors that surfaced across the pond that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is gearing up to quit the Obama administration pan out, he should have enough to keep him busy at him with the trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. The latest from the greatest show in Springfield is that reports show Emanuel, then a Congressman, may have traded a supportive letter to the editor in the Chicago Tribune for a $2 million public school grant.

It’s been almost two years of outrageous comments, ill-advised reality show appearances, and bearable anticipation, but finally, the trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is on the way, and the governor is getting his one wish with a slow trickle of FBI wiretaps leaking out of the courtroom. So far, twenty new conversations have been released, and they show the governor trading laws for dollars and judging potential donors by how much they love his hair.

Rod Blagojevich‘s former chief of staff and one-time law school roommate Alonzo Monk took the stand at Blago’s corruption trial yesterday as one of the first witnesses to testify. But this isn’t a student court case between bunk mates about a stolen sweater. This is the real deal, and Monk has a lot to say. [...]

The day of reckoning has come for former Illinois governor and reality TV star Rod Blagojevich, and he’s still singing the same song of innocence he gave the media on Day 1. Arriving at the courthouse for the first day of his corruption trial, Blagojevich received a spirited defense from his wife, Patti, who called this a “good day,” because it was the first step towards her husband’s vindication

Chicago-area talk radio host Rod Blagojevich is planning to dip his feet in the frigid water of Illinois politics sometime in the near future, he announced on his weekly WLS AM 890 show yesterday. Unlike most Chicago-area radio personalities, Blagojevich has a bit of a hurdle standing in between himself and winning any election—his previous career as governor of Illinois, and the corruption trial that resulted when an FBI investigation found evidence that he was trying to trade a Senate appointment for profit.

Needless to say, politicians have said far too many stupid things than can be fairly covered in a top ten list. With this in mind, Chris Matthews followed up last week’s list — inspired by Richard Blumenthal and Arlen Specter — with a brand new list, in part comprised of suggestions from viewers.

Dana Milbank’s Washington Post column today is more of a trend-spotter than a policy analysis, noting that the Republican “Class of ‘94” that stormed in during Newt Gingrich’s Republican Revolution seems to have more sex scandals than most. “No fewer than 15 of the 73 elected in the landslide that year,” Milbank writes, “have entertained the nation with flaps that include messy divorces and a suspicious car accident.” In other words, the Class of ’94 is bringing career-destroying sexy back. But did it ever leave?

The defense in United States v. Rod Blagojevich just received the devastating news from the federal judge in the case that their request to subpoena President Barack Obama to testify in favor of the former governor has been denied. For media insiders and lovers of the political circus, it’s a sad day in America.

Dubious Illinois personality Rod Blagojevich allowed Fox News’ Greta van Susteren into “the sanctity of [his] home” last night to discuss his upcoming trial and his defense’s request to subpoena President Barack Obama. After last week’s .pdf redaction failure, the media had been hoping Blagojevich would have something new to add, but unfortunately, Blagojevich was so afraid of getting in trouble again that he just rehashed his greatest hits

In case you were wondering how PR master Rod Blagojevich was going to follow up this week’s bold attempt to subpoena the President to testify at his trial (and the subsequent classified information breach): “Rod Blagojevich is scheduled to make a cameo appearance in Oak Lawn this weekend at an inspirational talk given by Elvis Presley‘s stepbrother.”

The faulty document of the motion to subpoena President Barack Obama to testify at the Rod Blagojevich trial that made court-sealed information readily available to the public has caused a last-minute closed-press court hearing of both sides to determine how the file was released and who is responsible. The Fox Report is reporting that the court has also pulled the document offline, although by now it has been widely disseminated on the internet.

Today in United States v. Rod Blagojevich: following up on his 2008 claims that then-Senator Barack Obama was one of a few people who could testify to his innocence, his defense team issued a motion today to subpoena the President to testify in court. Most of the juiciest bits involving Obama’s role in choosing a new Senator are blacked out, or so we thought. It turns a lucky PDF glitch gave us VIP access. Who wouldn’t want to see the blacked out part? Let’s investigate!

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich seems to be losing patience with every second he inches closer to his criminal trial, where he will defend allegations that he tried to sell Senator Barack Obama‘s vacated seat. Or, as the media put it: he’s become “sassy,” “harsh,” “fiery,” and “heated” as he “lashes out” against his prosecutors and tells Patrick Fitzgerald to “man up.”

For those lamenting former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s expulsion from Celebrity Apprentice, fear not: it did not mean expulsion from the limelight. Blagojevich held a press conference yesterday in anticipation of his criminal trial, but he was no longer the poet son of Kipling of 2008. This new Blago was all macho— defending his wife’s honor and challenging Attorney General Patrick Fitzgerald to “man up” and come to court with him.

After getting unsolicited advice on how not to collapse from almost every media source out there, CNN took Larry King‘s absence last night as an opportunity to bring out the big guns, and it made for some great TV. Come step into the alternate universe where Jesse Ventura, Ron Paul and Rod Blagojevich have a TV show where they engage in civil, intelligent discussion on the tough issues facing America today.

America shed a tear for Governor Rod Blagojevich last night when he was plucked out of Donald Trump’s recession nightmare The Celebrity Apprentice for courageously defending Bret Michaels’ work ethic. But Blago only gave the nation about 12 hours to mope before he was back on TV announcing his triumphant return to public office, which is a bold declaration to make when you’ve been banned for life from serving in your home state.

Taking a refreshing vacation from the serious issues facing Washington today (tickle fights), the Morning Joe team indulged in some network cross-promotion as Donald Trump crash-landed onto the show to promote the new season of Celebrity Apprentice premiering this Sunday. And what an interview it was: he praised Rod Blagojevich, he called for the retraction of Al Gore‘s Nobel Peace Prize (“I’m not supposed to use hair spray!”), he hit on Mika Brzezinski.

The last piece of the Eric Massa puzzle – disgraced former governor of Illinois and news cycle hero Rod Blagojevich, has decided to enter the fray in an interview with Fred Thompson, the former actor who sleepily made a run for the Republican nomination to the presidency in 2008 and apparently has a radio show now. And he knows exactly what Massa is talking about when he says Rahm Emanuel harassed him nude in the showers of the Congressional gym.

Before former Chicago Governor Rod Blagojevich begins his run on NBC’s reality show Celebrity Apprentice, he stopped by CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman for some cross-network promotion.

Blago got his shot at Letterman’s top 10 list – “questions asked himself before appearing on Celebrity Apprentice.”

The big day for Rod Blagojevich’s dubiously categorized “ethics” lecture at Northwestern University has come and gone and, judging from the footage college’s newspaper has released, it lived up to the hype. America’s fanciest gubernatorial coif and its disgraced owner proved he still has some tricks up his sleeve.