Illinois Governor Arrested

In a word...YES!
As President elect, any communication between him and the gov (or either staff) about who replaces him as Senator can be seen as Obama picking his own replacement.
The PE is not supposed to be picking Senators, or even giving the appearance of impropriety regarding picking his replacement.
Now, if Blago picks someone Obama likes or wants, then what will the Gov want in return?

As President elect, Obama should stay 100% out of it, to avoid exactly the kind of questions and speculation that is going on now.

How hard is that to understand.

Well, I don't know what is normal in these situations and I'm pretty sure that you don't either. Do you think the governor of New York will not talk to HRC about her replacement? It seems reasonable to me that they would talk about it and I don't see any harm in that.

Willing to trade favors in exchange for getting your pick seated, however, would be wrong, but contact alone isn't enough to suggest that. And we have hard evidence (the recordings) that Obama's team was absolutely not willing to give him anything in return. How hard is that to understand?

Its funny that you are not willing to treat Obama with the same disdain that you and others have treated some recent repubs.

When VP Bush was accused of going to negotiate with Iran to prolong the Iranian hostage crisis, the dems and the left all claimed that it had to be investigated because of the "Appearance of Impropriety", even though there was no evidence and there were no charges filed.

When Valerie Plames name was leaked, you all accused Bush because "someone in his administration" had leaked it, and Bush should have known about it.
Now, we have Obama and his staff talking to Blago, raising the "appearance of impropriety", and you say it doesnt matter and is just a partisan attack.

Shouldnt you apply the same standard to Obama as you do the repubs?

That would be because I don't have disdain for Obama.



I was in elementary school so I can't help you with that one.


So? What does this have to do with a senator of a state having contact with the governor of that state?



No, I am saying that the contact does not have the appearance of impropriety in and of itself. You are confusing the appearance of impropriety with guilt by association.


Yes. This isn't an example of a double standard. For instance, I am sure that president Bush had many contacts with Tom DeLay. Those contacts do not, in and of themselves, give the appearance of impropriety just because Tom DeLay was later scandalized. The key word there is "improper". To my knowledge, there is nothing improper (so far) about contact between Obama or his people and the governor of his state, even if it was about his senate replacement (I am sure joefromchicago will correct me if I'm wrong).

But while we are talking about double standards, in the scenario that you bring up about the Plame link, did you not consistently (and fairly) ask for exhaustive proof that Bush was involved in any wrongdoing? Or was this kind of innuendo good enough for you.

And I am asking for the same thing here.
I have not accused Obama of anything (as a matter of fact, I have said that I DO NOT believe that Obama talked to Blago about the Senate seat).
What I have said is that if someone on his staff did, then Obama should have known about it, unless he doesnt control his staff.

I am perfectly willing to wait for the investigation to conclude before I make a judgement, but I have a question for you.

You seem willing to believe an internal investigation of dems by dems, that clears dems.
Would you be willing to accept the results of an internal investigation of repubs by repubs that cleared repubs?

I think you misunderstand me. I'm not basing my opinion on the internal report released by team Obama (there isn't an investigation, unless you are talking about the Blago investigation). I don't care about this fake controversy for 3 reasons. 1) I don't know or have any reason to believe that it is improper for a senator to talk to the governor about who his replacement will be. I'm assuming there was contact and making no distinction as to whether it was Obama or one of his staff. So the argument that he must have known what his people were doing means nothing to me. 2) Fitzgerald himself went out of his way to say that the president elect was not in any way implicated in any wrongdoing by his investigation. Fitzgerald would, presumably, be privy to stuff that you and I are not. 3) The recordings that were made available make it pretty clear that Blago would get "nothing but appreciation" from the Obama team. That to me means that they were not willing to play his game which is consistent with Obama's operation. Remember that he took a lot of flack for not providing "walking around money" during both the primary and the general. So what, exactly, is the controversy? I have no need to withhold judgment because there are no accusations. I simply think this is a non-issue.

The only reason that anybody even wants this report about what contacts Obama's team had with Blago is to remove any doubt as to whether Obama could have possibly been involved. Obama complies with these requests because he has run on transparency. He is under no obligation to provide this information. The investigators are not asking for it -- indeed they most likely already have it. The story here is about a very corrupt, egotistical, and frankly quite stupid governor of Illinois. But he's ugly and has bad hair so we must find some way to make it about Obama, who is handsome and glamorous.

nytimes.com
No Improper Contact With Governor, Says Obama Report
By JEFF ZELENY
Published: December 23, 2008

HONOLULU " An internal report issued on Tuesday by lawyers for President-elect Barack Obama found that his top advisers had numerous contacts with the office of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and attempted to guide his choice to fill a vacant Illinois Senate seat, but none of the talks suggested an attempt to play along with the governor’s alleged attempts to sell the seat.

Rahm Emanuel, the new White House chief of staff, had two conversations with Mr. Blagojevich and four calls with John Harris, the governor’s chief of staff, about the Senate seat. He provided a list of six names of Illinois Democrats whom Mr. Obama favored to fill his Senate seat.

“At no time in the discussion of the Senate seat or of possible replacements did the president-elect hear of a suggestion that the governor expected a personal benefit in return for making this appointment to the Senate,” said the report, which was written by Gregory Craig, the new White House counsel.

In a question-answer session just after the report’s release, Mr. Craig described the contacts between Mr. Emanuel and the governor’s chief of staff as “totally appropriate and acceptable” as well as “predictable.” In his conversations with the governor in the days immediately after the election, the report said, Mr. Emanuel was pushing Valerie Jarrett for the Senate seat. Mr. Emanuel said he made the recommendation before he knew that Mr. Obama “had ruled out communicating a preference for any one candidate.”
more. . .

Good news!

The Obama transition team has released their report on the investigation conducted by Obama's aides, and I proves all the Obama-Haters wrong.

Neither Obama nor any of his people did anything wong!

Glad that's settled. Now maybe we can get back to redistributing wealth, saving the planet, and talking to our enemies.

I hope its true.
If it is, and I have no reason to doubt it, then it puts the issue to rest.

But, am I the only one to be suspicious?
How many of you on the left would accept at face value and without doubt a report from the Bush White House about an investigation conducted by the WH about the WH clearing the WH of any wrongdoing?

I doubt if any of you would accept it without reservation.
Yet you want everyone to accept this report without reservation.

Here's the text of the 5-page report if anyone wants to read it in full:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/Contacts_Memo.pdf

So what is it, you have no reason to doubt it, or are you suspicious? Can you be any more self-contradicting?

The Fed prosecuting attorney hasn't named anyone from the Obama camp as being under investigation concerning Blagojevich. I guess we'll have to wait further. I'm sure you're just sitting at the edge of your seat in anticipation.

Can you please point out the post where it is requested that the report be accepted without reservation?

Here's a couple quotes from the NY Times article that greatly most certainly indicate that this one-sided report will not silence skeptics...

I got to the second page and I have to tell you, this quote is troubling:

"In those early conversations with the Governor, Mr. Emanuel recommended Valarie Jarrett because he knew she was interested in the seat. He did so before learning -- in further conversations with the President-Elect -- that the President-Elect had ruled out communicating a preference for any one candidate."

Maybe you believe it but that seems pretty far fetched. Emanuel is going to recommend Jarret, without asking Obama, when Emanuel works for Obama? Sounds pretty hoky to me, and if it is true, what kind of an assistant is that, does he work for himself, come on people?

I will read the rest of the report, but is Obama as slick as Clinton, it doesn't look like it, he releases this report the eve of Christmas Eve, Emanuel went to Africa, and Obama is in Hawaii, none available for comment. If they cared about the next 4 years, they should be available to tell the truth they are just dying to tell I am sure.

If they cared about the next four years?

What difference will it make, okie? If all holidays and memorial services were cancelled and they spent the next month in a news conference answering questions, you'd still find problems with Obama's statements no matter what or how he says it. He's been available for questions and comments for weeks now and it hasn't made a bit of difference to you. You'll have to wait along with the rest of us for the investigation and procescution to progress with full tape recordings released during Blagojevich's trial. Something tells me you'll have suspicions about the tapes having been edited when that happens. Think of all the juicy suppositions and possibilities you'll be able to work up in the meantime.

It might make a difference if all suspicions could be laid to rest, butrfly, that Chicago politics was not being practiced right out of the chute for the upcoming administration.

I have read the entire report, and just to be clear, I have not checked with any blogs, radio talk show people, nobody, but just okie here reading it and making some observations, which I think others will as well. The following bullet points.

- First of all, it is Greg Craig, not exactly a figure that genders alot of confidence in openness and honesty, in my opinion.

- The report is not very comprehensive, not detailed, and seems pretty amateurish, in my opinion.

- Obama's lawyer, Craig, declares Obama innocent, is that a surprise, while Obama goes to Hawaii and Emanuel goes to Africa, sort of convenient so no questions can be answered, 2 days before Christmas, so that everyone hopefully forgets this mess until after New Years, and then perhaps it won't matter?

- Rahm Emanuel recommended Jarrett to replace Obama without asking Obama. That seems like a rather hard thing to believe in my opinion, considering Emanuel was working for Obama.

- Under the section about Emanuel, Emanuel is on record as giving a list of candidates to the governor, as directed by Obama, which clearly indicates there was contact between Obama and the governor, between their offices, through Emanuel, something Obama seemed to deny after all of this communication had been going on. It seems clear that Emanuel and Obama was communicating about the communications with the governor's office and Obama was directing at least part of the communication, which clearly contradicts what Obama has previously implied.

- There is a question of how the governor could have concluded that Obama was not willing to give him any kind of personal favor or job in exchange for the Senate seat, if the Obama report is true about nothing like that having been discussed, so this is an area needing further explanation.

- Who is this Dr. Whitaker and why was he contacted, and what is his role in all of this? This needs more investigation and explanation.

- The activities of Ms. Jarret, her conversations with Balanoff, and the timing of all of those conversations, and her cabinet appointment, dropping out of the running for the Senate seat, all of that needs further investigation.

- I am sure there are many more questions that will arise, but I think that given the smoke around the governor, I think alot of the smoke is also enveloping Obama, given the inconsistencies and his lack of openness about all of this.

"I think alot of the smoke is also enveloping Obama, given the inconsistencies and his lack of openness about all of this."

you keep blowing it, and meantime, we will wait for some fire...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/28372710#28372710

An addition about the Whitaker guy. Obama relayed through is close friend and go-between, Whitaker, that he had no interest in dictating the result of the selection process. Question, why did he say that after giving the governor a list of acceptable people? Doesn't seem real consistent, there seems to be something missing from this picture? Why did the governor attempt to go through Whitaker instead of Emanuel? Was he not getting the answers he wanted? I did do a search on Whitaker and this guy seems to have very close ties to Obama, and Obama once recommended him to convicted felon and Chicago political powerbroker, Rezko, for a position appointed by the governor, the state's public health director, so the plot thickens. He is also linked to the medical center where Michelle Obama is on leave from a $317,000 per year job. This would be a full time job just to untangle this web of stuff in Chicago.

Is Rachel a serious journalist? She acts pretty obnoxious and a total Obama apologist, no curiosity or fairness of mind whatsoever. Also it is clear that Greg Craig contradicted himself, he asserts no contact, then goes on to talk about the contact between the offices. Amazing.