And The Wheels On The O-Bus Fall Off

As the wheels on the Barack Obama “Obus”  seem to be improbably blowing out simultaneously, all over the ever-increasing hordes of former sycophants he’s so fond of tossing under it, there’s evidence that a new driver just might be reporting for duty who can get it rolling again.  The Associated Press is reporting that Dianne Feinstein is disappointed enough with the way things have been going to take the wheel and do something about it.   In a rare show of leadership by anybody in the budding Obama administration, Feinstein, reacting to the Obacrat’s indefensibly juvenile actions and positions regarding the appointment of Roland Burris by emabattled Governor Rod Blagojevich to replace President-elect Obama in the Senate, showed she’s got eggs:

The chairman of the Senate Rules Committee has parted with many of her Democratic colleagues and says that the Senate should seat former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said Tuesday that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, however tainted by corruption charges, has the right to appoint someone to President-elect Barack Obama’s former seat. The Rules Committee decides whether Burris is qualified to serve.

Feinstein said that blocking Burris would have ramifications for other governors’ appointments.

Burris was blocked from assuming his legally appointed seat on ticky-tack procedural issues he plans to fight, by Obacrats miffed about Blagojevich’s legal troubles.  That those troubles have the potential to reach out and bite a number of them in the ass, including the President-elect, has absolutely nothing, nothing, ya hear me? to do with anything!   Harry Reid, the most cluelessly disingenuous buffoon in the bunch, is reportedly captured on one of the same tapes that snagged Blagojevich, dictating to the Governor that 3 black contenders for Obama’s vacant seat not be considered.  The illogical non-logic put forth by Sir Miss A-Lot is that such candidates would have difficulty being elected.  Since the most obvious thing they have in common is race, it seems that Reid is concerned that the people of the only state to send 2 black Senators to Congress are…what, racially tapped out?  Rahm Emanuel, who himself had called Blagojevich before being appointed White House Chief of staff to put forth a candidate, Valerie Jarrett, over Blagojevich’s own reported pick, rival Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, supposedly advanced Reid’s call.  From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones.

Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Sources say the Senate majority leader pushed against Jackson and Davis — both democratic congressmen from Illinois — and against Jones — the Illinois Senate president who is the political godfather of President-elect Barack Obama — because he did not believe the three men were electable. He feared losing the seat to a Republican in a future election.

Emanuel, Jarrett and Obama have all lawyered up and been interviewed in connection with the pay-to-play scandal, possibly due to information gleaned from wiretapped Blagojevich conversations, one of which was played for Emanuel by authorities desirous of jogging his spotty memory.  But the impending clouds of doom hang only over the poofy-haired head of Blagojevich.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Feinstein has also been critical of Obama and the Obacrats in regards to the president-elect’s choice for CIA Director, Leon Panetta…

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who this week begins her tenure as the first female head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she was not consulted on the choice and indicated she might oppose it.

“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director,” Feinstein said. “My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”

…a media-reported unofficial pick Obama is now seeming to be laying the groundwork for backing away from.   The New York Times transcript  of today’s “media availability” (doncha love it?) contains this exchange after a reporter asked him about Panetta:

Obama: Well, as you noted, I haven’t made – haven’t made a formal announcement about my intelligence team.

(cell phone rings)

Obama: That may be him calling now… finding out where it’s at.

Obama: I have the utmost respect for Leon Panetta. I think that he is one of the finest public servants that we have. He brings extraordinary management skills, great political savvy, an impeccable record of integrity.

As chief of staff, he is somebody who – to the president – he’s somebody who obviously was fully versed in international affairs, crisis management, and had to evaluate intelligence consistently on a day-to-day basis.

Having said all that, I have not made an announcement. When we make the announcement, I think what people will see is, is that we are putting together a top-notch intelligence team that is not only going to assure that I get the best possible intelligence unvarnished, that the intelligence community is no longer geared towards telling the president what they think the president wants to hear, but instead are going to be delivering the information that the president needs to make critical decisions to keep the American people safe.

And, thoroughly in keeping with the tendencies of a WestWing-inspired leader of the Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight, who brings a gun to a knife fight to prove that though skinny, he’s tough, and who preens and postures for the sheer adolescent pleasure of being a blowhard playing dress-up, Obama is said to be close to appointing CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General, for no apparent good reason, which of course, the obviously soon-to-be-renamed Obama News Network is thrilled to talk up:

The Obama transition team approached Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, about becoming U.S. surgeon general, according to sources inside the transition and at CNN.

Gupta was in Chicago, Illinois, in November to meet with President-elect Barack Obama on the matter, sources said.

Gupta has declined comment.

The transition team is impressed with the combination of Gupta’s past government experience, as a White House fellow in 1997 and a special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton, along with his medical career as a neurosurgeon and his communication skills, the transition source said.

Gupta is a member of the staff and faculty of the Department of Neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. He regularly performs surgery at Emory University Hospital and at Grady Memorial Hospital, where he serves as associate chief of neurosurgery.

What, Dr. Phil was busy?  Anyway, given that the loony Obacrats face months of litigation surrounding the contested Senate seatings of Al Franken, as well as Burris, and that they find themselves suddenly short a Commerce Secretary appointee, here’s hoping that Big Mama Feinstein can convince the unruly children she works with to shape up and let her or another grownup try driving the bus for once, instead of taking turns joyriding over their friends.

Blagojevich Guilty Til Proven Innocent

Let’s face it, the Democrats don’t like Governor Rod Blagojevich.  Especially those Democrats loyal (if such a thing as political loyalty indeed exists) to President-elect Barack Obama, the Obacrats, which is all the suck-ups in the party.  Which is the overwhelming majority.

Supposedly, Blagojevich is hated because he’s accused of being a crook.  He is accused of attempting to sell the Senate seat he was obligated to fill once Barack Obama vacated it to people who don’t seem to exist.  Everyone in a position to have bought said seat claims not to have ever even spoken to the Governor about the matter. The U.S. Attorney who arrested Governor Blagojevich before he could find a taker, did so to prevent him from doing just that, according to him.

Yet, Blagojevich was not arrested for trying to sell a Senate seat.  He was not indicted for anything, he was arrested on a complaint charging him with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and solicitation of bribery.  From the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Dec. 12, 2008:

If you believe everything you read in the papers, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was indicted this week.

But that wasn’t true. The governor has not been indicted. Reporting that he had been was an error made by many journalists.

The press made the mistake even after U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald had this to say at his press conference:

“First of all, there’s not an indictment, realize. It’s a complaint. So I don’t want people to understand it’s an indictment. We filed a criminal complaint.”

So what exactly is a criminal complaint and why did so many members of the press get it wrong?

“The criminal complaint is a charging document that is supported by the affidavit of a law enforcement agent that is intended to set forth and establish probable cause and that probable cause can be tested in a preliminary hearing,” said Randall Samborn, a spokesman for Fitzgerald’s office.

edit
In this case, an FBI agent outlined the evidence against Blagojevich in a 76-page document. So far, no one outside the U.S. attorney’s office has seen or heard this evidence, which means that until they bring it to a grand jury there can be no indictment and no trial. (Emphasis mine)

In his recent petition to the court for a 90 day extension to bring charges against Blagojevich, Fitzgerald stated in the opening line that the investigation began in 2003 and includes multiple potential defendants:

This investigation was initiated in approximately 2003, and involves multiple
potential defendants. Two individuals, defendants Rod R. Blagojevich and John Harris, were
charged by way of a criminal complaint on December 9, 2008, with: (a) conspiring to defraud
the citizens of Illinois of their right to his honest services, as well as conspiring to obtain
money and property by fraud, in violation of the mail and wire fraud statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§
1341, 1343, 1346, and 1349; and (b) corruptly soliciting and demanding the firing of Chicago
Tribune editorial board members who had been critical of Blagojevich, in exchange for the
awarding of millions of dollars in financial assistance from the State of Illinois, 18 U.S.C.
§ 666(a)(1)(B) and § 2.

In other words, Rod Blagojevich has been convicted in the court of public opinion for crimes he has not been formally charged with, or formally accused of.  Yet, it is because of this conviction that the Obacrats have deemed him unsuitable to fulfill his duties.  Or might it be the specter of those “multiple potential defendants” motivating the Senate actions?  Nothing Blagojevich is accused of is as heinous, in my opinion, as the actions of a group made up primarily of lawyers thumbing their noses at one of the basic tenets of American law, “innocent, until proven guilty.”  No taint on the very likely guilty Blagojevich stinks quite as much as that.

For the Senate Democrats to engage in such public grade school level maneuvers, refusing to sign and certify the paperwork of Blagojevich’s perfectly legal  appointment of Roland Burris in order to be able to reject said credentials at the door, as they did, is more shameful than anything Blagojevich has been seen on tape doing.  From CNN:

Nancy Erickson, the secretary of the Senate, rejected Burris’ appointment on Monday because Burris’ certificate of appointment was missing the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, an aide to the secretary said.

Rule 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate states that the secretary of state must sign the certificate of election along with the governor.

White has declined to sign the certificate, siding with some Senate Democrats who say Burris should not be seated because of the cloud over Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Senate Democrats have said they would not seat Burris because he was appointed by Blagojevich, who is accused of scheming to sell the Senate seat.

Why is CNN erroneously reporting Blagojevich’s charges?  Why was he so publicly arrested without indictment when he was?  And, why are so many Americans, especially Senators, so adamant about convicting this embattled governor with the poofy hair without benefit of a trial?

A principle that requires the government to prove the guilt of a criminal defendant and relieves the defendant of any burden to prove his or her innocence.   The Free Dictionary