We be black. We was black befo’ Obama got elected, and we still black, nah. Summa y’all don’t like dat, an’ it piss y’all off. Y’all be trippin’. Y’all suck. Chill.
Don’t nobody care what y’all think, no way. Y’all the ones always be tryin’ to keep a brotha down. That’s whack. Fuck dat. Fuck y’all. – Black America
I often try to illustrate the not-so-hidden racism rampant in our society by comparing it to the similarly hidden-in-plain-sight sexism we live under, hoping that women will at least consider that many of the “race card” claims being pooh-poohed on a regular basis do actually have some basis in fact. Unfortunately, far too many women, themselves victimized by insidious institutionalized bigotry, obvious to them at every turn, no matter how small, slight, or insignificant such behavior might be considered by perpetrators of said sexism, simply cannot see the same sort of racial bias right in front of their eyes. Though they are not only adept at recognizing overt discrimination directed towards them, but quite skilled at ferreting out intended sexism no matter how cleverly couched, even correctly identifying incidences where deliberate bigotry is intentionally dressed in politically correct clothes in order to escape detection, no such leeway is accorded those who empathize with those of us who suffer racially. Read the rest of this entry »
While there are many tangled webs to unravel in the current Obama Drama Bailout Brouhaha, one man seems to have had a pretty clear eye on the situation all along. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Clintonite once accused of demeaning Barack Obama with the use of the phrase “shuck and jive” in a sentence only marginally related to Sir Nose in the Air, has been yelling and screaming about the unfair Wall Street bonuses since at least October. And, everybody knew it.
During the primaries Hillary Clinton supporting Cuomo, during a radio interview, said:
“It’s not a TV crazed race. Frankly you can’t buy your way into it,” Cuomo said, according to Albany Times Union reporter Rick Karlin. He then added, “You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference. All those moves you can make with the press don’t work when you’re in someone’s living room.”
Forget Dog Whisperer, according to Politico’s Nia-Malika Henderson, when it comes to calling your dogs, Barack Obama is a master Dog Whistler. And, according to Nia-Malika Henderson, that’s a very good thing. Of course, when Nia-Malika Henderson refers to “dog whistles,” she’s talking about those code words politicians use to connect subliminally with certain core portions of their constituency, sending crucial, non-politically correct messages over the heads of their targeted enemies. Like, during the primaries, when Obama surrogate Jesse Jackson Jr. mocked Hillary Clinton’s tears in the wake of her New Hampshire victory that threatened to derail the O Train momentum that the O Team imagined was, until that moment, on track to to take him straight to the White House, express-style. Forget the fact that it was only the second contest between the two, making them relatively even at that point, oh, no, Clinton obviously didn’t get the “Obama inevitability” memo, and even worse, and just as obvious, neither did the people who actually voted for her. This had to be nipped in the bud, somehow, after all, Obama’s only victory at that point was a caucus, and some of us were already suspicious about his tactics regarding those. So, JJJr. was sent out to “let the dogs out.” Alex Koppleman, Salon:
“We saw something very clever in the last week of this campaign … We saw a sensitivity factor, something that Mrs. Clinton has not been able to do with voters that she tried in New Hampshire. Not in response to voters. Not in response to Katrina, not in response to other issues that have devastated the American people — the war in Iraq — we saw tears in response to her appearance. So her appearance brought her to tears, but not Hurricane Katrina.”
This was a very clever dog whistle, being designed, as it was, to get the attention of both racist and sexist Obama supporters. The intention could not have been more clear had JJJr. come out and said, “Hey y’all, this white bitch is trying to play us with that woman shit.” Of course, like Salon, Slate pooh-poohed the whole idea of sexist dog whistles, a form of dog whistling in reverse, when you think about it:
Barack Obama brought up Hillary Clinton’s period! “I understand that Senator Clinton periodically,” (See? He said it!) “when she’s feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal.” Clearly, he was saying his rival ought to look into hormone replacement therapy.
What, this sexism is too subtle for you? Not for pro-Clinton blogger Taylor Marsh, who accused Obama of “demeaning women,” or even straight-down-the-middle Andrea Mitchell, who said on MSNBC, “When you start describing a female candidate as being ‘down’ and ’striking back,’ I don’t know, that’s a little edgy, don’t you think?” Karen Stabiner, the author of well-received books about single-sex education and breast cancer, wrote that when she heard what Obama had said, “That was the moment when I, and other women of a certain age, all over the country, winced. The change candidate had embraced one of the oldest clichés in the book—that women are held hostage by emotion, that we can’t be trusted with the big decisions because, depending on our age, we’re either on the rag or having a hot flash.”
You know, even though I was born and raised a Democrat, and remained one all my life until the lying rat bastards showed themselves to be the slimy bunch of lying rat bastards they are during this election cycle, every day I find myself agreeing with Republicans more and more. Not because I think they’re right about anything much, but, because I’m beginning to hate Democrats, too. What a sniveling bunch of whiny assed, wannabe crooks and schnooks y’all elected to guide this sinking ship to the bottom of the hellish Ocean of No Returns they keep dumping our good money after bad into via the coffers of the greedy corporate bankster masters they serve. And no, I’m not talking about Rod Blagojevich and his hapless Senate appointee, Roland Burris, I’m talking about the sanctimonious, holier-than-thou charlatans fingerpointing scapegoats like school children jockeying for position at the head of the line for the teeter-totter, stepping on each other’s toes and poking each other in the ribs as they holler for Teacher, only to adopt angelic visages and mumble, “he did it,” in disingenuous attempts to escape attention when faced with the wrath of authority.
Buncha schmoos.
Obacrats of every stripe are vainly trying to lay their entire culture and history of corruption at the feet of two dimwits stupid enough to make it easy for them to do so, while pulling every sneaky, underhanded, trick in the book so they can stack the deck in their favor. Fuck an election, who cares who the people want in Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat, who even cares if the one they got stuck with is a perfectly acceptable warm body, party line voting seat filler, like the one holding place for Jo(k)e Biden’s son? No, the Barack Attack is hell bent on race-baiting, bribe arranging, blame-shifting Candidate Number 5, Jesse Jackson Jr., now that his first choice, Valerie (Throw ‘Em in the Street) Jarrett, had to be sacrificed up to White House staff and National Economic Council member on the downlow.
No, Obie’s Boyz got a game plan, and anybody that doesn’t sign on is headed under the bus. Or worse. Even the Obasucking press is starting to see that. Commenting on White House shill Robert Gibbs’ ominous sounding, thinly veiled warning to Roland Burris, that the president wanted the clueless pawn to take some time off and think about his future, The Swamp’s Frank James wrote in the Chicago Tribune that maybe Burris might want to think about sleeping with one eye open:
That sounded like one of those “messages” you never want to get from the Chicago Mob.
Clearly, the White House would like to see the Burris story go away, embarrassing distraction that it is.
So was this the White House’s way of saying to Burris, “Nice mausoleum you got there; sure would hate to see anything happen to it?”
Or did it portend that he might be receiving a dead fish, like what reportedly happened to a pollster who once got on the wrong side of Rahm Emanuel, now White House chief of staff?
It all reminded us of that famous scene from the Godfather where the Hollywood mogul wakes up in bed next to a horse’s head. Not good.
So now, Burris is the movie producer who wouldn’t hire Frank SinatraJohnny Fontaine for “From Here to Eternity” some movie-within-a-movie without an offer he couldn’t refuse, while Blagojevich is the Frankie Five Angels character encouraged to soak himself to death in a warm tub for turning against “da Family,” according to John Kaas. Sheesh, who would put out such cheesy movie ripoff “hits” (the ripoffs are cheesy, not the fuckin’ awesome Godfather movie series) besides the skinny-but-tough, Godfather lovin’, gun to a knife fight bringin’, Dudfather-in-Chief?
Who else would send out his Astroturfing, poor man’s Tom Hagen to enlist the footsoldiers in the media to go after New York Governor David Paterson for disobeying direct orders, but the same mob that took down his snooping in “da Family business” predecessor? These same sorry saps playing cops ‘n’ robbers on the taxpayers’ dime are the only ones with enough clout to sic their prosecuters on the payroll the Fedswho’re paid to protect the bigger fish with the power of employment on little fish like Burris and Blago .
Everybody knows that just like in the case of Rod Blagojevich, the reason that the Obacrats are putting so much media pressure on Burris to resign is that they have no legal leg to stand on. They’re just pissed and petulant, because they got played, since they fancy themselves as playas, which is why they sat on Burris’ “affidavit” until after he delivered the stimulus bill for them, thenleaked it to the Sun-Times like the leaders of a nation of cowards they are.
So, while the schoolyard bullies hide their dirty hands in their pockets as they nod their heads in unison in the direction of their agreed upon scapegoats, as if they’re the only ones guilty and that’s the only crime being committed on the playground, and bogusly promise to be good this time, at least one pragmatic veteran aware of the shifting allegiances often associated with political turf wars, is pretending to be Switzerland. Chicago’s mayor, Richard M. Daley, whose JP Morgan Chase board member brother, William, rides with the ObaFather’s posse, is refusing to pile on:
“Let’s put everything in perspective and give him an opportunity to explain himself,” Daley said today when asked if Burris should step down. “Automatically, every time something happens people want everybody to resign. Is it becoming very common now to tell people to resign after he was appointed?”
Daley gave Burris credit for voting for the federal economic stimulus package which the mayor said “never would have passed” without Burris’ vote.
Perhaps sensing the difference between the way the wind and politics blows, Daley displayed a perspective rare in Illinois politics re: the BlagoBurris folderol:
“Three people got killed [last night]. Do you think the people who killed them care who is their U.S. senator?” Daley said. “Life goes on.”
It does, indeed, Dickie. So, in this case, like the rightwingers, I’m rooting for Burris.
Now that the Illinois State Senate has done its duty and rid the state of the onerous presence of its vilified governor, exercising the “nuclear option” of preventing him from ever holding office in the state again, what happens next? Lots of people probably wonder where he goes, what he does next, when will he come to trial, how does the state recover and all kinds of stuff like that. Not me. What I wanna know is, what happens if he’s never officially indicted; if come April, when U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s extension to file charges is up, none are forthcoming? What happens then? Oooops?
Since the Illinois Senate has gone out of its way to make the case that theirs is a political process and not a criminal one, one wonders, too, on what grounds was Blagojevich really impeached? The media harps on the alleged attempt to sell President Black Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder, but Blago has not been indicted for that crime, and Fitzgerald made it clear that he was being arrested to prevent that from happening. The official charges in Fitzgerald’s complaint were mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery, so without indicting the people/person Blagojevich conspired with, and sent money to, or, received money from, where’s the crime?
On CNN earlier today, immediately after the vote went down, Wolf Blitzer asked Illinois resident reporters Roland Martin and Don Lemon to weigh in. Now, I have no love for either man, Roland’s over-the-top Soul Brother manlove for Black Obama renders most things out his mouth stupid, and Lemon’s rush-to-exonerate interview with Jesse Jackson Jr. after he was identified as Candidate Number 5, the likeliest co-conspirator in the Blagojevich complaint, undermined his objectivity pretty completely. Yet, both men opined that the impeachment of Blagojevich was more the result of the Illinois legislature’s dislike of, and ongoing disagreement with, him, than of his legal troubles.
This assertion was forcefully and immediately countered by resident Democratic strategist (hack) Paul Begala, whose Obama man crush makes Martin’s look like a vendetta, and for whom I have even less use. Begala’s rah-rah Obaba act is sooooo intense that it makes you wonder if his primary support for Hillary Clinton was as a Patti Solis-Doyle-esque mole, planted in the inner circle to destroy her chances from within. His doofy-goofy gushing sucking up has me convinced that when looking up his name in the dictionary, one would find his picture next to the definition “see Ted Haggard.” And CNN’s other turncoat Clinton supporting “strategist,” Judas Carville, is equally annoying with his “cardboard groping Hillary’s tit is a harmless prank when Obie’s boyz do it,” Obama fluffing shtick. Anyway, Carville-lite jumped in and asserted that Blagojevich’s alleged attempt to sell the object of Begala’s love’s Senate seat and shake down a children’s hospital showed conclusively that Blago was not only a criminal, but a scum sucking sinner.
This is worrisome because Blagojevich has not been indicted for anything, let alone convicted, so Begala’s vehemently defending his impeachment on those grounds is unsupportable. More worrisome is the fact that Begala gets his talking points straight from the White House via his longstanding tradition of daily early morning conference calls with Rahm Emanuel, a practice reported by Politico and decried by News Busters. From Politico:
Under other circumstances, the morning calls between Emanuel, Carville, Stephanopoulos and Begala — pollster Stan Greenberg is another frequent member of the core group, a kind of “fifth Beatle” — might be a Society of Has-Beens, reliving ancient glories from the Little Rock “War Room.”
It was Emanuel’s ascension into Barack Obama’s inner circle — even as Carville and Begala remained closely linked with the defeated Clinton political machine — that saved the group from irrelevance.
The calls “are about what’s happening, what the implications are of what’s happening and what’s going on,” said Emanuel.
edit
Stephanopoulos’ role is as the analyst and the skeptic. “George is really a big-systems thinker,” Begala said. “As a journalist, he is half of a political scientist, and because he’s not in the partisan battles anymore, he sees things differently.”
Begala offers the most academic interpretation of the calls and their daily survey of political news.
Emanuel is the most likely to be talking policy, usually some program Democrats can use to score points in the daily partisan brawl with Republicans.
edit
Begala’s own interest, as a former speechwriter, is in rhetoric — what is likely to be the sound bite that will echo through the news cycle.
Carville is the wild card, “a genius,” in Begala’s view, “who can look at the same operative facts as everyone else and come to a different conclusion.”
Like News Busters, I find this practice deeply troubling in general, but in the case of Blagojevich’s CNN coverage, such complicity is especially egregious, given the lazy copy cat, follow-the-leader nature of the media nowadays. Rahm Emanuel has been interviewed by the Feds in this case, for goodness sake! Blagojevich has repeatedly demanded to call him specifically as a witness in his defense, and this guy is giving talking points to the prosecutors in the court of public opinion case against him? Straight from the president’s mouth, perhaps?
No wonder Blagojevich felt that going straight-to-video was his only option. With the entire news media being covered with government issue Astroturf, what chance did he have against a political process administered by a tribunal of sworn enemies allied with his potential co-conspirator? And, if President Black Obama, the Obamessiah with the power to heal or hurt by the mere laying on of hands, who was also interviewed by the Feds with lawyer present, had a hand in offering up the Senate seat in question for any reason, what better way to cover everybody’s ass than have your Chief of Staff issue daily marching orders to your street crew?
Maybe Blago’s right; if they can do this to a governor…
Guilty in the press, Rod Blagojevich not only came out swinging at a press conference today, he was kicking ass and taking names, like Valerie Jarrett, Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Rahm Emanuel. Calling himself an already hanged cowboy like in a “B” Western movie, he claimed the newly adopted Illinois Senate impeachment rules were stacked against him, and refused to participate in the upcoming kangaroo court impeachment trial, as his lawyers did last week:
The legal team that has represented embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich in impeachment proceedings in Springfield has stepped down in protest before the governor’s trial in the Illinois Senate, the Tribune has learned.
Blagojevich’s lawyers said the process has become “fundamentally unfair” because they have had too little time to prepare for the Senate trial and have been denied subpoena power to call their own witnesses.
Then, he called out the press, including the Chicago Tribune, whose editorial board members he is accused of trying to have fired, and basically demanded they stop ganging up on him and start editorializing for “fairness” on his behalf. The guy’s got cojones grande, you gotta give him that. The nerve to throw around phrases like, “due process ‘ and “presumption of innocence” like that! What chutzpah!
Another phrase fondly bandied about, “conspiracy theory,” reared it’s ugly head during the day’s proceeding, with the closed-minded “journalists” sneering, “So, you’re saying the entire Illinois political contingent is conspiring against you?” or words to that effect, as if such a thing not only doesn’t happen every day, has not happened very recently. While most “conspiracies” don’t rise to the level of a Dealey Plaza grassy knoll, or a Sirhan-Sirhan extra bullets theory, “let’s car pool and save gas,” is a conspiracy, and speculation about the vehicle occupants’ motivation would be a theory. But far more substantial conspiracies have been fixtures in the news even up until today, they just weren’t called what they are. Somebody conspired to get Caroline Kennedy considered for Hillary Clinton’s vacant Senate seat and colluded with the New York Times and other media outlets to push the failed idea; somebody conspired to try to get Al Franken seated in the Senate before Norm Coleman could possibly prevail at trial, likely colluding with the same media outlets involved in the Kennedy push; and the entire Democratic contingent of the United States Senate conspired to defy the law and prevent entry to its chambers by a duly appointed Senator, just because they felt like it. So, the possibility that the Democrats in Illinois, in collusion with the Republicans, have determined that ridding themselves of Rod Blagojevich is a good idea in their best interests is not that far-fetched; though various members of the conspiracy may well have vastly different motives. Some may find the criminal investigation into his activities as governor uncomfortable, some may feel his removal allows for an easier path for their ambition, some may wish to implement policies he opposes, some may, as he said, want to pump up the campaign issue. Hell, some just might not like the guy, or his hair. Whatever. Doesn’t mean that he’s wrong when he says they’ve all joined together to get him out of office.
The man hasn’t been formally charged with anything, no matter what the teeth-grindingly annoying Shepard Smith kept interjecting over the coverage until I had the good sense to change the freaking channel before I reached the “throw-something-at-the-TV-to-shut-him-up-cut-off-my-own-nose-to-spite-my-face” stage. It seems to me, impeaching a man based on allegations of things not yet even indictable, by conveniently adopted rules, is pretty unfair.
The Senate also approved rules for the trial, which is to begin Jan. 26. The rules govern issues such as issuing subpoenas. They also allow a majority of senators to override rulings by the judge.
Contrary to the news people who indignantly shouted that Blagojevich was not addressing the charges against him, by repeatedly calling out Barack Obama’s Three Stooges, Valerie, Rahm, and Jesse, as well as the Chicago Tribune, Hot Rod was making it very clear that he was not afraid to face them, or charges regarding them, in a court of law. In a move that is in many ways reminiscent of the “I appoint Roland Burris” big ballin’ “eff ewe,” this might be the biggest “eff ewe” of all.
NOTE I: “Adviser ‘B,’” referenced in the 78 page charging document filed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald against Blago, has been recently identified as Frederick S. Yang, an executive with Peter D. Hart Research Group and Associated, the company where Geoff Garin, who took over Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign from Mark Penn, is a partner. From Fox News, Jan. 22:
In a Nov. 7 recorded conversation characterized by prosecutors, Yang told Blagojevich he “should leverage the President-elect’s desire to have ‘Senate Candidate 1′ (Jarrett) appointed to the Senate seat in order to get a head position” with a union organization called Change to Win.
The complaint alleges that Yang is on tape indicating that leveraging the Senate seat to Valerie Jarrett in return for the “Change to Win” position would insulate the President-elect. Further:
The union organization that figures in the complaint, Change to Win, is a 6 million-member coalition of unions that was started in 2005. Its members include the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters and the United Farm Workers of America. Tom Balanoff, an official at SEIU’s Local 1 in Chicago, has been identified as the SEIU official mentioned several times in the Blagojevich complaint, including being identified as “an emissary” for the appointment of Jarrett.
SEIU is listed as a client of Peter D. Hart Research, which has conducted surveys for Change to Win, according to a union news release.
The same story appears here and a breakdown of the participants is here.
SideNOTE: SEIU endorsed Obama immediately prior to the Nevada caucus. He lost, anyway.
NOTE II: In other recent Blago news, the Hair Bear was quietly re-fingerprinted on the 21st, and his brother, Robert, caught on tape “as many as 50″ times himself, is not fighting the tapes’ release. Yet.
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.
Ha, ha, ha…I’m sorry, I can’t stop laughing. “Crazy ol’” Rod Blagojevich, the embattled Illinois governor currently being impeached for everything from supposedly trying to sell a Senate seat to people who claim to have no idea such a seat was being offered for sale, to being declared certifiably insane based upon his enemies’ dislike of his Bob’s Big Boy hairdo, has just flipped a monkey wrench of enormous proportions off of his middle finger and into the game.
In late October, rumors began to fly about who would assume Barack Obama’s Senate seat should he be elected president. In the following days, according to media reports, parties in both the Obama and Blagojevich camps began to toss names around among themselves and with each other. There had also been talk from various factions that the seat should be filled by a black butt, since Obama was the lone African American in the Senate, one of only five in American history, three since Reconstruction and two from Illinois. Given all that, Valerie Jarrett, being both black and Obama’s “big sister” and neighbor, soon became the front-runner in the mind of the media (assuming there is such a thing) largely due to the efforts of Rahm Emanuel. Then, curiously, in early November, Valerie Jarrett removed her name from contention for an office she now claims she never sought, and Barack Obama officially resigned his Senate seat earlier than any other president-elect in history for no apparent reason. Soon, thereafter, if memory serves, Jesse Jackson, Jr. became the media’s odds on favorite. Interestingly, all names being considered in the press at that time were folks likely to be sanctioned by Team O.
Once Blagojevich was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery, not specifically for trying to unload the Senate seat, btw, all bets were off; people began to call for Blago’s head, impeachment was placed squarely in the center of the table, outraged howlers demanded that Blags give up his right to name a Senate successor, Harry Reid and the Senate Democratic Caucus even weighed in saying nobody Blago selected from that point on would be confirmed, and all the horses in the race began to jockey for position in public and in earnest.
While all this was going on, however, Blagojevich went to work. Oh, sure, he proclaimed his innocence, blah, blah, blah, he went for runs, he passed some bills, whatever, but basically, he just kept on being governor. As part of his duties, he still has the right, and some might say, obligation, to appoint Barack Obama’s Senate successor. And, at 2:00 today, it seems Rod Blagojevich is going to do just that:
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected today to name former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.
The action comes despite warnings by Democratic Senate leaders that they would not seat anyone appointed by the disgraced governor who faces criminal charges of trying to sell the post, sources familiar with the decision said.
Shortly after Obama’s Nov. 4 victory, Burris made known his interest in an appointment to the Senate but was never seriously considered, according to Blagojevich insiders. But in the days following Blagojevich’s arrest, and despite questions over the taint of a Senate appointment, Burris stepped up his efforts to win the governor’s support.
Though he is 71, Burris has said that Obama’s replacement should be able to win re-election and he has noted that despite a string of primary losses in races ranging from Chicago mayor to governor and U.S. senator, he’s never lost to a Republican.
Blagojevich, who has sole authority to name a replacement senator, scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference at his downtown Chicago office.
It bears noting that while a lot of people in Illinois politics hate Blagojevich’s guts and will go to great lengths to defeat him by any means necessary, the fact that he is or is not a crook has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Everybody in Illinois politics is a crook, crookedness even trumps party affiliation in the state. As I’ve said before, indicting any one Illinois pol on corruption charges is like trying to point out the one sinner in Hell. What’s going on with the hue and cry surrounding Blago is pure, down and dirty politics, all protestations of ideological and moral consternation nothing more than dramatic fuel for the elbow throwing fire. And, in this game of hand crushing ladder climbing, the too complacent enemies of Blags, believing their opponent to be sufficiently neutralized, just got punked.
Reid had said when the Blagojevich scandal broke earlier this month he would ask the Senate not to seat any Blagojevich appointee, in order to make sure the seat is free of taint. All the Senate Democrats concurred. Manley said Reid’s position has not changed.
Reid’s position may not have changed according to his aide, but most assuredly, the game now has.
That would be the headline for any other president-elect at any other time in our history, since it accurately reflects the facts of a pretty sensational story. However, since we’re talking about an extraordinary Teflon TelePrompTer Messiah, elected/anointed/selected to lead us to the Promised Land of Peace and Prosperity at this unique point in history, the bulk of the headlines referring to Barack Obama’s “internal investigation report” into his own and his staff’s involvement in the Rod Blagojevich “Got A Hot Senate Seat, Gotta Move It” scandal read more like, “Jesus’ Little Brother Absolves Himself And All Who Love Him.” Hey, it’s Christmas.
On Dec. 11, Obama called for an internal investigation and said he and his staff were definitely, for sure not involved, no how, no way:
The president-elect said he was “as appalled and disappointed as anybody” by the allegations. He said that neither he nor his transition team have been a part of the continuing federal investigation, using language that was very specific but left several questions unanswered.
“I have not been contacted by any federal officials and we have not been interviewed by them,” Obama said.
On Dec. 15, we were told, hey, we’ve got a report, but the US Attorney wants us to hold off on releasing it, and since we’re such transparent good guys, of course we’re gonna comply:”
President-elect Barack Obama said Monday that his transition office was delaying release of a report on contacts with the Blagojevich administration until next week because the U.S. attorney’s office in Illinois asked for more time to conduct interviews about the controversial Senate vacancy.
I guess they just forgot to mention that the interviews the US Attorney wanted to conduct were with the president-elect and two key members of his inner circle. Their bad. On Dec. 18, 19, and 20th, Obama, Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett were questioned by authorities with their lawyers present:
Those with knowledge of the federal investigation have said that Emanuel is not a target in the case. There also is no indication that Jarrett ever was a target, a transition official said. Like Obama, both were accompanied by lawyers for their interviews with the prosecutor’s staff, Gibbs said.
We also now know that Jarrett talked to SEIU official Tom Balanoff about appointing Blagojevich Secretary of Health and Human Services, but that it had nothing to do with Jarrett or Obama’s Senate seat:
Obama’s report details a conversation about the appointment between Jarrett and Tom Balanoff, head of the Illinois chapter of the Service Employees International Union, in which Balanoff told her that Blagojevich had “raised with him” the idea of being appointed Health and Human Services secretary.
Balanoff informed Jarrett he had told Blagojevich it wouldn’t happen, and Jarrett agreed, discounting the notion as “ridiculous,” the report states.
However, there was never any suggestion in the conversation that Blagojevich was linking the Senate appointment to the possible Cabinet posting, the report states.
Ha, ha, ho, ho, and a good time was had by all. Another curious thing, at least to me, is that the interviews were held on consecutive days, with Emanuel’s being last. Emanuel, who had long been suspected of having had multiple contacts with the Illinois governor re: the Senate seat, seems to have needed to have his memory jogged by authorities:
During Emanuel’s interview Saturday, federal authorities played for him a taped recording of at least one conversation he had with Blagojevich’s office, according to a transition official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss information not included in the report.
As soon as Rahm’s interview was concluded, he went to Africa. No word on where David Axelrod went, but a trip to a creative writing class might be in order. Davey’s storytelling skills need a bit of brushing up:
Obama’s report also addresses confusion over earlier statements by David Axelrod, a top adviser who had said at one point that Obama discussed the Senate appointment with Blagojevich. Axelrod had discussed potential recommendations for the Senate appointment with Obama and Emanuel, and “was under the impression” that it would be Obama who would offer those to Blagojevich.
“He later learned that it was Mr. Emanuel who conveyed those names,” the report states.
Davey’s not the only one deficient in “once upon a time” skills; Greg Craig, the “investigator” who put the report together probably bores little kids to sleep, too:
Obama’s report states that none of Blagojevich’s aides reached out to the president-elect’s staff. The report only notes that Obama friend Eric Whitaker was approached by one of Blagojevich’s top aides to learn “who, if anyone, had the authority to speak for the president-elect” about the Senate appointment.
Obama told Whitaker that “no one was authorized to speak for him” and that “he had no interest in dictating the result of the selection process,” according to the report.
So, they didn’t reach out to staff, people just happened to bump into each other in the hall, or pick up silent phones only to find representatives from Blago’s office on the other end, or powerful psychic connections were made between highly receptive simpatico telepaths on both sides, or, just maybe, all the “reaching out” came from the Obamessiah side. Politico has an accounting of some other inconsistencies and curiosities associated with Oblagoma-gate, but one thing we’re not ever likely to figure out is why the New York Times mentioned Jarrett staffer Michael Strautmanis as a name likey to be dropped into this mess when it wasn’t. But, it’s a comfort to know that the president-elect absolved himself before and after he was hauled in front of the authorities. In fact, it’s nice to be reminded of that other heartwarming tale of righeous indignation spurring justice seeking, “The Ballad of Candidate Number 5,” who was also not only questioned by Fitz’s boys, but alerted to the governor’s impending arrest; only in his case, it was on other occasions that he exercised his civic duty to report unethical behavior. Makes my heart cockles all warm and fuzzy.
And, who wouldn’t want their cockles toasty on Christmas Eve?
Rahm’s in Africa, Barack’s in Hawaii, and the proverbial stuff is about to hit the fan. According to the Associated Press, the “internal investigation report” into Obama staff involvement in the Rod Blagojevich Senate seat sale scam shows that Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett have been questioned by the US Attorney’s office, and that Emanuel had “one or two” direct conversations with Blagojevich, and did so without Obama’s approval at least once:
The report was released Tuesday as a transition official disclosed that Obama and two of his top aides, Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, have been interviewed in connection with the federal investigation into Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The transition official, speaking on a condition of anonymity before the report’s public release, also confirmed that Emanuel had been captured on wiretaps taken as part of the investigation.
edit
Emanuel had one or two conversations with Blagojevich and four with Harris on the subject of the Senate seat, according to the review. The report said Obama authorized Emanuel to pass on the names of four people he considered to be highly qualified to take over his seat — Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, Illinois Veterans’ Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
“In later telephone conversations, Mr. Emanuel — also with the president-elect’s approval — presented other names of qualified candidates to Mr. Harris including Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Ms. Cheryle Jackson,” the report said. “Mr. Harris did not make any effort to extract a personal benefit for the governor in any of these conversations. There was no discussion of a Cabinet position, of 501c(4), of a private sector position or of any other personal benefit to the governor in exchange for the Senate appointment.”
The report said that earlier, Emanuel recommended Jarrett for the Senate seat without Obama’s knowledge, and Jarrett later accepted a job as a senior White House adviser.
So, now we know, US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office has “interviewed” Obama, Emanuel and Jarrett, and Rahmbo had “multiple conversations” with Blago’s office, but “nobody knows nothin’ ’bout sellin’ no Senate seats.” Right. Merry Fitzmas? We also know that Rahmbo did not come forward of his own accord:
In the meantime, the transition official said, Emanuel was interviewed by federal officials who replayed a wiretapped conversation for him. He then was able to give Craig more details about what he said, and those details were included in the final report, the transition official said. Transition officials discussed the final version with Obama on Monday as he vacationed in Hawaii.
While George Stephanoploulis had previously reported that Emanuel spoke to Blagojevich once, and his staff four times, and let it go at that, the New York Times had told us there was more to it than that:
Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman selected by Mr. Obama as his White House chief of staff, had a handful of contacts with the governor’s office. At least two other names also are expected to be mentioned in the review, including Michael Strautmanis, a longtime aide to Mr. Obama who once worked for Mr. Blagojevich.
Valerie Jarrett, a close friend to the Obama family who is a co-chairwoman of the transition effort, could also be referred to in the report. Her name was raised as a possible candidate for the Senate seat, but she withdrew from consideration last month and took a position in the White House.
Oh, and who is Michael Strautmanis, you ask? Wikipedia says:
Michael Strautmanis is an American lawyer. President-ElectBarack Obama announced on December 5, 2008, that Strautmanis will serve as Chief of Staff to the Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison.[1] He is currently Chief Counsel and the Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs on Obama’s presidential transition team.[2][3]
Though he seems expendable, since his conversations with Blago obviously occurred before he was named to the staff, he has a longer official relationship with Obama as Senior Adviser for Obama for America and his presidential campaign. His current boss is either Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor and assistant to the president in charge of intergovernmental relations, or Tina Tchen, or both. The question remains, why did the New York Times mention his name when Greg Craig’s sketchy memo to the president-elect did not?
We now know more than we did about the whole thing, but the information is coming in at dribs and drabs. Wonder why? Hmmmm. I also wonder why Obama had seemed so sure about what was in the report last week when he didn’t have all the details until he got to Hawaii? And, did Rahm plan his African vacation before or after he heard himself on tape?
Rahm Emanuel is not talking, but, Chicago’s “other paper,” (the nearly bankrupt Tribune being the one mentioned in the recent Blagogate scandal) the Sun-Times, says “oh, yes he did,” talk directly to Gov. Rod Blagojevich about filling Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat with Valerie Jarrett, even though Team O says, “oh, no he di’nt.”
President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had a deeper involvement in pressing for a U.S. Senate seat appointment than previously reported, the Sun-Times has learned. Emanuel had direct discussions about the seat with Gov. Blagojevich, who is is accused of trying to auction it to the highest bidder.
Emanuel talked with the governor in the days following the Nov. 4 election and pressed early on for the appointment of Valerie Jarrett to the post, sources with knowledge of the conversations told the Sun-Times. There was no indication from sources that Emanuel brokered a deal, however.
Well, of course Rahmbo didn’t “broker a deal” for Jarrett, she pulled her name from contention after her BFF made it clear he desperately needed her in the White House, right before he officially resigned from the Senate earlier than anybody in history, for no apparent reason. Sheesh. The only problem for Rahmbobama is that Blag’s got a big mouth:
But sources with knowledge of the investigation said Blagojevich told his aides about the calls with Emanuel and sometimes gave them directions afterward. Sources said that early on, Emanuel pushed for the appointment of Jarrett to the governor and his staff and asked that it be done by a certain date.
At least some of the conversations between Emanuel and Blagojevich were likely caught on tape, sources said.
“The boss would “appreciate” it if you would do him the favor of giving his Senate seat to his pal Val before the 12th, or this “offer you shouldn’t refuse goes away. Capice?”
–In a Nov. 10 phone call with advisers, Blagojevich discussed getting a
lucrative labor job in exchange for appointing an unnamed candidate
whom he believed was favored by Obama. In a Nov. 11 conversation,
Blagojevich acknowledged that Obama wanted an unnamed “Senate Candidate
1” for the seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything but
appreciation. [Expletive] them.”
“Blags, da boss is very disappointed. Remember “da list?” C’mon, you and me go back a long ways. Just to show you we’re honorable, reasonable, appreciative guys, ya got til the 15th to do the right thing, or I can’t be responsible for what comes next.”
Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said.
Obviously, for Blagojevich “appreciation” was not enough:
Told by two other advisers he has to “suck it up” for two years, the FBI says, Blagojevich was heard complaining that he has to give this “motherf– [the president-elect] his senator. F– him. For nothing? F– him.”
The affidavit said that Blagojevich was interested in a high-paying position with Change to Win, an organization affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and that he suggested in a conversation with a SEIU official on Nov. 12 that Obama wanted other people to be considered for the Senate seat besides Senate Candidate 1. Previous phone conversations indicated that Blagojevich knew the SEIU official “was an emissary to discuss Senate Candidate 1’s interest in the Senate seat,” the affidavit said.
Time passes, Jarrett withdraws, is appointed to some made-up White House lackey position, Obie leaves the seat wide open for Blago to do as he will and…the waiting game goes on. Until:
On December 4, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke to Advisor B and informed Advisor B that he was giving Senate Candidate 5 greater consideration for the Senate seat because, among other reasons, if ROD BLAGOJEVICH ran for re-election Senate Candidate 5 would “raise money” for ROD BLAGOJEVICH, although ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he might “get some (money) up front, maybe” from Senate Candidate 5 to insure Senate Candidate 5 kept his promise about raising money for ROD BLAGOJEVICH. (In a recorded conversation on October 31, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH described an earlier approach by an associate of Senate Candidate Five as follows: “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”)”
Good memory, Blago. Good thing that October 31 luncheon you had with 5’s homeys came back to you when it did and you could have him set up that fundraiser that lead to that lunch that lead to the Feebies calling Five to warn him that he had lead to the arrest that brought down the house that Rod built:
Blagojevich and the congressman met to discuss the Senate seat on Monday, one day before federal prosecutors arrested Blagojevich and charged him with trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. As part of the charges, prosecutors alleged that Blagojevich was considering awarding the seat to a politician identified as “Senate Candidate 5″ because emissaries for that candidate were promising to raise as much as $1.5 million for Blagojevich’s campaign fund.
Coulda happened like that. But even if it did, Rahm didn’t do anything “inappropriate” on behalf of his boss, did he? And Obie didn’t talk to Blago directly, did he? So, even if my imagination is firing on all cylinders, the only guilty party in all this is crazy, greedy, corrupt slimeball, Rod Blagojevich, right? What’s the difference between “entrapment” and “set-up,” again?
There’s Chicago politics, and there’s Illinois politics; sometimes they overlap, sometimes they clash. Players who support each other locally gleefully sell each other down the river statewise and vice versa. You’ve heard of inmates running the asylum, imagine toddlers running the university and you have a pretty good idea of the political landscape in the Land of Lincoln.
Everybody hates everybody who can’t help them, until they can. Then, they support them fully, until they don’t. State Senator Dick Durbin supposedly joked, when asked about the long-standing feud between House Speaker, Mike Madigan (father of Attorney General Lisa) and Governor Rod Blagojevich, that it would be wiser to hang out in the Middle east than deal with their mess:
Illinois senior Senator Dick Durbin said in 2008 that he receives many constituent complaints about the dispute between Blagojevich and Madigan, with letter writers wanting him to step in to negotiate.[6] Durbin said the subject is also often talked about in the United States Congress in Washington, DC among the Illinois congressional delegation.[6] However, Durbin joked that he’d rather go to Baghdad to mediate than Springfield.[6]
That Madigan and Blagojevich are enemies is no secret, nor is the fact that Madigan has been planning to solicit the Supreme Court to have Blaggo removed since the summer, circulating an “impeachment memo” that House Impeachment Committee Chair, Obama supporter and neighbor, Barbara Flynn Currie called an “opinion piece” the committee was “not considering” in their ongoing process. Pouncing on the opportunity to put his plan in action afforded him by Hot Rod’s recent arrest, (the timing of which was not affected by any news story) Madigan, via Lisa announced their fall back intentions to have Blago declared unfit within hours of his release on bail. Unfortunately for them, that case was dismissed, as anybody with a brain knew it would be. No matter, Madigan’s purpose was served. Blago was further damaged by negative press, the Madigans at least tried, gosh darnit, and there’s always impeachment.
Mike Madigan and Currie were superdelegate supporters of Barack Obama, who has had his own love/hate relationship with Blags. Then, there’s Jesse Jackson, Jr. (Candidate Number 5,) Mayor Richard Daley and his brother, Obama campaign senior adviser, William, of J.P. Morgan Chase, Obama political “Godfather,” and Blagobuddy, Emil Jones, who hates Madigan, Tony Rezko and Alex Giannoulias, all of whom circulate in and around Oblago’s orbit, depending upon the degree of advantage doing so affords them. Daley has not always been an Obama fan, and Jesse Jr. has issues with Madigan (once co-chair of Blago’s re-election committee) regarding Obama’s support for Giannoulias. From Jackson’s website, August, 2006:
Everyone knows House Speaker Michael Madigan is a man of few words.
Last week, he uttered a special one: Messiah.
“There’s been no word from the messiah,” Madigan answered wryly when I asked whether he would be supporting Democratic Treasurer nominee Alexi Giannoulias in November.
The “messiah” to whom Madigan referred is U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
Obama yanked Giannoulias from obscurity and endorsed his run for state treasurer — despite the fact that Madigan had a different candidate in mind. In TV commercials that catapulted Giannoulias into Illinois living rooms, Obama called the young treasurer candidate “one of the most outstanding young men I could ever hope to meet.”
Illinois State treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has been accused of making loans to mobsters, supports a “pooling pensions” plan once proposed by Blagojevich, (who has his own problems on that score with his father-in-law, Alderman Richard Mell as well as Rezko,) and has a long history with “the Messiah.” Of course, Obama and Blagojevich both also have Rezko connections. In light of the current Blago problems, that also touch upon his wife, Patti, her father, Mell, is threatening to tell what he knows.
And that’s just the prologue. After following all these links I’ve provided, I’m even more convinced that Obama’s brand of Chi-town politics is “Hardball with Clean Hands,” or, “you’re busted, prove I had something to do with it,” and that he likely, deliberately, set Blago up for this Senate seat fall. And we haven’t even mentioned Daley-Blagojevich supporting, DLC member, and designated carrot-dangler, Rahm Emanuel. As much as I’d like to go through each and every one of these little subplots and explore them in more detail, the multiple plot twists and turns have fried my brain. Oh, well, tomorrow is another day, and who knows who’ll be hating who by then?
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.
A local Chicago ABC News affiliate is reporting that Jesse Jackson, Jr., “Candidate Number 5” in the Rod Blagojevich “Senate seat sale” scandal, not only once blew the whistle on “Hot Rod,” he also received a “courtesy call” from the Feds before Blago’s arrest in the scheme. Since we have no information as to whether the terms, “watch your ass,” or, “you owe us big time,” were used, we have no way of knowing the nature of the Feebie’s “heads up.” However, given that Jackson served as Obama’s national campaign co-chair, the story is being presented by the media outlet in the best possible light. Otherwise, the blowback from Jackson’s possible complicity in the scam might blow back on The Chosen One, and we mustn’t have that.
Jackson has been fighting for his reputation since the federal complaint revealed his supporters were willing to raise money for the governor, if Jackson was appointed to the Senate.
The new information appears to support Jackson’s claim that he was not involved in a scheme to buy a U.S. Senate seat.
ABC7 has learned that since late last summer, the congressman has worked with federal prosecutors, informing on an alleged Blagojevich administration scheme two and half years earlier.
The meeting in June of 2006 at a Gold Coast hotel included Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko.
So, basically, the Feds have been on to Jackson for some time, one way or another. We don’t know the nature of these “interviews,” who initiated them, and/or whether Jackson’s “cooperation” was entirely voluntary. All we know from the article is that there have been multiple contacts:
Then last summer, weeks after Rezko was found guilty of un-related corruption, the U.S. Attorney’s Office interviewed the congressman as a possible witness against the governor in the Peotone matter.
And sources tell ABC7 that Jackson has been in regular contact with the feds and has told the government that in 2003 Blagojevich denied the congressman’s wife Sandi an appointment as Illinois lottery director because Jackson would not donate $25,000 to the governor’s campaign fund.
The article concludes, however, by pointing out that Jackson supporters might want to hold off on finagling the U.S. Attorney into publicly clearing their guy:
Jackson supporters ABC7 talked to on Monday want the U.S. attorney to give the congressman a clean bill of health so to speak.
In1998, then U.S. Attorney Scott Lassar did that for Republican gubernatorial candidate George Ryan. Ryan was eventually convicted of corruption and now sits in a federal prison.
At the very least, we now know for sure that Jackson had first hand knowledge that Blago was open to bribery.
Arne Duncan, Harvard grad, former pro basketball player, (Australia) and current Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools, which Pres-elect Obie’s daughters do not attend) is said to be set to become Secretary of Education. Current Education Sec’y, Margaret Spellings, has nice things to say about the Chicagoan, but then, she doesn’t live there.
“I don’t want to hurt his chances but I think he’s a terrific school leader…and I’m saying this because we have a lot of experience together,” she said then. “I consider him a fellow reformer and someone who cares deeply about students. I think he’d be a great choice.”
Due to inaction in Illinois’ legislature, a coalition of ministers plan to escalate their demand for education reform by taking the issue to Wrigley Field during the Chicago Cubs playoff game on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm. The ministers, their congregants and supporters will rally in the middle of the street in front of the ballpark.
The Clergy Coalition for School Funding Reform’s (CCSFR) latest action is to bring attention to the school funding inequities, which have plagued Illinois’ students for more than 30 years. On September 2, the group, led by Rev. Senator James T. Meeks, staged a two-day protest of Chicago Public Schools where more than 1400 children didn’t attend the first day of school and attempted to enroll in the wealthy, property rich school district of Winnetka. Meeks is the pastor of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, the largest African American church in Illinois with over 20,000 members. He is also a state senator.
Senator John F. Kerry was named chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee today, pledging to use his stewardship of the influential panel to strengthen American interests in Afghanistan and Pakistan, help end the war in Iraq, and craft solutions to the climate change crisis.
Why are the Keepers of the Book of Barack, aka the mainstream media, pushing the “Blago’s batshit” story line as quasi-fact? Who does it benefit? If the embattled governor was making such claims, or acting in a manner as if he wanted people to think he’s nuts, it might be more understandable, even though, if that was the case, chances are the Barackomaniacs would reject such assertions as Blago’s pitiful attempts to exonerate himself. They would use his statements as evidence of his criminality just as they use his alleged criminality as evidence of his madness. Why?
The only person or persons likely to benefit from smearing Blagojevich’s mental state are those likely to be smeared by Blago’s potential allegations against them. Therefore, only those fearing implication would make finger twisting motions around their ears when Blago’s name is mentioned. Like Candidate Number 5, Jesse Jackson Jr. And, nobody from Team O is challenging the assertion, either. In fact, Obama’s “mentor,” Abner (we don’t want nobody nobody sent) Mikva, is one of the main pushers. In Jake Tapper’s column, Mikva comments on Blago’s stated desire to run for the presidency in 2016:
“It’s just such a bizarre state of mind, that Gov. Blagojevich had to be in to even think this was possible,” former Democratic Congressman and Judge Abner Mikva told ABC News.
Mikva used the word “delusional” to describe the governor.
The Chicago Sun-Times puts forth the theory that Blagojevich’s choice of hairdo is indicative of his mental deficiency:
Gov. Blagojevich’s glossy locks — perfectly sculpted in rain or snow — may be an indication of a sickness beneath his scalp, said one local psychologist.
“It’s all part of managing his image, managing his image of being without a blemish, without a flaw,” said Scott Ambers, who has practiced clinical psychology in the city for more than two decades.
A February, 2008 Chicago Magazine article specualted that Barack Obama was driving Blago nuts:
Some people think that the governor’s behavior has turned more erratic in the past few years. One reason, they suspect, could be Barack Obama’s extraordinary rise. “Obama’s ascendancy had a significant impact on this guy,” says a Democratic lawmaker from Chicago. “Here’s a lifelong plan that’s been unfolding better than anyone could ever script—an unremarkable state’s attorney becomes an unremarkable state representative, becomes an unremarkable congressman, becomes an unlikely governor. My God, everything’s falling into place! All of a sudden the proverbial skinny guy with the funny name starts making some headway, decides to run for U.S. senator, wins the primary, then gets tapped to do the keynote speech [at the Democratic National Convention]. Knocks the fucking thing out of the park. So now when political people coast to coast talk about Illinois, they talk about Barack Obama. They don’t give a fuck about Rod Blagojevich.” (Blagojevich, like nearly every other Democratic elected official in the state, endorsed Obama in the presidential primary.)
An emotional Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. touched off a surreal hugfest among bickering top Illinois Democrats meeting at a convention delegation breakfast, all in the name of party unity and Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential bid. Here’s the tale of the tape:
*Jackson summons state Sen. Debbie Halvorson, who’s running for Congress. The two have feuded over control of a third airport in the south suburbs. They embrace.
*“Who else out here been mad at me I ain’t figured out yet?” Jackson asks. Without skipping a beat, Mayor Daley jumps out of his seat and hugs his critic who contemplated a run against him for mayor. In tears, Jackson says, “I’ve been trying to get to know Mayor Daley for 14 years.”
*But Jackson is “not going to be satisfied” until he sees Gov. Rod Blagojevich give House Speaker Michael Madigan a hug. The bad blood between the two is legendary and has ground state government to a halt.
*Sporting a smile from ear to ear, Madigan walks across the makeshift stage and hugs Blagojevich, who then turns and hugs Jackson.
Chicago Tribune reporter John Kaas suggests everybdy’s setting Blago up for a “Frank Pentangeli“-type Godfather-style, “keep your mouth shut for the good of the family” scenario. But that would mean that Blags has something very incriminating to say about somebody who doesn’t want whatever it is to be believed. Whatever. The bottom line is, Rod Blagojevich’s mental health is more of a convenient excuse for his enemies than it is for him.
Last night, Joe Biden cried. Again. With a month to go before the election, were those the tears that were supposed to melt America?
How does a white woman attack a white man?
That was the challenge facing Sarah Palin in last night’s debate. A strong, powerful woman going up against a sensitive man has to be careful how she approaches such a delicate situation. Does she attack? Or, does she simply allow for his vulnerability? Now that the debate is over, I feel we must examine Joe Biden’s tears.
While recounting the story of the tragic loss of his wife and daughter and the serious injuries to his two sons, Biden became understandably emotional at the memories of the grief and hardship he experienced as a single father and widower.
He cried for himself.
He did not cry for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina or Gustav. He did not cry for the women disenfranchised in the primaries that lead to his being tapped as vice-presidential nominee. What of their suffering?
What of the sense of loss felt by the parents of the 125 people murdered in the streets of his running mate’s hometown, or those of the parents of more than 4,000 American casualties of the Iraq war? Did he cry for them?
No.
He shed not one tear for the thousands of women who are injured or killed at the hands of husbands and lovers, or even for the rape victim his campaign sought to exploit for a negative ad. No emotion was shown for women like Britney Spears, who face the loss of custody of their children just because they don’t like to wear panties when they take their kids for a drive.
The things written here are almost too shameful to type, and certainly don’t reflect the sympathy I feel for the victims, and the families of the victims, mentioned. If I offended anyone, I humbly apologize. However, in light of the fact that similar statements made by Obama campaign surrogate, Jesse Jackson Jr. against Hillary Clinton, a woman Joe Biden himself admitted would have been a better VP pick than him, and who, I believe, would have made a much better president than either he, or Barack Obama could ever hope to be, were allowed to stand, Biden’s tears must be examined.
And considering that Biden shed no tears over that, he, Barack Obama, and the Democratic party, come up seriously lacking.
Many have wondered exactly when race was first injected into Barack Obama’s campaign. Was it the “race memo,” that whiny release sent to the Huffington Post complaining that the Clintons and their surrogates were deliberately using racially insensitive language against him? No. Was it when Jesse Jackson, Jr. asked “how does an African American candidate attack a white woman,” on January 4, 2008? Uh-uh. How about when Jesse Jackson, Jr. (same guy) four days later questioned Hillary Clinton’s motivations for crying at an appearance before the New Hampshire primary? As reported at the time:
…there were tears that melted the Granite State. And those are tears that Mrs. Clinton cried on that day, clearly moved voters. She somehow connected with those voters.
But those tears also have to be analyzed. They have to be looked at very, very carefully in light of Katrina, in light of other things that Mrs. Clinton did not cry for, particularly as we head to South Carolina where 45% of African-Americans who participate in the Democratic contest, and they see real hope in Barack Obama.
While that certainly is an example of intentionally, and inappropriately, bringing race into a situation where it doesn’t belong, it is not the first one either. Nor was Michell Obama’s “black people will wake up and get it” statement during a MSNBC interview in November of 07. Neither was Roland Martin’s CNN on-air entreaty for Obama to blacken up in October of that year.
The date was May 03, 2007, the day it was announced that Barack Obama would be placed under Secret Service protection, though no credible threat had been received. CNN quoted Dick Durbin:
Illinois’ senior senator, Democrat Dick Durbin, told reporters Thursday night that he relayed concerns about the size of the crowds Obama was drawing and other issues to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Reid decided to take the matter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as an issue for a congressional advisory board, Durbin said.
“I knew the crowds were large … but some of the other information given to us, unfortunately I think, raised a concern among many of [Obama's] friends,” Durbin said.
“Unfortunately, some of the information we found was racially motivated. It is a sad reality in this day and age that Mr. Obama’s African-American heritage is a cause for very violent and hatred, hated reactions among some people.”
Durbin would not elaborate. “I’ve been advised not to talk about any specific security problems or any threats,” he said. He also would not say how he received the information, only that it was from “credible sources.”
This dispicable plan has been woven into the fabric of Obama’s presidential campaign since it’s inception. Unfortunately, it worked against his Democratic rival, which is unsurprising given the degree of Democratic complicity in the plot. Campaign memos and stupid statements by surrogates is one thing, Harry Reid and Dick Durbin enlisting an unwitting government agency is something altogether different. Hopefully, the Republican party will continue to thwart Obama’s similar attempts against them. However, they will have to be ever-vigilant against his “I don’t look like all the other candidates” statements, his surrogates, like Joe Biden’s “he will be transformational for America because he’s black” comments, as well as all the willing co-conspirators in the press.
Barack Obama may have thought he had put Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s famously stated dilemma behind him, but he was wrong. A January 4, 2008 story in the Wahington Post quoted Jackson, The Younger:
“The natural reminder here is O.J. [Simpson] — how does an African American candidate attack a white woman?” said Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), a fellow Chicagoan whose father ran for president twice in the 1980s but was never as close as Obama is now to securing the Democratic nomination.
Yahoo News has noticed Obuhbuh’s reluctance to engage:
Barack Obama seems to have only one problem with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president: She holds the same positions as John McCain, the GOPpresidential candidate who tapped her.
That may seem like a “well, duh” observation on his part, but Obama has tiptoed carefully around Palin as he tries to attract female voters. So far he has criticized her only for her ties to McCain.
“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.
The “she’s not experienced” argument is unlikely to work, no matter who makes it. Bloomberg News says even fellow Alaskans are skeptical:
“She’s not qualified, she doesn’t have the judgment, to be next in line to the president of the United States,” Larry Persily, who until June worked in the governor’s Washington office as a congressional liaison, said in a phone interview yesterday.
“I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. Sen. John McCain has a lifetime of experience that he’d bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.”
We be black. We was black befo’ Obama got elected, and we still black, nah. Summa y’all don’t like dat, an’ it piss y’all off. Y’all be trippin’. Y’all suck. Chill.
cannot see the same sort of racial bias right in front of their eyes. Though they are not only adept at recognizing overt discrimination directed towards them, but quite skilled at ferreting out intended sexism no matter how cleverly couched, even correctly identifying incidences where deliberate bigotry is intentionally dressed in politically correct clothes in order to escape detection, no such leeway is accorded those who empathize with those of us who suffer racially. Read the rest of this entry »
While there are many tangled webs to unravel in the current 
Forget 
You know, even though I was born and raised a Democrat, and remained one all my life until the lying rat bastards showed themselves to be the slimy bunch of lying rat bastards they are during this election cycle, every day I find myself agreeing with Republicans more and more. Not because I think they’re right about anything much, but, because I’m beginning to hate Democrats, too. What a sniveling bunch of whiny assed, wannabe crooks and schnooks y’all elected to guide this sinking ship to the bottom of the hellish Ocean of No Returns they keep dumping our good money after bad into via the coffers of the greedy corporate bankster masters they serve. And no, I’m not talking about Rod Blagojevich and his hapless Senate appointee, Roland Burris, I’m talking about the sanctimonious, holier-than-thou charlatans fingerpointing scapegoats like school children jockeying for position at the head of the line for the teeter-totter, stepping on each other’s toes and poking each other in the ribs as they holler for Teacher, only to adopt angelic visages and mumble, “he did it,” in disingenuous attempts to escape attention when faced with the wrath of authority.
Now that the Illinois State Senate has done its duty and 
Guilty in the press, Rod Blagojevich not only came out swinging at a press conference today, he was 
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 
Ha, ha, ha…I’m sorry, I can’t stop laughing. “Crazy ol’” Rod Blagojevich, the 
That would be the headline for any other president-elect at any other time in our history, since it accurately reflects the facts of a pretty sensational story. However, since we’re talking about an extraordinary Teflon TelePrompTer Messiah, elected/anointed/selected to lead us to the Promised Land of Peace and Prosperity at this unique point in history, the bulk of the headlines referring to Barack Obama’s “
Rahm’s in Africa
Rahm Emanuel
There’s 
Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois governor accused of trying to sell the Senate seat president-elect Barack Obama 
A local Chicago 
The 
Why are the Keepers of the Book of Barack, aka the mainstream media, pushing the “Blago’s batshit” story line as quasi-fact? Who does it benefit? If the embattled governor was making such claims, or acting in a manner as if he wanted people to think he’s nuts, it might be more understandable, even though, if that was the case, chances are the Barackomaniacs would reject such assertions as Blago’s pitiful attempts to exonerate himself. They would use his statements as evidence of his criminality just as they use his alleged criminality as evidence of his madness. Why?
