And, Then There’s Blago

On the day when the Superman of Spokesmodel-in-Chief’s Boy Wonder,  Treasury Secretary, Turbo Tax Timmy Geithner, tax cheat (TTTG,tc) was all over television promoting his plan to fundamentally change the American financial structure…

“But we’re going to emerge stronger from this. When we get through this, people are going to care less about what they make, more about what they do. What they achieve is what they make. And that will help make this country stronger.”

…by pumping even more cash into the banksters’ coffers than the 565 billion dollars already spent of the 700 billion allocated TARP funds, you’d think that money and Afghanistan were all that the Obamanians had to worry about.

Yet, with all that, and the other potential crises looming on the Obama horizon, like the auto industry collapse, no “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal forthcoming, and G20 to name another three, the upcoming April 7 date for indicting, or filing an extension to file charges against the Cabbage Patch Weeble, Rod Blagojevich, lurks menacingly in the background for the Pretendident.  NBC Chicago says the indictment could come down sometime next week.  While the Obministration might well be content to just let sleeping dogs lie, in about a week, one way or another, something’s gonna give.

Leave Roland Alone!

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 Sinatra Johnny 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 Feds who’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, then leaked 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.

How Burris Probably Got The Job

Illinois Senator Roland (Like It Or Not) Burris is in hot water with the Chicago press gone viral, Illinois Republicans, and the easily lead, all up in arms about previously undisclosed conversations he had with former Governor Rod (Cabbage Patch Weeble)  Blagojevich’s surrogates prior to his eventual appointment.  Burris, force-fed to the Senate by the teed-off Hair Bear, is accused of talking about ineffectively trying to raise the paltry sum of $15,000 for Blagojevich while the governor was allegedly trying to auction off the “juicy plum” of former Senator, now President, Barack Obama’s hurriedly vacated seat to the highest bidder.  The clueless Burris, who most likely was never in contention for the seat before Blago decided to give those he saw as drunken, vengeful incompetents a big “eff ewe,” neglected to mention the Blago camps’ fundraising requests to the Illinois House impeachment committee when he was dragged on the carpet prior to his confirmation.  Therefore, in the eyes of his detractors, he’s a liar, and thus, must go.

Sure, Burris always wanted the job; he seems to be a nice-enough, largely irrelevant, intensely ambitious, fuzzy little man, whose delusions of grandeur have probably always simultaneously been both his Achilles heel and his most endearing quality.  Let’s face it, all in all Burris, is a joke.  Blags and Co. probably always saw him that way, too.  That’s the beauty of his appointment.

And, there’s not much doubt that the manipulative Blago Crew would gleefully exploit whatever meager assets Burris had to offer to their advantage, that seems to be a large part of the Blagojevich modus operandi, as well as his ultimate undoing.  The sticking point is, if Burris thought he had anything to bring to the table that would even rate him consideration for a Senate appointment during Blagojevich’s serious deliberations about the matter, he was probably just kidding himself, and Blago’s Boyz were most likely stringing him along.

One can only imagine the private conversations re: Burris in BlagoWorld:

Unnamed Blago Staffer: Burris called.

Blago: Who?

Unnamed Blago Staffer: Burris. Roland.  You know, the funny little guy…

Blago: Yeah, yeah, I know.  I’m just yanking your chain, Unnamed.  Whaddid he want?

Unnamed Blago Staffer: The Senate seat.

(Raucus pirateer laughter all around)

Blago (wiping tears): The Senate seat?  The Senate seat?  Oh, man, are you f*cking kidding me?  What’s he offering, like, ten grand?

Unnamed Blago Staffer: Fifteen.

(More raucus pirateer laughter)

Blago (getting up from floor): Oh, man, cut it out!  You’re killin’ me, here!  Fifteen grand?  Fifteen f*cking measly grand?  Burris?  Wooo-hooo, man, I’m dyin’ here! (shakes head) Fif-teen grand? (sobering) Okay, who else ya got?

I’m sure it wasn’t until after Blago got screwed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s curiously premature arrest without indictment, which robbed Blago of a big payday at the very least, and Fitzgerald of the glory of netting two big fish dead to rights, that Cabbage Patch figured that since he was still Governor, he might as well use Burris to give the Illinois lynch mob the finger before they dragged him into their kangaroo court.

Let’s face it, Burris never raised the fifteen grand anyway; nobody was ever going to give him any money to give to Blagojevich.  C’mon people, think.  This is a bif “eff ewe back” from the big boys playing in the federal government sandbox.  Blago pissed Burris on them with a bigger wanger, and now all the “little wanger” Our Gang members are ganging together to wipe the Burris piss off.

And poor little Roland?  At least he got to be Senator for a little while.  And, it didn’t cost him a cent.

Blago’s Gone For Good, Now What?

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…

more about “The power of Obama’s hand – Andie Col…“, posted with vodpod

What Else Ya Got?

If the purpose of the Illinois Senate’s introduction of wiretapped telephone  conversations was to prove that Governor Rod Blagojevich was indeed under surveillance by the FBI, score one for the impeachers.  If the intent was to show evidence of guilt, point goes to Blago.  Though an FBI agent vouched that the voices on the tapes were the people they were supposed to be, nobody actually said much about nothin’.  From the Associated Press:

Neither the governor nor the others on the call — the governor’s brother and chief fundraiser Robert Blagojevich and former chief of staff Lon Monk, officials say — specifically mentions money or any amounts.

The impeachment trial, ostensibly triggered by the governor’s December arrest on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and solicitation of bribery, is inaccurately being depicted in the media as being related to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s allegations that Blagojevich tried to sell President Black Obama’s vacant Senate seat.  However, only cherry-picked transcript evidence related to those charges, which Blagojevich is yet to be indicted for, and unrelated wiretapped evidence, is slated to be presented at the impeachment trial, under orders from the U.S. Attorney’s office.  Got it?

The conversation highlighted above is said to indicate that Blagojevich wanted to pressure horse racing lobbyists for campaign donations in return for favorable legislation, with the catch being that the deal must be done before the end of the year in question when new ethics laws would go into effect.

The allegation at the center of the tapes played for senators is that Blagojevich pressured John Johnston, owner of two Chicago-area harness-racing tracks, to donate money by the end of 2008, when a new ethics law would restrict donations.

Prosecutors say Blagojevich threatened not to sign legislation giving tracks a portion of casino-generated revenue unless he got the donation.

It’s not clear whether Johnston ever made a donation; federal prosecutors have seized Blagojevich’s campaign records. Johnston has not been charged with any illegal activity.

When the Cabbage Patch Weeble goes on every talk show but Maury (is that still in production?) to protest his inability to call witnesses in his impeachment trial, he’s right.  To a point.  He can’t call witnesses related to the Senate seat sale, like David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel or Valerie Jarrett, but neither can the Illinois Senate.  Blago is free as a bird to call any other witnesses he wants, but since those aren’t the witnesses that would help the case he’s really being prosecuted for, except not really, because the prosecution can, and has introduced the transcript evidence, all he can do is boycott the trial and go on TV threatening everybody involved that no matter what they do, when he is officially indicted (if he is) and goes to trial, everybody’s going down if he does.

Neither the prosecution nor the defense is allowed to summon any witnesses whose testimony might interfere with federal prosecutors’ criminal case against Blagojevich, although their public statements could be introduced as evidence. But Blagojevich has not asked to call witnesses or present any evidence at all, and said he does not plan to participate in any way.

The only unvarnished truth from either side in this farcical witch hunt is Illinois Senate President John Cullerton’s assertion that the impeachment process is not a trial, but a political process, even though he leaves out the part were the deck is likely to be stacked against Blagojevich.  From NPR:

But Jeffrey Shaman, a constitutional law professor at DePaul University in Chicago, said impeachment trials are really more political procedures than fair trials and cannot be completely unbiased. Under the Illinois Constitution, senators only need to find cause to remove the governor from office, and they get to define what cause is.

The tapes and transcripts can be found here.  Prosecutors also admit that the tapes are not all incriminating, in fact some show Blago in a favorable light:

Ellis outlined a few items from the federal case that he said “are probably favorable to the governor.” These include conversations in which the feds recorded Blagojevich in conversations denying to people he knows that he has engaged in any illegal activities.

It also included instances in which Blagojevich was talking about how to fill President Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, and was indicating that the criterion he was focused on was “the candidates’ ability to benefit the state of Illinois.”

So, while the state of Illinois proceeds to impeach it’s governor now that they’ve succeeded in convicting him in the media, on charges he hasn’t been indicted on plus some other ones they’ve always wanted to get him on but never had enough evidence to go on, the governor goes to the media protesting that he’s being handcuffed in defending himself against charges he hasn’t been indicted on by political opponents who’ve always wanted to get him for stuff they could never prove.

And The Wheels On The Bus Go ‘Round…

Axelrod, Jarrett Subpoenaed?

Nope.  Though some folks would have you believe that, President Black Obama’s closest aides were not subpoenaed; the Cabbage Patch Weeble, impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s records regarding any conversations, papers, etc., he had concerning the Dynamic Duo were, on December 8.  The next day, Blags was arrested, according to the media for trying to sell the only clean politician in Illinois state’s history’s curiously vacated Senate seat, the one that home girl Valerie Jarrett didn’t want, anyway, no matter what newly appointed White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said.  Then, Pope President  proclaimed Blagojevich guilty and his buddies not, and passed sentence that Hot Rod should save the state time and money and take the “Frankie Five Angels” option and kill himself, politically speaking, and resign.  Blago said, “Fuck you, and the unicorn you rode in on, Bozo Bitch.”  Blaggy probably took that position because, even though a lot of his troubles arise from his relationship with Antonin Rezko, the slumlord never helped him buy a house or housing project.

Back to the subpoenas.  U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who first pronounced judgment on Blagojevich in the press conference announcing his arrest, by matter-of-factly stating that he had Blags arrested to stop a criminal from committing worse crimes, obviously didn’t have enough to indict the obviously guilty Cabbage Patch Weeble, because he didn’t.  He issued a 78 page complaint, arrested the guy, let him go on paltry bail, then asked for a 90 day extension to make his case, even with all the subpoenas,  wiretapped conversations and new witnesses.  However, once St. Pat got the hot little Axelfuck/Slumlady docs in his hand, and listened to the tapes, he hauled Jarrett, her buddy Rahm Emanuel, and her boss, Mr. Clean in for questioning, even though His Holiness had by now, officially cleared himself and annointed his staff with holy water.

By this point, the Axelrove Astroturfing was in full swing, with the press not only convicting Blago, but aiding and abetting the Illinois Congress in trying to kick him out of office on any number of grounds, most notably his demonstrable madness, caused by his Bob Big Boy hair growing inward as thickly as it does outwardly.  Cabbage Patch said, “Suck my nuts, you ninnies, I ain’t going nowhere,” and appointed Roland Burris to Obuhbuh’s curiously vacated Senate seat to prove it.  Once the Astroturf Army picked their jaws up off the floor, they used them to flap incessantly that Blag’s “audacity” proved his insanity as surely as Obuyme’s proved his divinity.  It was on.

Since then, Blagojevich has prevailed, primarily because the political machinations of the media-enabled U.S. show government had no legal authority that would trump a sitting governor, so, we now move to the next phase, where the media-enabled political machinations of the Illinois show government rule.  While CPW (Cabbage Patch Weeble) mounts his own media blitz protesting his kangaroo court “hanging” (he couldn’t use “lynching“, he’s white) the pissed off pols in the Land of Lincoln gleefully admit that they have the power to remove him from office based on unproven allegations against him  because they’re not a court of law, but a Clinton impeachment-inspired political process (kangaroo court.)

But lawmakers quickly defended the process of a Democratic legislature ousting a two-term Democratic governor, noting Blagojevich’s complaints were an attempt to confuse the public by injecting criminal trial rights into an impeachment process that is purely political.

All the while, the ‘Turfers “report” the “important” facts against CPW, like the fact that his protestations “prove” his desperation, implying guilt, even though, any fool could see that anyone similarly ostracized and castigated, guilty or innocent, would likely run screaming, “Hey, listen to my side, you sanctimonious pricks!” to anybody who would listen.  It’s not like lynch mobs are always right:

While Illinois history provides little guide to a Senate trial and conviction of a governor, the last impeachment in the nation’s history—the 1988 conviction and removal of controversial Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham—illustrates some things that could happen.

Mecham unsuccessfully fought to delay his impeachment trial until after his federal trial on corruption charges. Though he was removed from office, the Arizona Senate failed to muster the votes necessary to give Mecham the political death penalty and Mecham, who was acquitted of the corruption counts, lost races for governor in 1990 and U.S. senator two years later.

*UPDATE: According to the Chicago Tribune, Blagojevich had some intriguing things to say in his 2-part NBC interview with Amy Robach.  While most news outlets are focusing on Blago’s statements regarding his reflections upon Ghandi, Dr. King, and Mandela, it seems the transcript reveals he made other statements worthy of note:

Maintaining his innocence in his interview with NBC, portions of which were aired Sunday and others to be aired Monday, Blagojevich said that upon his Dec. 9 arrest at his Northwest Side home, “I thought about Mandela, Dr. King, Gandhi and trying to put some perspective in all of this.”

At the same time, Blagojevich said “some national figures like Harry Reid,” the U.S. Senate majority leader from Nevada, “are frankly covering their own backside” by asking him to step down because of their discussions with him over the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. Blagojevich is accused of trying to peddle the seat for an Obama administration post, a high-paying job or other favors.

“And for me to just quit because some cackling politicians want to get me out of the way because there’s a whole bunch of things they don’t want known about them and conversations they may have had with me ….. would be to disgrace my children when I know I’ve done nothing wrong,” Blagojevich said in a transcript of the interview.

UPDATE II: John Kass of the Chicago Tribune has more here about the real reason for Blago’s lawyer, Ed Genson’s bailing out, among other things.

Blago Speaks

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.

Burris Channels Malcolm

Uh-oh.  The Obacrats, with their shaky grasp on the law, coupled with their pre-school level truculence are going down on the Roland Burris appointment.  Burris, who seems to be a mild-mannered, harmless enough sort, nonetheless, also seems to have the ramrod backbone of any narcissist personally challenged.   None of this matters one whit, however, the bottom line is, Roland Burris is the duly appointed, by the sitting governor, replacement for Barack Obama’s Senate seat.  Period.  And, there’s nothing in the law that says the Obacrats have to like it.

It’s not like they weren’t warned.  Blagojevich made it clear that he was the governor, exercising his duty in making a appointment.  Rep. Bobby Rush helpfully pointed out, that contrary to the misguided wishes of the clueless political allies of Barack Obama, black doesn’t cancel black, whenever you have black people involved, you have a racial element to consider.  And deal with.  Now, Roland Burris is channeling his inner Malcolm X.  In an appearance on Face the Nation, Burris, a relatively savvy politician, had a lot to say, and let it be known that with the inauguration coming up, the president-elect doesn’t need this sort of “distraction,” that contrary to the Obacrats’ earlier stated position, things were now indeed about him, and he planned to be seated.  One of the more interesting statements was the invocation of the spirit of the man whose memory still causes sphincters to clinch and spines to tingle in certain segments of American society:

“Well, don’t you feel you’re being used by someone who is just trying to save his political skin?” Schieffer asked.

“Whatever means necessary,” Burris said, paraphrasing the 1960s radical Malcolm X. “I have nothing to do with the governor’s motives. What we needed was something to be done for the people of Illinois. That was his constitutional duty. That was his responsibility. The Illinois Constitution does not say the governor ‘may’ or the governor ‘might’ or the governor ’should.’ Bob, it says the governor ’shall’ appoint a person to fill the vacancy. That’s what happened.”

Now, the Obacrats who refused to act to nullify the powers invested in re-elected Governor Rod Blagojevich upon the event of his arrest, presumably because an accusation of criminal activity is not enough to empower them to do so, are desperately trying to erase the line in the sand they insisted upon drawing and trying to hide behind.

It didn’t have to be this way, President-elect Barack Obama could have held on to his Senate seat like Vice President-elect Jo(k)e Biden, and Secretary of State-designate, Hillary Clinton held on to theirs.  PUMA sites, among others, including this one, have questioned this particular move since Day One.  Why the rush to distance himself from his own Senate seat?  Are we supposed to believe the Smartest President In the Room didn’t know that the governor of his state was under investigation?  Everybody else did.  Why give him yet another, irresistable opportunity to implicate himself?  Or, was that the point?  And if so, to what end?  Is Obama so high above the kind of “pay-to-play” corruption seemingly so rampant in his home city and state that he need fear no blowback from any possible investigation, or, might he be motivated by a desire to deflect attention from himself by shining the brightest light imaginable on an inconvenient rival?   Had Obama not relinquished the seat, there’s no guarantee Blagojevich would have been arrested before the inauguration, (and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s traditional replacement) if at all, since he had already been under investigation for 5 years without indictment.

Despite all their combined years of political experience, the Obacrats, under their rookie leader, seem to have forgotten one of the basic tenets of politics and life; when you play with fire, you’re gonna get burnt.  Yet, that is precisely what the Obacrats tried to do with the Blagojevich situation, fan the flames ignited by a random spark from their deliberately dropped match, then attempt to juggle the embers.  Too bad the fact that it is a fire of their own making does not render it any more safe.

That something so obviously a no-brainer is being seriously debated by lawmakers is so beyond the pale as to be unfathomable.  If  the Obacrats already had power to nullify Blagojevich in any way, why would they be so adamant about him resigning?  Besides, what on earth about a Blagojevich resignation now would invalidate Roland Burris’ appointment?  And, more importantly, does anybody really want to open the door to allowing the Senate to legally deny Americans employment simply because the person who lawfully hired them has been convicted only in the court of public opinion, without benefit of indictment or trial?

Talk about guilt by association.

He Only Has To Be Accused

The Illinois committee’s report points out that Blagojevich does not need to be found guilty of a crime for the House to impeach him.

”It would, in fact, be unreasonable to limit impeachable offenses to criminal conduct,” the report says. ”An impeachment inquiry is not a criminal proceeding and its purpose is not punitive. Rather, impeachment is a remedial proceeding to protect the public from an officer who has abused his position of trust.”

New York Daily News

Proof?  We don’t need no stinkin’ proof.  Somebody said, a U.S. Attorney, no  less, on TV, for Goodness sakes, that the guy was on a crime spree, because, he said, he heard somebody say to somebody else on the phone that he was gonna, and, then he said the governor said if they didn’t do what he wanted, bleep ‘em.  What kind of way is that for a Governor to talk, huh?  Mother bleeper?  We never liked him, anyway.  He tried to get flu vaccines delivered to Illinois during a shortage.  What kind of slimy, lowdown crook would do something like that?  And the casinos he ripped off for the horse race guys are taking bets on jail time.  Are you kidding me?  He must be guilty, I saw it on TV.  He shoulda had the decency to resign.  He knows Rezko, you know?

Yeah, but Rezko didn’t help him buy a house.

However, as we can see in this Dec. 28 You Tube video, Blago’s impeachment and conviction is pretty much a done deal.  What until proven who?

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

Obacrats Can’t Be This Stupid

Whoever thought maneuvering Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich into a position that allowed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to officially criminalize machine politics-as-usual for political advantage has got to be the biggest neophyte yahoo rube to come down the pike since…Barack Obama.  Let’s review.  Barack Obama, the only African American in the Senate for two years, mysteriously generates enough money and clout to mount a successful run for the presidency out of a political environment so corrupt that “Lincoln would roll over in his grave,” how?  By being an all-around, all-American, above-board, swell, good guy, of course.  Sure.

Surrounded by his personal band of proselytizing disciples; Rahmbo the Emanuel, Valerie Magdalene, King David of the Astroturf, Antonin of Houses, and Jon, the Groper of Graven Images, to name a few, the Obamessiah scampered above the sewer waters of Illinois corruption as if they were a North Side private gymnasium treadmill.  As a fisher of men, He was often unfortunately touched, but not tainted by, the activities of the unworthy among those He assembled and attempted to make pure, as has been dutifully chronicled by the mainstream media Keepers of the Holy Book of the Obamessiah.  However, Barack remains the Reformer, bathed in the Light.

Clean, bright and articulate by resume, the recent machinations by the Combine Machine of the Obacrats are threatening to reveal enough cracks in the Obamirror of Righteousness to expose His Holy Stupid-as-a-Stumpness in a nationally broadcast Naivete Scene.  Did it never occur to the No Drama Obama crew that manipulating a fellow player not of their clique into a corner carried risks?

When one of their number, Antonin of Houses, stumbled and fell by the wayside, the Obasciples simply stepped gingerly, single-file around him, leaving him where he lay, disavowing him three times as they boarded the Obabus he rolled under when they continued confidently on their preordained journey to the Promised Land.  The Obamessiah did not lay hands upon him, nor did He absolve him of his sin; He simply denied knowledge of him as He brushed His Holy shoulders and allowed Himself to be driven on.  This was a Holy boo-boo.

For Antonin of Houses had special knowledge of Valerie Magdalene and the Obamessiah, and Antonin was pisseth.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century post-election ensconcement of the Obamessiah as President-In-Training Wheels.  Having written and disseminated his own Holy backstory to the Chroniclers, and having consumed their regurgitated praise to his overfill, the Obamesiah, drunk with his own Obamessiah-ness by proxy, allowed Himself to believe He, Jr. Father, Knew Best.  Thus began the chess match, whereby playing unopposed, the Obamessiah cleverly checkmated Himownself.

Seeing a way to eliminate his only real threat to absolute power in His own backyard, Barack of Hyde Park decided to continue to attempt to appear to levitate above the machinations of His betrayed Obasciple of the Houses,  and the locust-and-honey-eating way clearer, the crude Rod the Blagojevich, while shining His Holy Light upon their common evangelical activities, forgetting He too, was bathed in His Own Light.  Thus, He Screweth Himself.

Okay, enough of the Obamessiah allegory; it’s not only making me nauseous, I’m not nearly as good at it as John, South of Melrose over on Liberal Rapture or Gerald Baker; plus I need to be free to call bullshit without all this pseudo-Christian baggage.  So, let’s get back to brass tacks, shall we?

The fact remains that Obama screwed the pooch when he tried to play innocent while pointing the finger at Blagojevich.  Everybody in Illinois knew Blags was under investigation, he even hinted at the worst kept secret in politics the day before he was arrested.  Everybody also knew that even with Rezko’s making like a canary, Fitzgerald didn’t have enough to indict.  He still doesn’t.  But when the president-elect bats his exaggeratedly wide-open eyes and tilts his head in your direction when somebody else calls you a crook, people sit up and take notice.

Obama and company knew that if they dangled the vacant Senate seat plum just right while they dropped unsubtle hints that Fitzgerald was sure to pick up, the investigation against Blags was sure to intensify.  However, methinks they underestimated the existing intensity of the ongoing investigation.  Thinking that the tentacles would subsequently stretch out in all directions, they never considered that they already did, that it wasn’t just one Blagojevich phone that was tapped, and that more of their pre-cleanup involvement was already caught on tape.

Now, the smartest president in the room and his gang have been interviewed in a pay-to-play scam and have proclaimed their innocence, just like Blagojevich, just like Bill Richardson.  Though Blago has been arrested, before his alleged crime could criminally implicate anybody else, he hasn’t been indicted, he was released on a paltry bond, and he remains free to exercise his duties as governor.  And, now that he has done just that, the Obacrats, who for their own nefarious reasons, swept Obama to power, are desperate to get Blags to nullify himself, since they know they have no legal, or moral, authority to do so.  They also know now that Blagojevich knows it, too; by making the appointment, the Obacrats are not only rendered impotent, they’ve handcuffed  and prevented themselves from exercising any power they might once have wielded.  For, even if they impeach Blago, or he now resigns, there’s nothing that would make Roland Burris’ appointment to the Senate retroactively invalid.  From Politico:

The Democrats’ preferred solution to the Burris problem is for the Illinois Legislature to impeach Blagojevich, paving the way for Democratic Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn to take his place and appoint someone other than Burris to Obama’s vacant seat. But even that could create a legal headache, legal observers say, since the Burris appointment would still be pending.

“Even if Blagojevich is impeached, that doesn’t undo all the actions he has taken as governor,” said Andrew Raucci, a former chief justice for the Illinois Court of Claims and now a Chicago-based attorney.

Democrats say that if Burris hasn’t been seated by the time Quinn takes over, he could name someone else to the seat by rescinding Burris’ certification papers.

Burris was having none of it. At a news conference at Chicago’s Midway Airport, the former Illinois attorney general testily said to reporters, “Why don’t you all understand that what has been done here is legal? I am the junior senator from Illinois, and I wish my colleagues in the press would recognize that. All the drama — I guess it keeps you all in a job.”

And, to make bad matters worse, not only is Burris adamant that he is the junior senator from Illinois no matter what ticky-tack maneuvers the Obacrats try to pull, the criminalization of day to day political manipulation makes every satellite in the Oba-universe vulnerable.  Just ask Bill Richardson.

The best laid plans of mice and men, gang aft aglae.

Teflon TelePrompTer Reader Tap Dances To The White House

The already scandal-plagued man who will be sworn in as America’s 44th president in a little over two weeks is full of crap and the butt kissing media that enables him is, too.  The number of examples of this “don’t worry about a thing, we’ve got your back” medialove are far to numerous to chronicle here, or on any one forum, but let’s start with what’s in the news today, and what it is designed to divert attention from.  The latter is easy, the Obamedia is desperate to get us to ignore the scandal-ridden nature of the coming administration, by simply re-labeling it as non-scandalous, claiming that it has no effect on his wonderfulness, proclaiming that nothing is his fault, or promoting the insignificant.

First up, the insignificant.  CBS2Chicago tells us that Barack Obama “choked up” when leaving his empty Chicago home to assume his new job in Washington, you know, the one that would overwhelm a lesser man.  Why the home in the city he has made his and his party’s headquarters, and that he calls his “Kennebunkport” and has vowed to return to at every available opportunity would be empty is not mentioned, natch:

President-elect Barack Obama says he choked up a little bit when he left his empty house before flying to Washington.

Obama spoke briefly to reporters aboard a government 757 before taking off en route to Andrews Air Force Base. His family went to Washington on Saturday and left him to wander around his Hyde Park home alone.

Yawn.  Why is this “news?”  Maybe for the same reason Good Morning America featured a guest who said his year of “living like Jesus” motivated him to vote for Obama because he was the candidate who best represented Jesus’ teachings on the same page as “Obama’s Favorite Chicago Haunts” and “Challenges for Obama in 2009.”

These kinds of stories are designed to blunt the effect of other stories, like, oh, say the one about his Commerce Secretary-designate’s withdrawal due to allegations of his involvement in a “pay to play” scheme.  From the New York Times:

Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, one of the country’s most prominent Hispanic politicians and President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to be commerce secretary, on Sunday dropped out of consideration for that post. He attributed his decision to the ongoing investigation of a company that has done business with New Mexico.

Richardson, unaffectionately dubbed “Judas,” by James Carville and every other Hillary Clinton supporter in the primaries because of his betrayal of the people what brung him in favor of the one that promised him more than he deserved.  Why Richardson allowed himself to be deceived to the point that he would go so far as to disparage his former benefactors on behalf of the one destined to toss him under the bus as soon as his bulk became excess baggage, is a testament to either the man’s lack of political acumen or his greed.  Whatever, but under the bus he goes.  From the same news network that gave us the Obama/Jesus whitewash, Jake Tapper reports:

Sources tell ABC News that officials on the Obama Transition Team feel that before he was formally offered the job of commerce secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was not forthcoming with them about the federal investigation that is looking into whether the governor steered a state contract towards a major financial contributor.

Once the investigation became more widely known through national media reports last month, sources tell ABC News, the Obama Transition Team realized the FBI would not be able to give Richardson a clean political bill of health before the new administration is ready to send his nomination up to the Senate for confirmation.

The Richardson camp says the governor was forthcoming, with sources close to the governor noting that there had been reports about the controversy in local media such as the Albuquerque Journal as far back as August 2008. The governor discussed the investigation with the Obama team, they say, and believes that he and his administration have done nothing wrong.

Of course “Judas” now feels himself betrayed; had the flames of “pay to play” fire not flicked so close to Obie and the Obacrats’ butts so close to the inauguration, and the Team O public relations machine been able to manipulate the scandal in a manner similar to the John (Kookie) Edwards love child dirt, maximizing Edwards’ minimal political influence before ruining his career, chances are Richardson might have emerged relatively unscathed.  However, with the way the Obacrats have bungled the Blagojevich “Hot Senate Seat” prematurely ejaculated arrest, Richardson was more than expendable, he was imperatively so.  Had the Obacrats nullified Blago when they had the chance, he never could have big balled them by legally appointing Roland Burris to replace Obama as the only black Senator, thereby shrinking theirs to the size of Raisinets.  That’s what Obie and the Obacrats and their “Astroturfing” (which is unethical in, and of, itself, btw) genius David Axelrod are desperately trying to tap dance past.

That, and the fact that though they have whiningly cleared themselves in the “Blago tried to sell my seat” ongoing BlagObama Drama, it’s not at all clear that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has.  Though Fitzgerald said Obama and his team were not involved in the preliminary complaint (not indictment), he never said Obama wasn’t involved in the investigation.  And, Fitz’s motion for a 90 day extension (that Blago does not oppose) after questioning Obama and two of his closest aides, Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, and his leaking to the press the titillating information that “multiple potential witnesses” have come forward, and that there are “thousands of intercepted phone calls” to go through (not just the 4 Fitz is willing to release to the impeachment committee) raising the possibility of “multiple new defendants,” has got to be giving Obie and the boyz a plethora of sleepless nights.  Not to mention that the incompetence of the Obacrats becomes more obvious the longer Blago is allowed to run loose and agitate them into shooting themselves in the foot.

In advance of the upcoming Norman Hsu trial, as well as the recently exposed Congel/Clinton Foundation connection, watch out for an onslaught of “he walks on water, he really does, take it from us” type articles in the mainstream media and blogosphere in your near future.  And, given his history, be prepared for the Tap Dancing Teflon TelePrompTer Reading Obamessiah to try to toss his Secretary of State appointee, Mary Mgdalene/Hillary Clinton right under the bus with “Judas.”

Lock The Doors! Scary Black Man A-Comin’!

Big ol’ scary Roland Burris says he’s the Senator from Illinois so make way.  The Obamacrats say the idea of Burris sullying the sanctity of the Senate is so terrifying,  they’ll do whatever they have to do to keep him out and keep the country safe.  “Hide the women and children, go to the root cellar, get under the desks, run for your lives, for God’s sake, hide!”

Oh please.  For the Democrats in the Senate to say they’ll block the doors to prevent Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s appointed replacement for Barack Obama (the not scary black guy)’s Senate seat, Burris (the scary black guy) from taking office, just because they’re miffed, is just plain silly and pretty durned funny.  So, too, is Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush (a formerly scary black guy)’s insistence on being…well, Bobby Rush, and warning people against “lynching and hanging”  just because they want to bar entrance to the hallowed halls of the Senate by the scary black guy just like George Wallace wanted to keep scary black kids out of school.  But, never you mind, the fun doesn’t stop there, no sireee, Bobbo!  Being scary on command can be a hoot.  I mean, like The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates pointed out, quoting KristenMcQueary, it’s not like Bobby Rush never endorsed a white person over a black one:

He went so far as to compare Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, who in 1963 stood in the doorway of a University of Alabama school building to block two black students from entering. Reid and Senate Democrats pledged to refuse any appointee sent by Blagojevich, even Burris, who would be the chamber’s only black member.

Rush’s lecture, however, seems quite two-faced considering he chaired Blair Hull’s 2004 U.S. Senate campaign.

Hull is white.

If sending a black senator to Washington is so important now, why didn’t Rush support a black candidate four years ago? Not only was Obama on the Democratic ballot, but Joyce Washington, a black woman and health care executive, was as well.

Never mind that Rush endorsed Obama for president over his good white friends, the Clintons, or that Rush crushed Obama when Obie made an ill-advised bid for Bobby’s Congressional seat, or that Obama’s hit man David Axelrod took Hull down hard on his way to the Senate, it’s a black thing, only summa y’all unnerstan’.  But, hey, let the good times roll on.

And, lest you think Senate Majority Leader Reid doesn’t like black people, not just because of the Wallace-esque door-blocking thing, but also because he tried to block Blagojevich from appointing any other black men, too, pish tosh, put those thoughts aside.  I’m sure he knows there haven’t been a whole lot of black people in the Senate; as Earl Ofari Hutchinson reminds us, it’s always been a “good old boy’s club” and, by golly, everybody just likes it that way!  Nothing personal, move along.  And those black folks agitating on Roland Burris’ behalf?  Misguided malcontents, the whole lot of ‘em.  So what if there are no black Senators, y’all got a black president, how dare you play the race card?

Oh, the delicious irony.  Now it can be revealed just how racially manipulative the Obamacrats have been.  Just because Barack Obama received overwhelming support from black voters, easily deceived sycophants and other fools could be convinced that all black people love and support him alike.  Ha, ha.  What those sycophantic fools choose to ignore is that the illusion of monolithic support is easy to attain if you keep the relevant questions narrow.  In other words, if you ask 1,000 black people how they feel about, oh, health care, you’d probably get answers as varied as if you asked a similar number of white, Asian, short, or stupid people the same thing.  But if you ask them if they’d rather have a black Democratic president or a white Republican one on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, you’d probably be horrified if anybody picked the white guy.

Duh.

Oh, but now, the vilified, but shrewd Blagojevich has flipped the script.  By appointing Burris, and deliberately, in his familiar, yet inimitable “in your face” style, calling bullshit, Blago has forced the Obamacrats to paint themselves into a corner of hell in much the same way they manipulated him into the role of the face of Illinois corruption, hoping to deflect attention from their own systemic culplability.  And, since there’s no easy way out for either side, the yuckfest continues.

The Senate Democrats have no leg to stand on, and will have to abandon their saber rattling bluff.  Blagojevich is most likely guilty as hell, but, under our legal system that doesn’t count, especially since he hasn’t even been indicted for anything, merely arrested pending formal charges.  While that may be enough for the Illinois branch of the Obamacrats to achieve the desired results in their now accelerated, year long, Blagoenemy Madigan Clan led impeachment attempt, it’s hard to see how that would invalidate the Burris appointment.  Would a conviction subsequent to the appointment legally nullify it?

Add the Al Franken coup attempt to the drama and you’ve got Oscar worthy high camp comedy.  Shouting “we won!” while trying to squeak Franken through the Burris-blocked Senate doors could prove to be a tad embarrassing.   I mean, how can you certify Franken, when he hasn’t even really won, and not certify the legally appointed Burris, without looking like a bunch of modern day racist bigots using token black people, like the president-elect and Illinois Secretary of State, to do your quota-maintaining bidding?

Ya can’t.

Advantage Blago/Burris/Rush.

And, once we get the answers to the “why did U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald step in and arrest Blagojevich to prevent a ‘crime-spree,’ when he could have caught at least two high-profile, guilty as hell people redhanded,” and “who are all these new ‘multiple witnesses‘ and what are they and the people on the ‘thousands of intercepted converations‘ saying that’s intersting enough to make Fitzy file a motion seeking an extension,” it might be game, set, match.

Obama the Boxer vs. Blago the Brawler

Okay, I admit it, I’m a boxing fan.  Not that I enjoy watching grown men and women pummel each other’s faces into unrecognition, per se; next to making up words, observing the ritualized human drama of mano a mano (hand to hand, not man to man) competition play out in the structured, regulated and supervised environment of the boxing ring is just plain fun.  More honest than wrestling, grittier, more real and less time consuming than a soap opera, and minus the gratuitous sex, boxing is a curious, yet entertaining  mix of theater and thuggery.  I like it.

It’s a simple sport; there are only four kinds of punches; jab, hook, uppercut, and straight right (or left, depending upon whether the boxer is a right-hander or southpaw.)   While boxers are required to be matched according to weight, the best fights feature fighters of comparable experience and skill. Since the rules are basic, (don’t try to kill your opponent, don’t bring anything into the ring to hit him with, like a bat, don’t hit him in the nuts) and those that aren’t standard are negotiable per fight, the most crucial element, in any match, is style.

Again, we’re talking simplicity simplified, here.  There are three basic styles of fighter, imho; “boxers,” guys not concerned with knockouts, content to win on points, primarily throwing flicking, annoying jabs in an attempt to keep the other guy preoccupied  to the point that he can’t mount an offense of his own.  Boxers are skilled at defense, bobbing, weaving, dancing out of the way of punches, all the while sticking their fists in the face of their opponent, but not really trying to hurt him, either, often becaus they know they can’t.  In fact, boxers don’t want anybody to get hurt, least of all themselves, if they can “hit, without being hit” they’re happy.  It’s even likely that boxers can’t “take a punch,” that’s the reason they’re “boxers,” not “fighters.”  While they may be considered textbook technicians and strategists, and their showy “flash and dash” can delight casual boxing observers, they are pretty much despised by purists and real fans alike, who prefer their champions be a little more rugged, willing to “mix it up” once in a while, and not prissy, wussy, light punching “rabbits.”

Then there are the “punchers.”  These guys are one-half step up from Neanderthal; they want to hit, and hit hard, anywhere, face, body, doesn’t matter; if they hit you, you’ll be hurt.  They often have no defense at all, they don’t need it since they seem to not only be impervious to pain, they enjoy it.  They’re usually not fond of the jab, might not even know how to throw one, the hook, uppercut, right hand, and whatever punch they make up at the spur of the moment in the heat of battle is just fine, thank you,very much.  “Throw hard with bad intentions,” if you miss, do it again.  “He can run, but he can’t hide,” at some point in the match, the “boxer” is going to run out of real estate, energy, or both, then the “puncher” will hit him with the force of a sledgehammer, and the fight will be over.  Whatever punishment is inflicted or received before that is irrelevant.  That is how a puncher “thinks,” that is how he wins, that is how he plans to win.

The style most fans and purists prize most is a combination of the two former ones, the “boxer/puncher.”  This guy knows how to avoid being hit, but if he is, he’s perfectly capable of “shaking it off,” and coming out swinging.  He’s not intimidated by a “puncher,” he can take it, plus, he’s got a fair bit of power in his own hands.  A “boxer” poses no problem for the “boxer/puncher” either, he’s just as skilled both defensively and with the jab, and his is more stinging than annoying.  Also, his “power punches” are often just as devastating as a pure “puncher.”  He’s a thinking man’s fighter, possessing a wide array of skills, he can formulate a strategy to exploit just about any other fighter’s weaknesses, nullify his strengths, and effectively counter with his own.  This is the guy fans and purists love, and opponents fear.

Politically, Barack Obama is a “boxer.”  Since fans enjoy watching the “sweet science,” his ability to avoid trouble has been more than enough, so far.  His  flashy “bob and weave” technique is fun to watch; the trouble is, he hasn’t yet been really hit.  Until now.

Rod Blagojevich is a “puncher.”  In fact, he’s a street brawler with gloves on.  “Style, shmyle, let’s get it on” is his motto.   His blunt, brash, no-nonsense, “whaddya got, whaddaya want?” approach has always gotten him into trouble, and has been easy for Obama to nullify in the past, all the while playing to the crowd, showing off his political dancing skills, and avoiding the clinches.  In fact, when Obama, knowing Blago came into the ring already bloodied by the investigation into his bludgeoning style, employed his “juke and jive” technique of peppering Blago with jabs by dangling Valerie Jarrett as a potential successor for his vacant Senate seat, then snatching her from contention before abruptly making his resignation official, effectively  maneuvered Blago into the corner right before he got hit with the right hand of arrest, it looked like Obama might be a boxer/puncher after all.  Thinking he had delivered a knockout from the accumulation of punches,  followed by the impeachment blow to the gut, and that his opponent was headed out of the ring on a stretcher, Obama allowed himself a brief, poor man’s impression of the Ali shuffle as victory dance.

And got sucker punched.

Hot Rod lunged off the canvas and caught Obama with a head ringing blow just barely above the belt by appointing Roland Burris to Obie’s seat in defiance of just about everybody.   Obama’s supporters, who were heading for the exits, his cornermen, who were headed into the ring, forgot to wait for the count of ten.  All seemed stunned, both that Blags had it in him, and that Obama wasn’t invincible, after all.  Hadn’t Blago heard them declare him dead in one voice?  Didn’t he know he had lost every round on the scorecards?  How did he muster the strength to get up off the floor and throw a haymaker?  They know the game, and they know that wasn’t a lucky punch. That was boxing.  How come Obama the “boxer” didn’t see it coming and get out of the way?  How come the ref didn’t stop the fight?   And more importantly, what do they do now?

Right now, the bell has rung between rounds and the Obama team, with the help of the ref and the timekeeper, are trying to keep their guy on the stool until his cobwebs clear, and they can come up with a winning scenario even the cynical boxing/political public will buy.  They’re also kicking themselves for forgetting that pure “boxing” doesn’t always win fights, for not considering that their guy might have a glass jaw, and  for not knowing that a “puncher” who can “box” will beat even a “boxer/puncher” every time.    Sometimes, with just one punch.  That’s why, when you beat a guy down, it’s best for all concerned to finish him off.

That is, if you can.

BlagObama Drama In Slow Motions

Funny, as we barrel into a 2009 rife with the promise of “hope” and “change,” anticipating the pomp and ceremony of the impending coronation celebrating the ascension of The Great Hype Hope President-Elect-In-Training Wheels to Obamessiah-In-Chief,  replete with all the grandeur and revelry the Inauguration of the Greatest Historically Historic Man Ever Elected for Being Black is due, we find ourselves sidetracked by the spectacle of those on the sidelines busy trying to slow down certain attendant events in order to maximize the impact of an impending train wreck threatening to ruin the festivities for all concerned.

United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has petitioned the court for a 90 day extension in the deadline to indict Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in the case Fitz is building against him.   Though Blagojevich was arrested December 9, he has only been charged in a criminal complaint, not formally indicted.  Said charges are not specific to attempting to sell Barack Obama’s  vacant Senate seat as has been alleged ad nauseum in the press, but are, according to the motion for extension, as follows:

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.

That the media refuses to speculate as to the possible identity of the “multiple potential defendants” is no surprise; the same journalists who conspired to refuse to cast aspersions of any sort against Barack Obama at any point in his career can hardly be expected to highlight any negativity that might shine upon him now that they have manipulated the players in this current drama into two factions; dirty, crazy Blago on one side, and the rest of the Obama loving world on the other.  For whatever reason, the inexplicably charmed Obama has never been accused of any sort of wrongdoing in the mainstream media, no matter what scandal swirls around him, it is always depicted as the fault of others; criticism and questioning of him can only be found on right wing and PUMA blogs.  Whether it is his associations with unsavory characters, his indecisiveness, his flip-flopping, his shady political maneuvering, his gaffes, or other unwise decisions, he is above reproach.

Yet, in the current Blagogate situation, his actions raise questions at the very least.  In fact, the whole mess is questionable.  Why was Valerie Jarrett’s name put forth as a candidate for Obama’s Senate seat, only to be abruptly withdrawn?  Why did Obama officially resign his seat so soon?  Why did Rahm Emanuel go to Africa?  Is he back?  Was he there when he officially resigned his own Congressional seat?  Why did the New York Times specualte that Jarrett-staffer, Michael Strautmanis would be mentioned in the Obama clears Obama “internal investigation” when he was not?  Why did Fitzgerald rush to arrest Blagojevich in order to prevent a crime from being committed in the first place, only to seek more time to build a case?  Why is Blagojevich not trying to block the request?  Again, according to the motion, he’s not:

Following telephone calls and/or meetings over the past week, counsel for both
Blagojevich and Harris have represented that they do not object to this motion.

If the government’s five-year investigation has not yet yielded evidence sufficient to indict him, why isn’t Blagojevich yelling for a speedy trial?   Why is he so adamant about fulfilling his gubernatorial duties, going so far as to appoint a Senatorial successor to Obama, and why is the Illinois legislature allowing him to while they and the Democratic party simultaneously try like hell to minimize and marginalize him, primarily in the media?   One of the few straight talkers about Obama, John Kass, ironically of the same Chicago Tribune Blags is accused of trying to manipulate, points out that the Democrats pretty much brought this current mess upon themselves:

Of course, Tuesday’s fiasco could have been avoided. Democrats in the state legislature could have stripped Blagojevich of his appointment powers and imposed a special election. Obama also could have demanded it. But as he has done so often in his career, Obama avoided a confrontation and looked the other way.

Democrats tried to finesse this, and they allowed Blagojevich the opening he needed, to hold that news conference and defy everybody. And so I’m forced to tip my hat to Gov. Dead Meat on this one, for sheer brazenness.

He’s no jester. And it takes guts to keep a straight face while Democrats about you are losing theirs.

Why?  Why would the Democrats allow things to drag on if they could avoid it?  Why rant and rave about not seating Blagojevich’s appointment, Roland Burris when he shows up for work Tuesday as he says he will, or ceremonially refuse to certify his appointment, giving him the opportunity to file his own state Supreme Court complaint and motion challenging their authority to do such a thing, if Blago could have been nullified weeks ago?  According to Politico, Senate Democrats seem comfortable with a 90 day time frame for their own reasons:

Senate officials tell Politico that if presented with the appointment, they are likely to give the Rules Committee 90 days to determine the propriety of the appointment by looking into such issues as whether Blagojevich received anything in return for it.

“A motion to refer credentials to the committee has the effect of delaying seating,” a Senate Democratic aide said. “The motion is debatable and amendable.”

Another official explained: “That buys us 90 days.”

Ninety days to do what?  Are they betting that the time frame coincides with a federal indictment against Blago?  So what?  If he has already been successfully deemed guilty until proven innocent by the media and his legion of Democratic enemies, don’t they have enough ammunition to impeach him now?   Why didn’t they strip him of his powers and allow for the special election?  Are they that afraid of losing the seat to a Republican?  The other reason given in mid-December for backing away, besides the price tag, was that it would delay an appointment until April, about 90 days from now:

Illinois Republicans have launched a political ad campaign demanding a special election to fill the Senate vacancy that Gov. Rod Blagojevich allegedly tried to sell, hoping to pick up a seat they had no shot at before the scandal.

Democrats, after initially supporting such an election, this week canceled a vote on the matter and backed away in the name of good government. They say an election would cost up to $50 million and leave the state with a Senate vacancy until at least April – giving the new senator an even shorter window before the 2010 campaign cycle heats up.

Clearly the Democrats think the best way to resolve their problems is for Blagojevich to resign, then turn himself in and go to jail.  It’s what on earth would make them think they could force him to do that, and what they think would make it worth their while to even try, at such great potential political expense, that’s the real mystery.  Why is the media so willing to help them get away with it?  And, what’s it got to do with Patrick Fitzgerald, “multiple potential defendants and witnesses,” and “thousands of intercepted phone calls?”

In the motion filed in federal court on Wednesday, United States Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald asked for more time because “multiple witnesses” have come forward in recent weeks and investigators have to review “thousands of intercepted phone calls.”

Red Herrings And Dead Meat

In a sure sign that there are powerful factions in Illinois politics hellbent on getting Gov. Rod Blagojevich impeached for something, (by Lincoln’s birthday, if Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn has anything to do with it) the latest move in the Mad Hatter’s chess game has U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald petitioning the court to agree to release redacted copies of four wiretapped conversations with an unnamed lobbyist to the “Get Blago” (before he talks?) impeachment committee.  These conversations have nothing to do with the sensationalized “Hot Senate Seat Sale Scandal” accusing Blagojevich with attempting to auction off the president-elect’s vacant seat to the highest bidder, which has been tabloidized in the mainstream press…

In a motion filed Monday, Fitzgerald wrote, “Although many relevant communications were intercepted, the government believes that, on balance, it is appropriate to seek the disclosure of four intercepted calls, in redacted form, to the Committee, and that disclosure of the calls by themselves would not interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation.”

The motion emphasizes prosecutors do not take a position on whether Blagojevich should be impeached.

The motion also says that while U.S. law “does not necessarily require the government to obtain judicial authorization before disclosing intercepted communications to other law enforcement or investigative officers, the government does so here out of an abundance of caution and in order to afford
the interceptees in the recorded calls an opportunity to be heard and to object, if they so choose.”

…in fact, Blagojevich’s lawyer, Ed Genson makes the case that the same “internal investigation” self generated by the Obama transition team it clears, clears Blags, too.  Check.

Genson’s next move, calling for the impeachment panel to subpoena the principals in the Senate sale drama who have been interviewed by authorities in connection with the case, namely Valerie Jarrett  and Rahm Emanuel, who will officially resign from the House on Friday, was blocked by the US Attorney on the grounds that it could interfere with the ongoing investigation.  In other words, the stuff Fitz is willing to release has nothing to do with Team O, and the stuff that does is off-limits to the “Get Blago” panel.   Hmmmmm.

Team Obama Thinks You’re Stupid

It’s obvious that the curiously-funded, political science lab-created Axelsteinian entity selected by the nebulous powers-that-be to front the shadow cabal that actually seems hellbent on running the country into the ground thinks, along with his masters, that Joe and Jane Public are stupid as tree stumps.  There’s evidence to support their opinion.  First of all, USA Today says that America’s new Leader in the Light is the most admired man in the country.  Despite the fact that he accomplished nothing of note as a state or US Senator, it seems that being elected because he wasn’t a Clinton or a Republican, as well as having the good fortune to be black in today’s Madison Avenue defined post-racial America, as designated by the Hope Pope, is enough to inspire awe and respect in 32% of those of our fellow citizens willing to be polled about such nonsense during the holidays.  Hillary Clinton was dubbed “Most Admired Woman” for the umpteenth time, beating out Sarah, Oprah, Condi, Michelle and all the other American women famous enough for being famous that we know them by their first names.

However, the strongest evidence that the Obamessiah and His Disciples in and of the media are primarily committed to tending their sheeple flock is the realization that they believe that touting such fluff is sufficient to distract attention from the fact that their Teflon TelePrompTer Reader and two of his acolytes have been questioned at length in an investigation of “pay-to-play” corruption in his home state.  In the federal building with lawyers present and everything.  In their defense they cry, “we investigated ourselves and found ourselves innocent and the US Attorney says we’re not a target, anyway, and we told the governor all we were offering him in return for doing what we wanted was appreciation, but we didn’t know he wanted anything in the first place, and besides, that same US Attorney stopped the illegal enterprise before anybody besides the bad guy we want you to hate could be implicated, like us, but, since it’s Christmas we know you’re not really paying attention, and, oh, by the way, have you seen our guy’s pecs?

And, on top of all that, Rahm’s not even in the country right now, he’s in Africa, ‘cuz, well, he really, really wanted to go, and the Great Hype Hope is in Hawaii, spending googobs of somebody’s money while he rests up for the Greatest Inauguration Ever in a Recession, and nobody talks to Valerie Jarret besides her lawyer, so you couldn’t ask any of them any questions even if you were up on things.  And don’t even worry about why the New York Times mentioned VJ staffer Michael Strautmanis in connection with the investigation and nobody else has, it’s probably not important.”

Is “target of” the same as “implicated in?”

Just asking.

President-elect Questioned In Pay To Play Scam

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?

The Picture Develops Slowly

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-Elect Barack 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]

Previously Strautmanis served the Clinton administration as Chief of Staff to the general counsel at the United States Agency for International Development and served Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and the American Association for Justice.^[3]

A Chicago, Illinois native,^[3] Strautmanis was educated at the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He started his career as a paralegal in Michelle Obama’s law firm.

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?

Stay tuned.

Candidate Number 5’s Latest Wrinkle

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.

Obama: Nothing To See, Move Along…

Even though, according to Rasmussen,  45% of American voters believe that today’s soon-to-be officially elected president-elect, Barack Obama, or his team is likely to be involved in the evolving Gov. Rod Blagojevich Senate seat sale scandal, Team O has issued a statement saying, basically, “we’re not on tape doing anything wrong, and that’s all we can tell you right now.”  From Politico:

“At the direction of the President-elect, a review of Transition staff contacts with Governor Blagojevich and his office has been conducted and completed and is ready for release. That review affirmed the public statements of the President-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the President-elect’s staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as U.S. senator.

“Also at the President-elect’s direction, Gregory Craig, counsel to the Transition, has kept the US Attorney’s office informed of this fact-gathering process in order to ensure our full cooperation with the investigation.

“In the course of those discussions, the US Attorney’s office requested the public release of the Transition review be deferred until the week of December 22, in order not to impede their investigation of the governor. The Transition has agreed to this revised timetable for release.”

Meanwhile, back at the Wall Street Journal, anonymous members of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s team say he, and they, are furious at the Chicago Tribune for jumping the gun and costing them “Candidate Number 5:”

Conventional wisdom holds that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ordered the FBI to arrest Rod Blagojevich before sunrise Tuesday in order to stop a crime from being committed. That would have been the sale of the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

But the opposite is true: Members of Fitzgerald’s team are livid the scheme didn’t advance, at least for a little longer, according to some people close to Fitzgerald’s office. Why? Because had the plot unfolded, they might have had an opportunity most feds can only dream of: A chance to catch the sale of a Senate seat on tape, including the sellers and the buyers.

The precise timing of Tuesday’s dramatic, pre-dawn arrest was not dictated by Fitzgerald, nor was it dictated by the pace of Blagojevich’s alleged “crime spree.” It was dictated by the Chicago Tribune, according to people close to the investigation and a careful reading of the FBI’s affidavit in the case.

Strange, I seem to remember Fitz praising the Trib for holding back:

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald praised the Chicago Tribune during today’s press conference because the paper honored a request to hold off on publishing information about the investigation of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The investigation involved bugs and wiretaps.

“We made an urgent request for the Tribune not to publish that story,” Fitzgerald said.

“I have to take my hat off” to the paper, Fitzgerald added.

Spin along, nothing to see…

Blago’s crazy, ya know?

Blago Says Bite Me

The New York Times is reporting that Governor Rod Blagojevich, recently arrested for his, “got a hot Senate seat for sale, cheap” scam as alleged by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, gave Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan a big raspberry in response to her suggestion that he was ready to resign:

Not long after the Illinois attorney general, Lisa Madigan, told a national television audience that Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois was thinking of possibly resigning here on Monday, the governor’s spokesman broke some news of his own.

Not only was Mr. Blagojevich not resigning, the spokesman, Lucio Guerrero, said, but he was planning to go to work on Monday and study a few bills that might at some point require either his signature or veto — including one that will be hammered out in a special legislative session in Springfield that would strip him of his coveted appointment power over President-elect Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat.

“He has no plans of resigning today or tomorrow,” Mr. Guerrero said on Sunday. “He still signs bills as governor, and he wants to see details.

Madigan, the daughter of Blago “frenemy,” Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who has aspirations of her own for Blago’s job, and, who has officially called on Blago to resign, and who has initiated Supreme Court proiceedings against him, used her promotional face time on “Face The Nation” to engage in mainstream media gossip about Blag’s future plans.

Ms. Madigan is a longtime rival of Mr. Blagojevich who has expressed interest in the past of one day being governor herself, and she has requested that the State Supreme Court declare the governor unfit for office. Ms. Madigan acknowledged on CBS’s morning news show, “Face the Nation,” that her assertion was based on “rumors in the media.” But not before they set off a firestorm of speculation.

Her spokeswoman, Robyn Ziegler, said of her remarks after the television appearance: “She has no inside information about anything.”

More grist for the tangled web mill.

The Chicago Way They Like It

Having grown up in Chicago, only to leave as a young woman to pursue my dreams, (and escape winter cold) I find the current consternation about the city’s corruption amusing.  During his press conference with U. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, charging Governor Rod Blagojevich with trying to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder, FBI agent Robert Grant referred to Illinois as “one hell of a competitor” for the title of most corrupt state in the country.  USA Today, however, ranks Illinois as 18th, based on the number of per capita government convictions, asserting that North Dakota holds the title.  However, that seems misleading.  Basing corruption on the number of convictions is bass ackwards.  A state that convicts officials for corruption obviously has a low tolerance for such behavior.  That is not Illinois, or it’s largest city, by a long shot.

Chicagoans love corruption.  It’s simply the way things are done, as they have always been.  Corruption does not exist within the framework of Chicago politics, corruption is Chicago politics.  They “don’t want nobody nobody sent.” ” Who sent you?”  “Who do you know?”  “What’s in it for me?”  “Who do I make the check out to?”  Need a job?  See your alderman.  Want a permit?  Make a donation.  Got a problem?  Find “a guy” who “knows a guy.” That’s the Chicago Way.

Nobody comes through Chicago clean, because “clean” by Chicago standards is not the same as it must be in, say, North Dakota.  “Will it come back on me?”  No?  Then it’s “clean.”

Peel back the layers in the Blagojevich “scandal” and you’ll find deals upon deals, with every player identified participating to one extent or another.  A veritable soap opera of connections to connections, nepotism, cronyism, patronage and graft, with only outright theft being mildly frowned upon because it unneccessarily draws attention, not because it’s morally reprehensible.

Barack Obama chose the rough and tumble politics of Chicago over Honolulu, Los Angeles, Manhattan and Boston, all cities he has some connection to, while having none to the Windy City.  Why?  To clean it up, or maneuver through it?  Both? Neither?  Example: in September, during the run-up to the election, the Chicago Sun-Times and others took Obie to task for not backing pay-to-play ethics reform his “Godfather,” Emil Jones was blocking:

In the middle of a simmering Statehouse ethics battle is Obama’s “political godfather,” Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), who triggered questions Thursday about whether he may allow the legislation to die after the Nov. 4 election.

Designed as a response to the “pay-to-play politics” that have flourished under Gov. Blagojevich, the plan would bar firms with more than $50,000 in state contracts from donating to the officeholder in charge of the deals.

But the governor entirely rewrote the plan, stripping out that language and putting it in an executive order. In its place, he inserted provisions into the original legislation to deal with how lawmakers award themselves pay raises and to bar the practice by some state officeholders of holding outside, non-elected government jobs.

Then, all of a sudden he did.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has taken the unusual step of weighing in on a high-profile ethics bill in Illinois, legislation that had been held up by his political mentor, Sen. Emil Jones.

“Senator Obama called Senator Jones today to offer his strong support for the ethics reforms pending before the Senate and urged him to pass them at the earliest possible opportunity,” Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement.

All of which, supposedly, (charitably) lead to the arrest of Blagojevich:

In a sequence of events that neatly captures the contradictions of Barack Obama’s rise through Illinois politics, a phone call he made three months ago to urge passage of a state ethics bill indirectly contributed to the downfall of a fellow Democrat he twice supported, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich.

This is the way he navigated the murky waters of “the Chicago Way” well enough to form a springboard to the White House in no time flat.  Like the legend of Milton Berle, just “do enough to win.”  Neat trick, huh?  The bottom line is, “reform” in Chicago means putting people you like in charge of passing out favors.  So, as the Blagodrama unfolds, pay no attention to those who try to gloss over the city’s truth, watch the players scramble to answer the only pertinent question.  Not “who did what?” but “what can they prove?”

Makes you wonder just what kind of “change” Washington’s going to get when it meets the “Chicago Way.”  Whatever it is, it seems that, like Chicagoans, most Americans are just fine with it.

Who’s The Real Fish?

On Tuesday, when the news of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s arrest broke, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald declared that it was “a sad day for Illinois government” and that Blagojevich had “taken us to a truly new low.”  But, was it really?  From the New York Times transcript of the press conference, Fitgerald said:

Governor Blagojevich has been arrested in the middle of what we can only describe as a political corruption crime spree. We acted to stop that crime spree.

The most appalling conduct Governor Blagojevich engaged in, according to the complaint filed today or unsealed today, is that he attempted to sell a Senate seat, the Senate seat he had the sole right to under Illinois to appoint to replace President-elect Obama.

Attempting to sell a Senate seat, an attempt that was thwarted by Fitzgerald, by the way, constitutes a “crime spree” that would make “Lincoln turn over in his grave?”  Fitzgerald’s justification makes no sense at all.  If Blago had indeed appointed someone to Obama’s seat in a “pay for play” scheme, Fitz would have netted 2 big fish dead to rights, since the payee/selectee would be guilty as sin, too.  Nope, there’s more to this story than meets the eye.

What we also know is that some of these schemes went pretty far and some did not go far at all. But they had discussions about what they would do, who they would approach and how they would phrase it.

And we need to do the investigation, now that the investigation is overt, to find out from other people what happened, what they were told, how explicitly, what they understood, and what happened.

Was that a warning to all those people who now seem so hellbent on making Blago seem crazy?  Those people who now deny any contact with him, even when such contact would be perfectly normal?  Those people who now say they misspoke about who said what, when?  The ones whose mutually shared friend just had his sentencing delayed so Fitz could corroborate his stories?

“I should make clear, the complaint makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever,” Fitzgerald said. “We make no allegations that he’s aware of anything, and that’s as simply as I can put it. . . .

“There’s no reference in the complaint to any conversations involving the president-elect or indicating that the president-elect was aware of it. And that’s all I can say.”

Note he said “complaint,” not “investigation.”  And, that’s all I can say.

What’s Next, Levitation?

The Obamessiah already walks on water, and if the mainstream media has it’s way, after Blagogate blows over, if it does, the Teflon TelePrompTer Reader will probably ascend to Washington in a golden chariot on Inauguration Day.  What else would be left?  According to the keepers of the Book of Barack, he is above the corruption that taints every other denizen of the city from which he hails, he has no peer, he is immaculate.

That he tends to lie when confronted is of no consequence.  He said he didn’t hear any fiery sermons from his longtime former pastor, until he admitted he did, even though the day he announced his candidacy for president, he dis-invited said pastor because he could “get kind of rough in sermons.”  When accused of being too liberal after an old questionnaire surfaced, Obaliar said he didn’t fill it out, even though it had notes in his handwriting all over it.  Of course, Selma did not “get him born,” and John Kennedy did not airlift his daddy.  Bill Ayers is more than a “guy in his neighborhood,” he returned campaign contributions he didn’t get from the friend he didn’t know or help in any way, and he didn’t sign up for the draft out of high school.

Yet, the Obapresent One can do no wrong.  He says he’s not involved in the current Blagojevich mess and we’re just supposed to take his word for it.

“I have never spoken to the governor on this subject,” Obama said Thursday, announcing his picks for top aides on health care issues. “I’m confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat. I think the materials released by the U.S. attorney reflect that fact.”

And yet, the Blagorezkobama ties have been bandied about for a long time.  Jan. 9, 2008:

With Antoin “Tony” Rezko’s federal corruption trial looming, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday tried to deflect the heat he’s been getting over his former adviser and top fundraiser by pointing out he’s not the only politician who has received help from Rezko.

Blagojevich ticked off a list of elected officials who also have ties to the indicted developer. While not naming them, he made reference to everyone from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to House Speaker Michael Madigan, his political nemesis, and Madigan’s daughter, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan.

The Washington Post points out that the Senate seat sale is no the only issue currently under investigation:

A footnote to the 76-page criminal complaint and affidavit charging Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) with soliciting bribes confirms what has long been rumored — that a former longtime friend and fundraiser for President-elect Barack Obama is talking to federal prosecutors in hopes of a reduced sentence.

Antoin “Tony” Rezko’s offer to provide authorities with evidence of others’ wrongdoing is “not complete,” and prosecutors are working to corroborate the claims he has made so far, the footnote said.

The Los Angeles Times tells us that, for some strange reason, Rezko’s sentencing date has been extended, even though he has recently requested otherwise:

Now, why would a judge extend the period before sentencing when the convicted prisoner expressed a desire to get on with prison? Without a new briefs deadline, the expedited Jan. 6 sentencing could now be pushed back further.

Because Rezko, in the hopes of reducing his sentence, is singing in his cell about Blagojevich and maybe others. He’s not done with his song repertoire and the feds haven’t fully checked out his information to determine how grateful to be in sentence-seeking.

So, maybe, just maybe, Obama is not lying about his involvement, or lack thereof, in the Senate seat sale, though Truthteller over at No Quarter makes a pretty darned good case that he is.  Be that as it may, perhaps the reason Patrick Fitzgerald prevented Blago from actually committing the crime before King Obama’s coronation has more to do with things he is involved with.  Could Blago’s pittance of bail in a rather ambiguous case, coupled with Rezko’s finding his singing voice have anything to do with the Obama house deal, or the kinds of things Evelyn Pringle outlined months ago and were regularly featured on The Real Barack Obama website and referenced on Cannonfire?

At any rate, it probably doesn’t matter if Fitzgerald is trying to flip Blago to corroborate something Rezko has against Obie.  No matter what might turn up, the Obamessiah will simply rise above it.  He and the keepers of the Book of Barack will see to it.

Hardball With Clean Hands

“If they bring a knife, we bring a gun.”  “I may be skinny, but I’m tough.”

Barack Obama has never made any bones about the fact that he is a product of the rough and tumble “Chicago Way.”  And, while many have seen evidence of that fact and commented on it, most mischaracterize Obama’s particular, and peculiar, adaptation of the old school tactics he’s picked up along the way.  Far from being above the muck and mire being raked and wallowed in by most Windy City blowhards, Obama relishes in his ability to play dirty and come up clean.

In the primaries, he gamed the caucuses, always within “da rules,” he pushed the envelope like a boxer who hits his opponent over the head with a folding chair and then demands that the referee show him where it says in the rule book that such a thing is not allowed.  Since no one ever entertained the thought that a boxer would do such a thing, chances are, there is no rule and the match would go to the chair wielder.  While boxing purists would forever decry such a manipulation of the dignity of the game, for the chair bopper, a win’s a win.  For his opponent, a trip to the hospital and the enduring humiliation of not having foreseen the possibility of a chair meeting his skull that would be heaped upon him by those disappointed purists looking for someone to blame, would likely be enough to end his career.  This is the way Obama does business.

Those of us familiar with Obama’s early “victories” and the tactics used to achieve them, are well aware of his passive/aggressive, frat boy, tech geek approach to politics.  Having opponents disqualified on technicalities, leaking personally embarrassing information, unfairly characterizing opponents as being unfair and then lying about it, exploiting potentially damaging situations to his advantage by throwing former colleagues and confidantes under the bus; these are the ways Obama.  And that’s how he got Rod Blagojevich out of his way.

Like most big cities, in many ways, Chicago operates like a small town.  Considering the fact that the Obama Transition team offices in the John C. Kluczynski Federal Office Building, 230 South Dearborn St., Suite 3900 (39th floor) are located in the same plaza as the U. S. attorney’s in the Everett McKinley Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn, it’s not too far-fetched to think that gossip might swirl.  Besides, the “news” that Blagojevich was “under investigation” was common knowledge, since just about every article mentioning the man in the last three years included the phrase.  It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume that Camp O, along with everybody else in Chicago remotely “in the know,” might have heard rumors of a wiretap being issued against Blago.  The governor himself seemed very aware of the fact, even in taped conversations.

On Nov. 3, Blago began to make plans for utilizing the power he believed he would soon wield with Obama’s election and subsequent need to vacate his Senate seat.  On Nov. 5, the two men met to discuss the situation.  From all indications, Obama made his preference for Valerie Jarrett known, and in true Don Corleone style, indicated he would “appreciate” it.  Clueless Blago did not fully “appreciate” the implications of the offer, and most likely, made it known that “appreciation” was not enough.  It is also likely that “this was the moment” Obama decided to take him down.

On Nov. 10 – 12, Blago had discussions about what he wanted; in return for appointing Jarrett, Blago wanted an SEIU “Change to Win” position as National Director.  On the 12th, Jarrett removed herself rom contention, which caught Blago off-guard:

Still, Jarrett’s announcement came as a surprise to sources close to Blagojevich, who said that representatives for Obama had floated her name on a regular basis.

On Nov. 13, Obama announced he was resigning his Senate seat, making the “juicy plum” Blago held even “juicier.”  It also left Blgo on his own, twisting in the wind, digging his own grave.  Well aware of the workings of the “Chicago Way” and Blago’s greed, Obama had to know how Blagojevich would react.  He also knew that without cover, Blago would soon neutralize himself.  After all, if Blago had taken Obie up on his offer, nothing would have happened, Blago would simply still be “under investigation,” and none would be the wiser.  However, once Obama is no longer “in the picture” and the seat is “up for grabs” to the highest bidder, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Blago’s self-interests would become paramount and the force of nature that is Patrick Fitzgerald would naturally take it’s course from that point on.

Thus, Obama could sit back and let things develop predictably, all to his advantage, without lifting a finger.  There was no need for Rahm Emanuel to “drop a dime” on anybody.  And if, as an Obama emissary, he had done such a thing, there would be no need for denials of any sort, Obama would come out smelling like a rose as the “reformer” he claims to be.  The fact that he and Axelrod back off such claims is more telling than anything else; that simply was not ever their motivation.  Getting rid of Blagojevich and clearing the way for Obama’s real choice was the plan.

Hardball with clean hands.  The Chicago Way – Obama-Style.

Boy, Oh, Blagojevich

Okay, Barack Obama is not implicated in today’s allegations against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is suspected of trying to sell Barack Obama’s now vacant Senate seat in return for personal favors.  U. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, and all the President-elect’s pundits, have gone to great lengths to make that perfectly clear.  From the Associated Press:

Federal prosecutors say the investigation into allegations that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (bluh-GOY’-uh-vich) tried to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama found no evidence that Obama did anything wrong.

At a news conference in Chicago on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald reiterated a number of times that there were no allegations of impropriety on Obama’s part.

However, the question I have is, how much more valuable did Obama’s record-setting resignation make said seat?   After all, Jo(k)e Biden has not officially resigned his.  Nor has Hillary Clinton.  So, why did Obama hand Blagojevich such a “juicy plum” so soon to give away for Christmas?  From Lynn Sweet, Nov. 13, 2008:

Blagojevich is under no legal deadline to select an Obama replacement. The governor has to weigh a few factors: whether racial politics play a role, because Obama was the only African-American in the Senate and who has a political and fund-raising network that could help should Blagojevich seek a third term.

It’s been a long time since an Illinois governor had this juicy a plum to give away: the last Senate vacancy was in 1969 when Ralph Tyler Smith was selected by then Gov. Richard Ogilvie to fill the slot left vacant by the death of Sen. Everett Dirksen.

Was Obama helping the U. S. Attorney in some as yet unexplained and unexplored way, was he repaying Blagojevich in the old school, Chicago politics, you scratch my back…style, or was he pursuing some other personal agenda with his lightening quick exit out of Dodge?

At any rate, Blagojevich was arrested early this morning at his home for being criminally stupid, even though, according to Reuters, the official charges were mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery:

The 51-year-old Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were each charged in a federal complaint with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and a second count of solicitation of bribery.

In his statement, Fitzgerald said the charges “allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism.”

Blagojevich was accused of threatening to withhold state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of the Chicago Cubs’ baseball home, Wrigley Field, in order “to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical” of him, Fitzgerald said.

However, Politico reports that Blagojevich was apparently less than happy with Obama, who he refers to as a “motherf*cker.”  It seems Obama’s reluctance to “pay to play” for the “juicy plum” he handed to Blago rubbed the good guv the wrong way:

“F**k him,” Blagjoveich says of Obama during a lengthy call with top aides and his wife recorded on November 10th, “For nothing? F**k him.”

In another section of the complaint, Blagojevich expresses exasperation that Obama and his team aren’t willing to offer him an inducement in exchange for appointing  an aide, apparently Valerie Jarrett, to the Senate.

Blagojevich “said he knows that the President-elect wants Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but ‘they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. F**k them,’” says the complaint.

Blago, who certainly qualifies as stupid, given that he engaged in this wreckless behavior knowing, as did everyone, that he and his wife have been under investigation for years.  Also, Blago, who replaced former, and now imprisoned, Republican Governor George Ryan by pledging to reform corruption, recently joined Illinois Senator Dick Durbin in an appeal to have Ryan’s sentence commuted by George Bush.