Everybody In Chicago Wants To Talk…Later

Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois governor accused of trying to sell the Senate seat president-elect Barack Obama curiously vacated in record time, is “dying to talk,” according to Politico:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich spoke with reporters for several minutes before taking a jog in snowy Chicago, telling them to “hang loose” to hear his side of the story.

“I can’t wait to begin to tell my side of story, to address you guys and most important, the people of Illinois,” Blagojevich said. “That’s who I am dying to talk to.”

Also, according to Politico, Obama himself is “frustrated” that he can’t talk:

President-elect Barack Obama said he’s anxious to “correct immediately” some media reports on transition team contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but would hold off until next week as promised to federal authorities.

“It’s a little bit frustrating,” Obama said Wednesday at a Chicago news conference. “There’s been a lot of speculation in the press that I would love to correct immediately. We are abiding by the request of the U.S. attorney’s office, but it’s not going to be that long. By next week, you guys will have the answers to all your questions.”

In the same article, Obama’s ventriloquist, David (Astroturf King) Axelrod, railed against being “hamstrung” by the Fed’s request to zip it where the internal investigation report is concerned:

“Nobody is more eager than we are to be able to release that,” Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser, said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And when you see it, it will corroborate what the president-elect has said, which is that he never spoke with the governor or any of his aides about this, and that there were no inappropriate discussions between members of his staff and the governor’s office in this matter.”

So, a couple of things jump out at me.  One, who says bribery and collusion, etc. are crimes that can only be committed among friends?  How close do you have to be to buy and sell anything?  I’ve never bought a car from a guy I had breakfast with the morning after.  Just saying.  Two, while Axelrove is vouching for everybody on Obie’s staff, (does that include Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Rahm Emanuel’s conversations with Team Baggo before Nov. 6, when he was officially announced as Chief of Staff?  Just asking.) who’s gonna vouch for Davey?  He has a long history with the Chicago Tribune…

At the age of 27, Axelrod became the City Hall Bureau Chief and a political columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He worked at the Tribune for eight years, covering national, state and local politics.

…which was also named in the Baggo complaint, and rumor has it, he’s planted some powerful political astroturf there.