Dethroned Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was indicted Thursday on charges that he not only plotted to sell President Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder but that he has a long political history of using his stature as a lawmaker for personal gain. In their 19-count indictment, federal prosecutors allege that Blagojevich was angling for a lucrative gig, a post in Obama’s Cabinet or kickbacks from businesses in exchange for the seat. “I’m saddened and hurt but I am not surprised by the indictment,” Blagojevich, who was in Walt Disney World with his family, said in a statement. “I am innocent. I now will fight in the courts to clear my name.” Blagojevich told an aide in 2006 that he wanted to stall a $2 million state grant to a school supported by a congressman until the lawmaker’s brother held a political fundraiser for the governor, The Associated Press reported, citing the indictment. That congressman was Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, attorneys familiar with the case told AP Thursday. The indictment also charges Blagojevich with: scheming to get a large kickback in exchange for the refinancing of billions of dollars in state pension funds; telling an assistant that he didn’t want executives with two financial institutions getting further state business after he concluded they were not helping his wife get a high-paying job; withholding state funds sought by the Tribune Co. unless the company fired unfriendly editorial writers at the Chicago Tribune, AP reported.

 Hold on! So who’s really leading the Republican Party these days? This past weekend, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel insisted that Rush Limbaugh – the bombastic, liberal-baiting, Obama-hating shock jock – is the heart and soul of the conservative movement in America. Emanuel’s comments came a day after Limbaugh repeated to a GOP gathering that he hopes Obama fails in his efforts to reform the economy and transform American politics. But Michael Steele, the bona fide leader of the Republican Party, isn’t feeling Limbaugh, or those responsible for crowning the radio host king of the right wing. “I’m the de facto leader of the Republican Party,” Steele snapped to CNN on Sunday. “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh’s whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly.” Read Limbaugh’s response and Steele’s apology attempt.

A leading Republican blasted conservative honcho Rush Limbaugh Sunday, saying that the radio shock jock is wrong for wishing that President Obama would fail in his efforts to revive the American economy. “I don’t think anyone wants anything to fail right now,” said House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, speaking on ABC’s This Week. “We have such challenges. What we need to do is we need to put forth solutions to the problems that real families are facing today.” Cantor was responding to Limbaugh’s comments before the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday. Limbaugh, reiterating his call for Obama to fail, said, “What is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?” Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who was on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday, described Limbaugh as the “voice and intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.” He added that Limbaugh “has been up front about his views and hasn’t stepped back from that, which is he hopes for failure. He said it, and I compliment him on his honesty. But that’s their philosophy that’s enunciated by Rush Limbaugh, and I think that’s the wrong philosophy for America.”