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Byron York: Could the Blago Scandal Ensnare Team Obama? You Betcha.
National Review ^ | 12-16-08 | Byron York

Posted on 12/16/2008 9:13:42 PM PST by malkee

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To: hoosiermama

Ok I’ll give you that, but has anyone here used the word “CHANGE” well, besides me LOL


21 posted on 12/16/2008 9:35:34 PM PST by Sarah Barracuda
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To: aShepard

Everyone needs to follow JJ. Jr. The rumor has it that this goes deeper into the family finances, and could damage the REV. Jessie Jackson himself.


22 posted on 12/16/2008 9:36:17 PM PST by political1 (Love your neighbors)
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To: malkee

I do hope it does, because the people need to know, the people who might have been swayed to vote for McCain, need to realize that they have elected a politician who was nurtured in a corrupt political enviroment. The euphoria of his election should go away. It is dangerous to expect too much from any politician.


23 posted on 12/16/2008 9:37:16 PM PST by RobbyS (ECCE homo)
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To: political1

All the Jackson’s are going down, Rev. Jackson, The Jackson 5, Arnold and Willis Jackson, let all their corrupted asses go down


24 posted on 12/16/2008 9:37:47 PM PST by Sarah Barracuda
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To: malkee

21 call from Rahm just about the senator to be picked . That should be some fun chats to listen to.


25 posted on 12/16/2008 9:38:33 PM PST by Deetes (God Bless the Troops)
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Oh, and a former undercover LEO said Gov Blank-O was a bookie for the mob (athletic bets) on the Northside before he went into poliltics...

That should tie Blank=O into Giannoulias family, Broadway Bank where Obamba keeps his campaign funds, and who son Alex B-O and Blank-O helped get elected State Treasurer.


26 posted on 12/16/2008 9:40:08 PM PST by hoosiermama (Berg is a liberal democrat. Keyes is a conservative. Obama is bringing us together already!)
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To: political1
There ‘s a strong possibility that JJJ was the one wired for his conversation the day before this all came out. See previous post.

Even though Jesse (Robinson) Jackson may be related to Michelle Robinson Obama (both from the Friendfield Plantation area in SC) JJ and JJJ have been pretty pissed off because the substandard real estate schemes Rezko and company left their constituent in pathetic housing while they made lots of money.

27 posted on 12/16/2008 9:48:47 PM PST by hoosiermama (Berg is a liberal democrat. Keyes is a conservative. Obama is bringing us together already!)
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To: malkee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdL7eg9t4gM&NR=1


28 posted on 12/16/2008 9:50:32 PM PST by XR7
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To: Sarah Barracuda

Not Bo Jackson. Bo knows. ;-)


29 posted on 12/16/2008 9:54:05 PM PST by buccaneer81 (Bob Taft has soiled the family name for the next century.)
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To: penelopesire; BulletBobCo; seekthetruth; Kevmo; gunnyg; television is just wrong; browardchad; ...

*snip*

Could the Blagojevich case lead to something like that happening to people close to Obama? Even though it might seem hard to find two more dissimilar cases, the answer is yes.

We don’t know the extent of the investigation into Blagojevich’s allegedly corrupt dealings.

Have witnesses been brought before a grand jury?

We don’t know.

If so, who are they? We don’t know.

What witnesses have been interviewed by FBI agents working for Fitzgerald? We don’t know.

Do Fitzgerald and his investigators have any doubts about the truthfulness of those who have talked? We don’t know.

But we do know that something big is going on. “There is a lot of investigation that still needs to be done,” Rob Grant, who is the special agent in charge of the FBI office in Chicago, told reporters at the news conference announcing the Blagojevich charges last week.

“There are critical interviews that we have to do and cooperation we need to get from different people.”

At the same press conference, Fitzgerald himself added, “We have a tremendous amount of information gained from the wiretap and bugs that occurred over the last month and a half or so….

One of the things we want to do with this investigation is to track out the different schemes and conspiracies to find out which ones were carried out or not and who might be involved in that or not.

And that’s something we haven’t done yet. Now that we’ve gone overt, we’ll be interviewing people and figuring that out.”

One of the things Fitzgerald and his fellow prosecutors and FBI agents will be doing is trying to determine who is telling the whole truth and who is not.

“There’s always a danger that people will make a mistake, get it wrong. There’s human frailty. They may also lie,” says Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney who was a vocal critic of Fitzgerald’s handling of the Plame affair.

“Fitzgerald will try to do perjury traps, because that is what he does.”

Fitzgerald and his team have a lot of wiretap material. That has likely given them a lot of information to ask witnesses about.

Some of those witnesses may be members of the Obama transition team. For example, the Chicago Tribune recently reported that “communications between [incoming White House chief of staff Rahm] Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps.”

Emanuel might be asked many questions, under penalty of perjury or false-statement charges. Prosecutors will compare his answers to what they have on tape.

Perhaps they’ll invite him in for another session of questioning. Then they’ll compare his answers in the second session to his answers in the first.

Perhaps they’ll repeat that a few times. As anyone in the Bush administration could advise Emanuel, it doesn’t matter if he did anything wrong or not. He just better have his answers in order.

There’s no way to say now what will happen. In the meantime, Barack Obama is saying nothing.

The president-elect says his transition team has completed its internal investigation into Blagojevich contacts and has found that “there was nothing that my office did that was in any way inappropriate or related to the charges that have been brought.”

But Obama says Fitzgerald has asked him to postpone releasing the investigation’s results until December 22. Fitzgerald’s office later issued a one-sentence statement confirming the request, so that it can “conduct certain interviews.”

Until then, don’t ask Obama anything even related to the matter. “Let me just cut you off, because I don’t want you to waste your question,” Obama told Tribune reporter John McCormick Tuesday, after McCormick attempted to ask whether Emanuel’s reportedly extensive communications with the Blagojevich administration on the Senate-seat question contradicted Obama’s earlier claims to be taking a hands-off approach to the issue.

“I don’t want to get into the details at this point,” Obama answered.

McCormick got the message. As Obama, standing by education-secretary-designate and basketball buddy Arne Duncan, continued to avoid answering the question, McCormick moved on to a more acceptable topic. “Do you or Duncan have a better jump shot?” he asked.

Obama smiled. At least for now. But he knows, or should know, that Fitzgerald and his prosecutors won’t be nearly as accommodating as the press.


30 posted on 12/16/2008 9:56:55 PM PST by STARWISE ((They (Dims) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL author)
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To: XR7

I really like Savage. Missed this last week.


31 posted on 12/16/2008 9:59:09 PM PST by malkee (Abigail Adams is my role model.)
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To: malkee

Obama will survive this scandal but I sure hope it means he starts his Presidency as damaged goods.


32 posted on 12/16/2008 10:23:03 PM PST by tom h
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To: malkee
Rahm isn't completely silent because there's nothing there...

He knows that anything he says in public that contradicts what he said on tape is big trouble.

33 posted on 12/16/2008 10:28:52 PM PST by DB
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To: malkee

It already has. The MSM and the RATS are in full CYA mode, but anybody who can read can see for themselves Obama is already soiled, and he isn’t even in office yet. An honest prosecutor could fill a federal prison with the RATS involved in this one. Too bad we don’t have one.


34 posted on 12/16/2008 10:32:11 PM PST by ozzymandus
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To: Seaplaner
"... I would have thought him more likely a fifth-column abettor of Mister Obama..."

Oh, me too. I don't hold out much hope for this, at all.

35 posted on 12/16/2008 10:34:55 PM PST by Irene Adler (')
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To: hoosiermama
JJJ did the right thing he reported it immediately.

I agree, he did the right thing. My opinion of Jesse Jr. just went up a notch. He's obviously not a chip off the old block!

From the affidavit, page 75, we see this:

ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D that ROD BLAGOJEVICH had a problem with Senate Candidate 5 just promising to help ROD BLAGOJEVICH because ROD BLAGOJEVICH had a prior bad experience with Senate Candidate 5 not keeping his word.

36 posted on 12/16/2008 10:36:57 PM PST by jellybean (Who is John Galt? ~ Bookmark altfreerepublic.freeforums.org for when FR is down)
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To: All

37 posted on 12/16/2008 10:37:11 PM PST by Eye of Unk (Americans should lead America, its the right way.)
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To: Irene Adler

Don’t be too sure.


38 posted on 12/16/2008 10:38:23 PM PST by malkee (Abigail Adams is my role model.)
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To: malkee

it already has..the right question is if Obama and his cronies can lie their way out of it


39 posted on 12/16/2008 10:41:49 PM PST by SerafinQ
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To: hoosiermama
SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 : (CHICAGO, IL : A GIANNOULIAS HOSTS FUNDRAISER FOR OBAMA-- See ORGANIZED CRIME, CHICAGO MOB/MAFIA, MICHAEL "JAWS" GIORANGO, PROSTITUTION) WASHINGTON - A man who has long been dogged by charges that the bank his family owns helped finance a Chicago crime figure will host a Windy City fund-raiser tonight for Sen. Barack Obama. Alexi Giannoulias, who became Illinois state treasurer last year [2006] after Obama vouched for him, has pledged to raise $100,000 for the senator's Oval Office bid.
Before he promised to raise funds for Obama, Giannoulias bankrolled Michael "Jaws" Giorango, a Chicagoan twice convicted of bookmaking and promoting prostitution. Giannoulias is so tainted by reputed mob links that several top Illinois Dems, including the state's speaker of the House and party chairman, refused to endorse him even after he won the Democratic nomination with Obama's help. Giannoulias was the bank's vice president and chief loan officer for most of the more than $15 million in loans. He was not charged with breaking any laws. The Obama campaign disputed any suggestion that Obama is tarnished by the association.
"Barack Obama has a long record of fighting for ethics reform from his days as a state senator," a campaign rep said. ---------OBAMA'S 'MOB-TIE' SIDEKICK, NY Post, September 5, 2007 http://www.nypost.com/seven/09052007...ie_idekick.htm; From HC Forum: Today, 06:43 PM writerchick Moderator Join Date: May 2008 Location: Los Angeles and NYC Posts: 3,524 Poster Rank: #20 --------VIA FREEREPUBLIC THREAD "The Obama-Giannoulias connection, Chicago mob financier," Hillary Clinton Forum ^ Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008 7:34:21 PM by dascallie
40 posted on 12/16/2008 10:46:56 PM PST by piasa
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