Crying black tears for Blagojevich's 'Pearl Harbor'

This is a quote that will live in infamy.

"Dec. 9 to my family, to us, to me, is what Pearl Harbor Day was to the United States - what we call our personal Pearl Harbor Day."

There are 57 men from Illinois who would like to disagree with that selfish analogy.

They'd like to but they can't. They are among 1,177 sailors who were blown up, incinerated or drowned on the USS Arizona on Dec 7, 1941. Most of them are still entombed in the sunken battleship that was attacked on the one and only Pearl Harbor Day.

But why let sentiment get in the way of a good correlation? Rod Blagojevich made the egocentric statement several times and is likely to say it again on his media hara-kiri that continues this week; "Our personal Pearl Harbor Day."

Governor, I've visited Pearl Harbor. I was at Pearl Harbor just last month with my family. Pearl Harbor dragged my father and other good men into battle.

Governor, you don't know Pearl Harbor.

During Mr. Blagojevich's erratic press interviews, he has also said countless times that "I've done nothing wrong." Legally of course, that is true. He hasn't been convicted of anything.

But when he compared his wretched situation to Pearl Harbor, he did something wrong and unforgivable. He insulted the memory of those who died that day, those who survived, those who fought in the war that followed, all of their families and anyone who has called themselves an American since Dec. 7, 1941.

A lot of those "little guys" that the governor so passionately speaks of protecting died that day when the Japanese attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii - 2,403 of them to be exact, 1,177 of them were aboard the battleship USS Arizona.

There is one amazingly sad and poignant aspect of the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor. Every so often, you can see bubbles of oil rise to the surface of the water. More than a quart of oil a day bubbles up, from the 1.4 million gallons of fuel carried by the Arizona that day.

Pearl Harbor survivors call the seepage "black tears."

There were 36 sets of brothers on the Arizona when it was attacked and bombarded by Japanese Imperial Forces warplanes. That included Bernard Eugene Conlin and his brother James Leo from Illinois. Those black tears are for them.

Jerry Cox and Frank Floege, both of Illinois, were also onboard. They were military musicians; Jerry played and taught the guitar. Frank was a saxophonist. The black tears are for them, too.

Governor, one of the Illinois sailors who died on Pearl Harbor Day was even named Elvis. He had loved ones who I'm sure know the true, personal meaning of Pearl Harbor Day.

I'm not surprised that the governor would compare his self-perpetuated legal circumstances to the nation's deadliest surprise military attack. As I noted in this column four years ago, Mr. Blago was a no-show at the 2004 Pearl Harbor weekend dedication of Illinois' WWII Memorial in Springfield.

"He had plans with his family," was what his spokeswoman said at the time. That would be the same family that included his late father who not only served in WWII but also was a prisoner of war.

A few years later, during a military ceremony at Navy Pier (which didn't require a trip to Springfield), the governor stated that, "Although no war is without consequence, the Second World War is without parallel."

Apparently since then Mr. Blagojevich has located something that parallels WWII: himself.

Finally, consider Navy Ensign Edward Webb of Illinois. He was 24 and a Yale graduate on Dec. 7, 1941. Ensign Webb was assigned to the USS Arizona. It was his first duty station.

Webb was killed during the Japanese raid. Webb was the uncle of former Illinois Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. When he was still in the U.S. Senate, Fitzgerald once talked about his uncle on the floor of Congress and the "special significance of Pearl Harbor remembrance day to my family."

It is interesting how our fates sometimes intersect. Sen. Fitzgerald appointed the federal prosecutor who has charged Gov. Blagojevich with corruption, the act that Blagojevich now calls his own Pearl Harbor Day.

Last week, in defending himself and explaining that he understands politically driven investigations, the governor stated, "I've read enough history to know how these things can happen."

Even if he is never convicted and manages to stay out of jail - especially if that happens - he owes an apology to the families of those who really suffered and to the WWII vets who are dying by the thousands every week. They know what sacrifice is.

Chuck Goudie, whose column appears each Monday, is the chief investigative reporter at ABC 7 News in Chicago. The views in this column are his own and not those of WLS-TV. He can be reached by email at chuckgoudie@gmail.com.