Posted on 12/12/2008 5:02:41 AM PST by radar101
"The source said there were a list of names given to the Governor's office of candidates that would be acceptable to President-Elect Barack Obama."
My first reaction is...so what? I would expect they had conversations about it. Did he do anything wrong? This whole thing is really weird.
I see nothing at all abnormal about him having conversations
The true question is was he involved in negotiating a price?
Obama is protesting too much.
Mine too. So why is Obama stretching the truth about any contact with Blago over this matter? Why the retraction of statements from Axelrod and Emmanuel regarding contacts with Blago? This doesn't make sense unless something shady was going on in association with those contacts.
I am becoming very suspicious that someone has misspoken again...
That is rhetorical.
Of course something shady was happening: M-O-N-E-Y as in bribes, payoffs, etc. Remember, these are chicago rats - the most unethical of their species.
I would expect they had conversations about it.
In fact if they didn’t discuss the subject, I would think that odd. But did they put a price on the senate seat? From reports and Blago’s own expletive terms, about Obama, I will be surprised if they did.
This seems like everyday, normal work for an incoming COS under these circumstances.
The gov should ask, and the POTUS-elect should answer.
Probably nothing to see here.
I hate to admit it but FR is more fun when the Dems are "in control". Bad for the country, bad for our future and our children's future but you cannot deny that the Dems provide first class political entertainment.
Hussein could’ve come right out and said that Rahmadingdong talked to Blago...Instead he acts secretive. Dear Leader knows what’s coming down...
PING
So why did Obama lie about it?
It seems perfectly natural to have this conversation with Blago, but Obama denies (denied) that they took place.
Emanuel is going to be a problem for 0. He became the congressional rep for the district vacated when Blog took over the governershi - and this is Chicago politics!
And, if Blago was trying to extract a price, did they report it to authorities?
I think in isolation, maybe that statement is exculpatory as to Obama, but reading the whole thing, it looks like maybe there was going to be a promise of something in 2 years - and that is what ticked Blago off. So, when he’s saying all they’ll give him is appreciation, that’s his interpretation of a payoff that starts 2 years down the road. Obviously team Obama had to nix the appearance of a payoff by keeping it to a 2 year trigger. But Blago wanted something more immediate.
“There was some place that Barry O said that none of his people had been in contact with Rod Blago.”
Probably didn’t tell him. More evidence that he’s a puppet/tool.
That’s not the Rahm Emmanuel that I knew!..............
It will be interesting to find out what if any promises were made to Gov. Bloy for appointing an Obama choice to the senate.
Well, what they had "conservations"?as indicated in the headline
The issue is not that they had any conversations. The issue is that The Messiah said that they didn't have any conversations.
Oh, excuse me...he is "confident that" none of his people have had conversations.
What I don’t understand is why Obama didn’t come out and say, “yes I talked with the governor as I have a vested interest in who takes my Senate seat. I didn’t tell him who but made several suggestions.” That would have cut him out of the picture, no problem but he, like Clinton, would lie when the truth would serve him better.
Your first reaction should be ...’why did Obama come out yesterday and deny that anyone associated with him was involved with Blago picling the new Senator’ Obama is pulling a classic Clinton here, you have to parse his words to see what he is actually saying.
If you believe Emmanuel was not the middleman between Blago and Obama, you are a fool. Obama and Emmanuel were two of the main people who got Blago elected in his first term as Gov. Obama acts like he barely knows the guy, but it is funny they are not only linked by Emmanuel, but by Tony Rezko as well. He was a major fundraiser and sleaze involved with both of them, and he is singing like a canary to the Feds in order to get his sentence reduced. I would imagine Blago may try the same route, now that they have him on tape. Mr/ Clean Barry O is kneedeep in the Chicago cesspool. His house purchase and mising appraisal may prove his undoing.
Well, it wouldn't be weird if Emanuel, or Obama, had stated that right off the bat. They haven't, which leads to all types of speculation about Emanuel being caught on tape, and if so, did he participate in what Fitzgerald has characterized as "the most appalling...fact that Governor Blagojevich tried to sell the appointment to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Obama."
The ball's in Obama's court, but I have a feeling, judging from previous behavior (e.g. Rev. Wright), there will be a period of frantically trying to find out if Emanuel is on the tape, and if so, exactly what he said -- in other words, how they can shape the story and/or damage to Obama's advantage.
In that regard, the media stands ready and willing to help, we can be sure.
I would expect him to do the same.
Did he do anything wrong? This whole thing is really weird.
This is sounding like another case where "the cover up is worse than the crime" or the cover up is the crime. It begs the question "what is Obama hiding"
Good point. Isn’t that what happened with Rezko and the Illinois Treasurer’s family? The payoff would be after some time so that when it was done it wasn’t an obvious payoff.
The guy was trying to sell the seat. If Emmanuel had "several" conversations about it with Blago, then the conclusion that can be drawn is that Emmanuel was NEGOTIATING a deal.
If Emmanuel knew that Blago was seeking bribes, then he should have immediately notified the FBI and he should also have notified his boss (Obama) that Blago was seeking bribes for the office.
I doubt very seriously if Emmanuel or Obama were the ones who tipped the FBI about this matter.
Even if Obama refused to conceed to the bribe, he had a legal and moral obligation to turn Blago into the FBI for corruption the second he knew he was corrupt. Obama's hands are not clean. Everyone in Chicago politics is dirty.
Welcome to the third world.
Me too. So, why did Obama say they didn't?
There is nothing wrong with Obama and/or his staff meeting with this guy about Obama's replacement. That's expected. Someone has to show that a quid pro quo existed or was requested before he has a problem. And for him to say that the governor requested an illegal favor and he turned him down wouldn't be enough to satisfy me as I'd want to know why he didn't turn the governor in to the justice department for acting illegally.
It would be ridicules to assume there were no discussions. What needs be fleshed out is what were the nature of the discussions that had to have occurred. Note, in a separate report, it was said that JJackson Jr’s people contacted Blago in Oct and the subject of a million to his campaign was brought up as an offer for the Senate job. There was mention on the tape of a million so that seems to confirm that happened. So, given the floor being a million, what were the discussions and how were they going to get beyond one million. Since Blago likes to use “campaign chests” as a personal ATM and since the Sun God raised like a billion for his own campaign, I would look into discussions and how campaign contributions may be involved. It would not be difficult for the Sun God’s people to steer a huge donation to Blago as long as his “fingerprints” were not on it.
"Me too. So, why did Obama say they didn't? " He's saying he didn't have any meetings at all because the next question would be... "Why didn't you call the justice department immediately after your meeting?"
“I would expect they had conversations about it.”
They were adamant that they didn’t, that’s the problem. Stupid on their part to have said they didn’t speak with Blag, as most people would assume they would have.
Note: Rahm’s taped conversations are AFTER he was NAMED chief of staff.
(The timeline has been edited as the correct date Rahm was “named” was 11/06/08.)
Some key dates (all can be sourced) ...
9/17/08 0 calls Emil Jones about ethics bill
9/19/08 Blago calls the move a Republican trap, and brings up Rezko’s name in a presser. “I have a theory on what happened in the Rezko situation was a system, you know, sucked him in and then some lines were crossed and then that person found himself actually violating some of the rules,” Blagojevich said.
10/07/08 Blago tells Rezko to tell the truth, the day after federal prosecutors indicated that the convicted fund-raiser might be cooperating with them. Rezko sentencing subsequently delayed.
10/12/08 Rezko starts talking.
10/17/08 Blago sends 0 message via Sun-Times’ Sneed, “Who will it be?”
10/21/08 Order was signed authorizing a 30-day interception of oral communications at Friends of Blago, Blago’s personal office and the conference room and that it was begun on Oct. 22.
??? Feds ask Trib to hold the presses due to wire taps.
10/28/08 “Goodbye gov? Sneed hears a plan is afoot to impeach Gov. Blagojevich following the presidential election next month. Word is the votes are there. Stay tuned.”
10/31/08 “I just don’t want to jinx him and I don’t like the karma of me thinking that far ahead,” Blagojevich said of Obama ‘s prospects in Tuesday’s election. The governor added, “We have had some discussions about a process which we’ll share ... if all goes well.”
11/05/08 Blago meets with 0 regarding senate appointment process. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2146114/posts (Follow up 11/08, both reports pulled 12/10/08.)
11/06/07 Rahn named chief of staff.
??? AFTER being name chief of staff, Rahm has multiple conversations with Blago, giving him a list of names acceptable to 0.
11/07/08 Blago sends second message to team 0 via Sneed, “Sen. Madigan?”
11/10/08 Marathon conference call, more than two hours, between “various Washington, D.C., based advisers,” Blago, his wife, his general counsel, an unnamed adviser, and John Harris, regarding “what (Blago) can get from the President-elect for the Senate seat.” Blago believed the candidate was Jarrett.
7:56 PM ET, CNN reported that “two Democratic sources close to President-elect Barack Obama tell CNN that top adviser Valerie Jarrett will not be appointed to replace him in the U.S. Senate.”
11/12/08 Durbin announces his intent to speak about his senate candidates with Blago.
11/13/08 Durbin asks Blago for a meeting, voices Duckworth as a favorite.
Jarrett accepts cabinet post.
“After several pages of detailing those machinations, the criminal complaint takes an abrupt turn, describing NO WIRETAPS for a period of THREE WEEKS. The complaint says Blagojevich had “numerous conversations” about the Senate seat during that period, but it doesn’t detail any.”
11/14/08 0 announces senate seat resignation, and distances himself from Blago, (courtesy of the WaPo). Resignation meant to ratchet up the pressure on Gov. Rod Blagojevich “to name a successor more quickly than planned.”
11/23/08 Axelrod said, “I know he’s talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.” (youtube video pulled 12/10/08)
11/26/08 Durbin weighs asking Bush to commute ex-Gov. Ryan
11/27/08 Blagojevich: Bush should let Ryan out of Prison
12/05/08 “Chicago Tribune ran a story on its front page reporting that law enforcement had secretly recorded Blagojevich’s conversations as part of a criminal investigation. Blagojevich immediately instructed Fundraiser A to “undo” the plan to meet personally with the associate of Candidate Five, (JJJ).”
12/09/08 Blago arrested, is accused of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, as well as soliciting bribes.
12/10/08 0 and Durbin call for Blago’s resignation.
I think that's where the catch is: the nature of the discussions. Suppose Emanuel is not on the tapes, but he is talked about by others on the tapes?
In that case, Fitz would want to talk to Emanuel, as he said at that press conference the other day: "When someone says something that's on tape, largely they're stuck with it. But when someone says something on tape about someone else, you usually want to do more investigation to verify what it is that happened."
Consider, just for the sake of argument, that you're guilty to some degree, but you're not sure what was said about you, and if it's enough to implicate you. Do you try to talk to all those involved in the conversations, to figure out what was said, before you talk to Fitz? I think you would.
Even if you're not guilty, you'd want to know as much as you could of what was said about you before you talk to an investigator.
Remember, Fitz prosecuted Libby for a lying to an investigator.
OOPS, s/b 11/06/08 Rahn named chief of staff.
(Note to self: Don’t post before coffee.)
The O has zero executive leadership experience. He doesn’t understand that an effective executive has a responsibility to worry about succession planning. He lacks a real-word frame of reference from which to act.
The Aero’s default response to everything is to ‘shade the truth’ or LIE, LIE, LIE!
I got to thinking last night about the report that ‘many people came and went during the 2 hour conference call’.
Is it possible that these people,(advisors to the President Elect, etc.)dropping in and out of the tapped conversations, were conferring with the President elect over the various ‘offers/demands’ on a separate ‘conference call’?
I am beginning to think that it stands to reason that they were. Why else leave a conference call with Blago and company so many times? Surely not all of these democrat ‘advisors’ are incontinent....lol
Agree. If he can walk on water he can certainly walk on mud.
The thing is, when he hoists his royal robes a couple inches, you catch a glimpse of all the slimy toads underneath.
“I got to thinking last night about the report that ‘many people came and went during the 2 hour conference call’.
Is it possible that these people,(advisors to the President Elect, etc.)dropping in and out of the tapped conversations, were conferring with the President elect over the various ‘offers/demands’ on a separate ‘conference call’?”
You may be on to something. “List of names” backs up your theory. (I’m thinking JJJ and Madigan were not on the 0’s list. Blago dropped Madigan’s name to piss off 0.)
the point as i see it is, that 0bama swears NO contact/communication took place. so if true, ipso facto he is caught in a lie... multiple lies at that.
“(I’m thinking JJJ and Madigan were not on the 0’s list. Blago dropped Madigan’s name to piss off 0.)”
...and it stands to reason that Blago started his tirade because JJJ and Madigan were offering Blago more and Blago expected O to up the anti and play the game to Blago’s advantage. After all, Obama had been playing ‘the Chicago game’ for years, he and Blago were close, Obama had ‘helped’ Blago in the past(and visa versa), and Blago thought he had the goods on Obama(and probably does). Why else would he have gotten so mad, unless he had gone into the meeting thinking he had the upper hand and the ‘expectation’ of Obama playing?
Rahm Emmanuel is the “Pres.-Elect Advisor” referenced in a Nov. 13 phone call which was caught on the wiretap.
Advisor B from D.C. and also another D.C. advisor who is not labeled had were wiretapped in conversations on previous days.
Conversations in which Blago was trying to make all kinds of deals.
It was known to BO’s team that Blago was playing let’s make a deal. Despite that the contacts back and forth continued with Rahm Emmanuel even getting into the mix.
BO’s team wanted Blago to wait two years - serve out his term - them he would get the Change to Win job. Blago wanted something right away. BO’s team thought it too risky to do something right away.
This is hardball and some big fish are going to take a fall.
I don’t buy into the premise that BO’s team were put up to do this by Fitz and were just playing along. Fitz didn’t need BO’s team to play along. He had enough on Blago without getting them involved.
Good analysis here:
http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/12/11/more-questions-about-obama-and-blagojevich/
The identity of Advisor B will be very interesting to learn.
My bad! I heard Jesse, Jr say he did not authorize anyone to speak to Blow-go, and I heard O’Teflon stuttering all over the place that he did not speak to the governor...I missed Obama say his office had no involvement. Gosh, all this ‘tranparency’ is blinding.
The fact that Rahm is snarling at reporters and refusing to answer questions and that he’s in a very bad mood says a lot....
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