Illinois Governor Arrested

Here's a partial transcript from the Federal News Service for the Greg Craig conference call with reporters. I've yet to locate a full transcript or the audio itself. If anyone runs across either, please post a link.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/12/obamas_greg_craig_robert_gibbs.html

1 Reply

@slkshock7,

slkshock7 wrote:

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

NY Times wrote:
But according to people familiar with the report, lawyers who compiled the Obama review did not have access to wiretapped telephone conversations between Obama aides and the governor’s office.

NY Times wrote:
The review was compiled from memory by Mr. Obama’s aides, rather than from recordings of any phone calls.

Let me see if I can get this straight. Fitzgerald, who does have access to wiretapped telephone conversations between Obama aides and the governor's office has said that they are not implicated in any wrongdoing whatsoever. But we wanted to hear from Obama what kinds of contacts his team had with the governor, in order to be absoluteley sure. So he does this internal review and publishes the report and now that's not good enough because it was done by them, even though we asked them to do it.

Until there is an actual accusation this is just going to have to do.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Not only has the Obama released a report, which could be used against them since Gov. Rod Blagojevich is under investigation and anything connected to that can be used of which I am sure they are fully aware; which said that although Emanuel "had one or two telephone calls with Governor Blagojevich” there was never anything inappropriate in those discussions.

Further,

Quote:

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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081224/ap_on_go_pr_wh/illinois_governor_obama

Fitzgerald also has said Obama is in no way implicated in the case against Blagojevich.

Quote:

I should make clear that the complaint makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever," said US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

source

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@Butrflynet,

Transition Staff Contacts with the Governor’s Office

Is this what you are referring to?

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At this point we have a tempest in a tea pot as far as the Obama team goes.

The investigation is far from over and while I doubt there is anything for Obama to worry about, if there is I'm confident it will come out.

I do get a huge kick out of how the worm has turned though.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn, I do think it might be instructive to consider the possibility that Obama has something to worry about, so I hate to bring this up, but what if Obama is implicated? It isn't beyond the realm of possibility. After all, the governor is on tape as wanting political favors, bribes, whatever, and who, pray tell, has the power to give them to him? The answer is obviously Obama. And what, pray tell, were all of those discussions about? What do you think would happen if that were the case?

Looking at this situation, first of all I would hope this won't happen, because we would have a virtual civil war on our hands. Imagine the outcry, the defense, the absolute resentment, the anger, directed at the Republicans and at the law enforcement agencies, the courts, because they would all be blamed for their Messiah, Mr. Obama, being undercut. The blame would not go to Obama by a very large contingent of the Democratic Party. Because of the religious fervor of their support, they would refuse to believe Obama has an evil intent in his body. If you want to see a grand circling of the wagons, the scenario of the Clintons would be miniscule before it was all over.

Now, Parados will come on here and accuse me of concluding Obama is guilty. No, I am not, but we do have a serious investigation going on, so I think it is prudent to consider the possibilities. If Obama has any serious taint whatsoever, it is in the interests of the Democratic Party, and all kinds of powers that be, to prevent anything bad happening to Obama in regard to guilt or the law. This whole affair carries with it a very huge risk of some very potentially dangerous and negative situations.

I realize this will drag out, and it is just a matter of waiting it out, as Fitzgerald can take years to resolve anything, at least months, and in the meantime a black cloud hovers over the whole mess.

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After the country crumbles to pieces following Obama's fall, how do you think the country will be torn apart, Okie, by regional lines? Do you think ethnic/racial enclaves will be established? Do you foresee the transfer of populations like what occurred in India/Pakistan in 1947? The very soul of this great country is in peril!

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@InfraBlue,

I don't know exactly. And I don't know if it would come apart or crumble. I never used to think anything like that was even remotely possible, but given the politics of today, I am at least considering the possibility somewhere down the road. I am simply pointing out the gigantic amount of emotional energy, emotional attachment, emotional investment, that has been invested into Barack Obama. If something happened to him as it did to Nixon, his supporters are not going to react as Republicans did. I do not believe people used to place so much importance into a person, a president, as we see now. In regard to Nixon, he wasn't even liked all that much by the Republicans, he wasn't hated, but if I remember correctly, most of the people that voted for him did so because they considered him to be the better of the two choices, not because he represented some towering historical landmark, or virtual Messiah. Fact is, none of our presidents in my memory represented anything like what Obama seems to represent to his followers.

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@okie,

Have you stocked up on a lot of guns yet?

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Anybody else notice that okie's randomly generated avatar looks like a swastika?

Just curious.

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@okie,

Assuming, for discussion's sake, he has a problem:

If it's limited to a member of his staff (the most likely of possibilities), the staff gets canned and he enters office with a cloud over his head and all the more reason to get some things done which will dispel the cloud. Considering that I'm not too keen about many of the things he wants to get done, I don't welcome this scenario.

If he is personally implicated but there are no criminal charges, he enters the office severly wounded and I suspect we have a gridlocked government that to the extent it does anything is led by harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi (at least for two years).

If he is personally implicated and there are criminal charges, I don't think he will take office either because he will forfeit the election (if he can) or the Electoral College will not elect him.

I think the last two scenarios are so highly unlikely that it's not worth commenting on the ramifications beyond what I've stated.

I don't know think you've concluded he's guilty or even how you could come to this conclusion.

His team is going to do their best to keep the collateral damage to a minimum, but as long as the investigation continues and Blego remains in office, it's a political problem for him. Without new revelations though, i don't see it being a significant problem.

Merry Christmas Okie

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@okie,

Quote:

I hate to bring this up, but what if Obama is implicated

Quote:

I should make clear, the complaint makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever, his conduct. This part of the scheme lost steam when the person that the governor thought was the president- elect's choice of senator took herself out of the running. But after the deal never happened, this is the governor's reaction, quote, "They're not willing to give me anything but appreciation. Bleep them," close quote. And again, the bleep is a redaction.

Press confrence Transcript

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Best to stock up on guns, a lot of guns, just to be on the safe side.

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Quote:

Call it a love affair so far between Barack Obama and the American people.

President-elect Barack Obama is on vacation in Hawaii after appointing his Cabinet in record time.

More than eight in 10, or 82 percent, of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Wednesday approve of the way Obama is handling his presidential transition.

That approval is up 3 percentage points from when CNN asked the same question at the beginning of December. Fifteen percent of those surveyed disapprove of the way the president-elect is handling his transition, down 3 points from the last poll.

Obama's approval is higher than George W. Bush eight years ago. Bush had a 65 percent approval rating during his transition, and Bill Clinton was at 67 percent in 1992.

"Barack Obama is having a better honeymoon with the American public than any incoming president in the past three decades. He's putting up better numbers, usually by double digits, than Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan or either George Bush on every item traditionally measured in transition polls," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/24/obama.approval/

1 Reply

@revel,

Love Affiar With The American People!

Doesn't it just make you feel all tingly?

The extent to which the Media wants push this guy is incrdible.

I would answer that I approve of the way he's handling his transition. Big deal. I can assure it doesn't mean I have a crush on him.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Quote:

I would answer that I approve of the way he's handling his transition

good

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@revel,

revel wrote:

Transition Staff Contacts with the Governor’s Office

Is this what you are referring to?

No, that's the memo. The transcript I linked to is from the telephonic news conference held with Greg Craig as part of the release of that memo. All I'd been able to find of it as of last night was the partial transcript. Usually there is the audio itself available for listening, but haven't found it yet. Media may be slower in linking to it because of the holiday, don't kn0w and I haven't devoted any time to looking futher today. Will later this evening when I've nothing else to do.

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@revel,

Thank you, but that, I assure you, is faint praise.

Dealing well with the transition is like dealing well with the run-up to the Super Bowl.

By doing so one avoids negative press, but it hardly predicts the outcome of the game.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

The way I see it Obama could hardly do worse in terms of the economy and other domestic issues. With the team he has in place; he is poised to do well. Those polled must think so too or else they wouldn't be so approving of his transition team. Why would they approve in such high numbers on the transitional issues if they didn't think those appointed could do the job as well as can be expected given the state of the nation? But he does have his work cut out for him; both at home and abroad. Forecasters are predicting that things are going to get worse for the economy and threats from AQ. With the war between Israel and Gaza; I imagine with the civilians getting killed on both sides (a lot more on the Gaza side because Israel has more powerful weapons and like Hamas they don't care about civilians) tensions between Arab countries and various militants are just going to keep getting higher. It is a tricky situation Obama is walking into all around.

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Quote:

No way will lawmakers let gov off the hook
(BY RICH MILLER, Chicago Sun-Times, December 26, 2008)

Everybody, calm down. This nightmare will soon be over. I try to avoid cable TV news shows, but I tuned in this week to watch some of the talking heads grossly overreact to reports that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald won't cooperate much with the General Assembly's attempt to remove Gov. Blagojevich from office.

The talking heads were babbling wildly over whether that meant Blagojevich might remain in office for the rest of his term.

Not a chance.

Nobody ever expected Fitzgerald to assist the impeachment process. His refusal was already factored in. The Legislature will still get Blagojevich, though.

Imagine what you would do to your state legislators if they voted to exonerate the governor. Not a pretty thought, eh?

Well, trust me, your legislators know exactly what's going through your mind right now. No way will they let that guy off the hook.

Legislators don't need "real" evidence to boot Blagojevich from office. This isn't "CSI-Illinois." The impeachment process is a political, not a legal process. And, politically speaking, Blagojevich is "Dead Man Walking."

Yes, we can expect the governor and his attorneys to put on a show of force. Blagojevich's fiery speech a week ago was a nice little preview.

My initial reaction to Blagojevich's speech was that the governor had focused totally on himself. Ten percent of the words he used -- 44 out of a 445-word speech -- were personal pronouns like "I" or "me" or "my." His extreme narcissism was on full display.

My conclusion was that Blagojevich had no cares whatsoever about the people of Illinois. This fight, like everything else in his rein of error, is all about him. The rest of us are mere spectators.

But a few legislators I know had a somewhat different take. When Blagojevich ranted, "I will fight until I take my last breath," those legislators saw the gauntlet once again being thrown directly at them.

The word "impeachment" was first uttered publicly back in the summer of 2007, when the General Assembly and the governor engaged in a superheated, months-long battle. The governor and his henchmen reacted swiftly.

Legislators were threatened with direct retaliation. If they had a mistress, their wives would hear about it. If they had ever asked for an untoward political favor from the governor or his staff, they would be dragged through the mud right along with him. Every rumor they'd ever heard about personal or official corruption would be leaked to the media. It would be total war.

There is precedent for this. During Bill Clinton's impeachment all sorts of nasty things came out about Clinton's enemies.

But Clinton had the support of the voters back then, and a few reporters were more than willing to help the White House expose the rank hypocrisy of Congress' ridiculous proceedings.

Unlike Clinton, Blagojevich has a 7 percent job approval rating. The vast majority want him removed from office and imprisoned.

And the comparison to legislative "wrongdoing" will be tougher to make. It's doubtful that Statehouse reporters will "find" anything on any legislator that's even close to auctioning off a U.S. Senate seat for personal gain. It would be an impossible comparison to make.

Still, nobody will be surprised if Blagojevich attempts retribution. A quick read of the FBI's surveillance records clearly shows that's his way.

The best defense for individual legislators is a good offense. Get it over with quickly and be done with him.

1 Reply

Illinois Governor Arrested

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