Obama seen untouched by Illinois governor charges(Teflon Barf Alert)

reuters ^ | Dec 10, 2008 | Deborah Charles

[mdittmar]

President-elect Barack Obama's decision to keep a distance from his state's governor, who was arrested on corruption charges on Tuesday, should enable him to escape becoming tainted by the scandal, analysts said.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich stands accused of trying to sell the president-elect's vacant U.S. Senate seat for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife, among other charges.

"Obama is not related to the corruption pattern in Chicago," said political scientist Dick Simpson of the University of Illinois in Chicago. "He has not been pressing for any person to replace him in his Senate seat."

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, announcing the charges, also said Obama was in no way implicated.

Obama, who takes office on January 20, left the Senate soon after winning the November 4 presidential election. As governor, Blagojevich, a Democrat, has sole authority to announce a replacement to serve the remaining two years of Obama's term.

Obama told reporters he was "saddened and sobered."

"I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening. As I said, it is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that I don't think it's appropriate to comment," he said.

[DouglasKC]

Obama has some explaining to do! An article I found about him meeting with Blago on 11/5: http://www.connecttristates.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=217582 Please pass around the article as it surely will be scrubbed.

Make a thread out of this...

[rightwinggoth]

I don’t see how a man who won one of his first elections by default (getting everyone else bumped off the ballot) would ever have anything to fear from the implications of a scandal like this.

[Grampa Dave]

To: STARWISE; Ernest_at_the_Beach; BIGLOOK; george76; PhilDragoo; Enchante

~~Making like Rahm’s the hero PING!

Yesterday, I put this same theory out after reading Fitzy’s bs that Obama was not involved.

Good investigators don’t pull the plug on undercover work until the really big fish are caught red handed with their pants down doing the crime.

Obama was tipped off about this. Rahm went to Fitzy and said, “End this now!”

How long did Fitzy allow the CIA Plame bs case to run after he knew that Armitage was the leaker. Years!

Fitzy ended this investigation before Obama/Rahm were caught in the net.

This was a good career move for Fitzy with his friend the Zer0 as president elect.
Before this is over, the Zer0 and Rahm will touted by the MSM as heroes in burying Blag.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/backroom/2145959/posts?page=49#49

49 posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 6:11:32 AM by Grampa Dave (Does Zer0 have any friends, who are not foriegn or domestic terrorists, or criminals

[snoringbear]

“Doing their usual stellar job of investigating, I see. Less than 24 hours and they are already declaring that there is nothing to investigate.”

yeah, for sure. The so called Mainstream Elite media will do run their usual interference for Obama. And, even if some of the governors hi jinks does in fact tough Obama the Dem Congress will never hold hearings. It will all just eventually go away....

[BRK]

I just sent the author of the story, Carol Sowers, a note asking her if she has misspoken in her reporting as the Obama camp is claiming regarding this issue.

csowers@khqa.com

[DJ Taylor]

This little scumbag, Blagojevich, has been acting as if he is “bullet proof,” and it makes me wonder why he would think that? Could it be that he has information he could trade for leniencey or complete dismissal of charges if he were to be arrested for wrong doing?

In the criminal world, of which all Chicago politicians are a part of, the first thing a thug like Blagojevich would have done when he entered into this world would have been to gather dirt on his criminal associates that he could trade for leniency when, and if, he was caught. It is very likely that Blagojevich has enough dirt on Obama that, if he is looking at a thirty year sentence, he will trade Obama for at least twenty years off his sentence. Hell, he just might have enough evidence on Obama to trade for a complete dismissal of charges. Of course this would have to take place before Obama’s Attorney General arrives at DOJ, so Blagojevich better hurry.

Things could get very interesting in Chicago between now and Januaray 20, 2009.

[deannadurbin]

I just love how every Democrat politician in the Chicago area is seen to be corrupt - except Obama. He’s always clean. Hahahahahaha!!!!

That nonsense from the libs is going to wear out thin really really fast. I think Obama is already the most corrupt individual who has ever won a presidential election.

[ml/nj]

political scientist Dick Simpson of the University of Illinois in Chicago

What is it with this place?

For some time I had thought that Penatgon Bomber William Ayres was a professor at the University of Chicago and wondered how this could be. But then I learned that he was really associated with this University of Illinois at Chicago which I had never heard of before. Check out the "Chancellor's Committees" at this place! (These are all of them!)

Chancellor's Committees

• Committee on the Status of Asian Americans
• Committee on the Status of Blacks
• Committee on the Status of Latinos
• Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues
• Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities
• Committee on the Status of Women

What a cesspool! Enquiring minds might like to find out how much pork Obama earmarked for this place.

ML/NJ

[garv]

"I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening. As I said, it is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that I don't think it's appropriate to comment," he said.

They even sanitized the quote, what Obama actually said was...

"I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so we were not -- I was not aware of what was happening. And as I said, it's a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don't think it's appropriate to comment. Okay?"

He intentionally backtracked over the word "we". We all know the need to analyze every word uttered by a Democrat and that reads to me like he knows there was contact and he is trying to insulate himself from his staff.

[browardchad]

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, announcing the charges, also said Obama was in no way implicated.

Not exactly -- in fact, Fitzgerald chose his words very carefully.

From the 12/9 press conference transcript:

REPORTER: Also would you address the fact -- and I know you've referred to this -- would you just address whether or not President-elect Obama was aware that any of these things were taking place?

MR. FITZGERALD: Okay. I'm not going to speak for what the president-elect was aware of. We make no allegations that he's aware of anything, and that's as simply as I can put it.
>>>snip<<<
REPORTER:  You spoke before about if Senator -- you didn't know -- no awareness that Senator or President-elect Barack Obama knew about this. So is it safe to say he has not been briefed? And can you also tell us if any phone calls were made to President-elect Obama that you intercepted, or to Rahm Emanuel?

MR. FITZGERALD: Okay. I'm not going to go down anything that's not in the complaint. And what I simply said before is, I'm not going to -- I have enough trouble speaking for myself. I'm not going to try and speak in the voice of a president or a president-elect. So I simply pointed out that if you look at the complaint, there's no allegation that the president-elect -- 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.
>>>snip<<<
REPORTER:  Sir, just to be crystal-clear on this point, you're not aware of any conversation, then, that took place between the governor and any member of Barack Obama's transition team at all?

MR. FITZGERALD: And what I simply said is you can read the complaint. I'm not going to sit here with a 76-page complaint and parse through it. You know, that's all we're alleging. And I'm just -- I'm not going to start going down and saying, "Did anyone ever talk to anyone?" You can read what we allege in the complaint. It's pretty detailed. Look in the 76 pages, and if you don't see it, it's not there.

The following question is even more interesting -- raising the possibility, not denied in Fitzgerald's answer, that it was the DOJ that warned Obama away from Blago:

REPORTER:  You talked about keeping your superiors informed as to what is going on, assuming that means the attorney general.
In the briefings that President-elect Obama has had over the past weeks with various government departments here, would it be possible for him to have been briefed on what was going on here with regard to this investigation?

MR. FITZGERALD: I'm not going to comment on that. I'm not the briefer. I'm not at those meetings. But I would simply say that this was very close-hold in Washington, and on a need-to-know basis. So I'm -- but I'm not going to -- I'm not the briefer, so I'm not going to represent what happens. But -- I'll leave it at that.

[Pit1]

My note to Reuters about this BS article.

Oh my, you people are so full of sh!) (Blago) that it is running off your article. You keep trying to influence readers that zer0 is some kind of saint. Bullsh!@).

Glad to see your brain-dead readers (like some in Chicago) are not buying your copy or newspapers any more. OB is yet to catch it, but you can bet that Blago will be singing (may also have his own tapes of Rahmster and Obster), maybe even a duet with Rezko.

Sell your crap to the crap station. Leave me alone.

CS Chicago

[LibLieSlayer]

Here is zero's Achilles heel... Would anyone want to depend on any chi-town thug from NOT talking and protecting you from going to jail?

LLS

[seekthetruth]

Interesting Find:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2146114/posts

[randita]

Yes, Obama was tipped off. That’s why candidate #1 was withdrawn from consideration. There are no doubt other candidates who weren’t so highly connected and may be in hot water — JJ, Jr., e.g.

After what Rev. Jackson said about Obama during the primaries, I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama would leave JJ, Jr. out in the cold, while protecting his own.

[Don Corleone]

I wonder how many political favors Obama owes to get where he is, who he must pay off, and what the pay off is.

The answer to both questions is the same, MILLIONS!

[Joe Boucher]

Too funny,

Good job.

[freekitty]

What about his Nov meeting with the Gov?

[dblshot]

“President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to keep a distance ...”

Another one under the bus.

[Condor51]

"Obama is not related to the corruption pattern in Chicago," said political scientist Dick Simpson of the University of Illinois in Chicago. "He has not been pressing for any person to replace him in his Senate seat."

Right.
Dick Simpson knows this because fellow faculty member Bill Ayers told him so.

[Oldpuppymax]

That is, he is seen as “untouched” by his worshippers in the MSM. Therefore, he had no knowledge, never heard of the governor, never met him, never spoke with him and anything Blogo says to the contrary is just a dirty, rotten, icky, racist fib.