Chris, the word 'politics' comes from the same root as 'polite.' As you say, the crime here is not what Blagojevich tried to do, rather it is how impolite he was in trying to do it. He was, in a word, impolitic.

Ridiculous as this may be to us postmodern types, it has parallels throughout human society. For instance, I cannot walk up to an attractive woman and say, "Excuse me, but I would like to have sex with you." I would get slapped, insulted, and thrown out of places.

Yet this is the subtext of millions of male-female conversations every single day. A frank discussion of desires would sound like a transaction, and there is nothing romantic about prostitution. Yes, social requirements hold the male responsible for treating the female to dinner and a movie, which one might regard as a **form** of transaction; but there is no written or verbal agreement of a trade precisely because we want the illusion of romance.

Blagovich may or may not have done anything unusual, just as one-night stands are not unusual, but he will suffer the consequences of his impolitic actions the same as I would suffer for trying to pick up dates with cash.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melanie-sloan/is-governor-blagojevichs_b_151835.html

It has more details to back up the basic argument, and is well-written and worth a read.

-CW

The fact that its ubiquitous doesn't mean it isn't corruption. Its exactly what I mean when I think of our government as being corrupt. Its only the inability to prove a direct quid pro quo that keeps it from being illegal in most cases. Fitzgerald has that here. Its not the clumsiness, its the audio recordings that set Blago apart.