Posted on 12/12/2008 8:34:59 AM PST by Mike Bates
Several mainstream media accounts suggest that about the only thing Barack Obama and Rod Blagojevich have in common is they both live in Illinois. Today at the Washington Post's Web site, for example, we learn that "Obama Worked to Distance Self From Blagojevich Early On." The article begins by noting that the Illinois governor, unlike other major state Democratic politicians, wasn't allowed to address this year's national convention. There was at least one good reason for that, although it wasn't covered by today's Washington Post. Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times explained it last August:
The Obama campaign on Tuesday afternoon released more speakers for the second night of the Democratic convention in Denver, a batch of Democratic governors. Missing from the list: the first governor to back Obama, his homestate Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich, who threw a heck of a party in Boston in 2004, has had no profile in the Obama campaign because of the scandals surrounding his administration, notably the Tony Rezko probe.
Because of Rezko, I never, ever expected Blagojevich to be tapped to speak.
Moreover, Blagojevich has for some time been quite unpopular. As Rasmussen Reports noted earlier this week after Blagojevich's arrest:
While this news will certainly further tarnish the governor’s reputation, Rasmussen Reports tracking in the state consistently has shown the Democrat to be one of the nation's most unpopular governors, if not the most unpopular.
Given that, it's little wonder Obama didn't want Blagojevich at the convention endorsing his candidacy. Especially since Obama - far from distancing himself early on - played a key role in electing the now disgraced governor.
Last July, Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker wrote of Obama in 2002:
That year, he gained his first high-level experience in a statewide campaign when he advised the victorious gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich, another politician with a funny name and a message of reform. Rahm Emanuel, a congressman from Chicago and a friend of Obama’s, told me that he, Obama, David Wilhelm, who was Blagojevich’s campaign co-chair, and another Blagojevich aide were the top strategists of Blagojevich’s victory. He and Obama “participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor,” Emanuel said. “We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I and these two.”
In June of 2002, Obama said on a local-access program: " …right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as Governor. . ."
The talk of scandals and Federal investigations of Blagojevich didn't diminish Obama's enthusiasm for his re-election in 2006. Chicago ABC 7 reporter Andy Shaw reported on August 16:
"We've got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois and for that reason I am proud to stand behind him," said Senator Barack Obama.
If Obama were trying to keep his distance from Blagojevich, he did it in a most peculiar way. Or, as they admiringly say in Democratic precincts, perhaps he did it "the Chicago way."
Can you imagine an article like this about President Bush in the wake of the Jack Abramhoff story ....
Obama only did what the Chicago Three (Emmanuel, Jarrett and Axelrod) told him to do to launch the coup against Blago. Led by Emmanuel.
The MSM is in full spin mode to show Saint Obama never talked to Blago.
I wonder if Blago and Rezko sang their guts out if Fitz would even listen or do anything.
Blago do one good thing in your life and turn on the rat O. These people are hanging you out to dry.
My guess is some Repub will hire you for a factory job after you get out of jail if you turn on the Indonesian rat.
I guess they knew what Blago was doing and distanced themselves, but didn’t do anything to stop his curruption.
Believe that if you can. The MSM always overlooks the entanglement between Zero and Rezko, the comparison of Michelle’s pol background(Dad and Dally office), and her super inflated salary at UofC Hospital. (Rezko specialised in shaking down hospitals with Blago’s help).
These thugs are all joined at the hip ... hopefully, kinda like Christmas lights ... one goes out, they all go out.
If Blagojevich were to turn on Obama, he wouldn’t get a pardon from him—or from Biden, if he brought down Obama. So there’s nothing in it for him. It doesn’t look like Fitzgerald wants to hurt Obama, so he isn’t likely to push Blagojevich to spill the beans on Obama (assuming he has damaging information he could reveal).
The good news, in all of this, is Blago seems to now hate Obama. If there is some dirt, be it something we don't know about this case or the Rezko case, etc., it probably won't take much to get him singing.
A few days ago I Twittered Rick Sanchez at CNN, asking what would have happened if Blagojevich has been arrested five weeks BEFORE, rather than after, the election.
If Obama and his people knew that the Governor was a crook...........why didn’t they turn him in????? Just distancing yourself doesn’t cut it. As a US Senator, Obama had a duty to turn him in and didn’t do it.
How old are your Christmas lights?
Headline: Bush Transition Team Linked to Bribe
When a Republican is involved in scandal, the MSM act like prosecutors.
When a Democrat is involved in scandal, the MSM act like defense attorneys.
How old are your Christmas lights?
I can confirm that they still do, at least the cheapy ones my wife just bought. :-)
” it probably won’t take much to get him singing. “
You’re right, but it would take even less to get him dead. Obamacide.
Corruption is an integral part of Chicago politics. It has been for decades. They didn’t do anything about the corruption because it was nothing new; standard operating procedure. The same is true in most cities that are traditionally Democratic. Corruption is expected.
I not only remember the "serial" Christmas lights, I remember the bubbling Christmas lights! :)
I know (hope) you're joking. A dead Blago would look absolutely terrible for the Obama campaign. Who else besides Team Hussein would want him dead at this point, if they didn't have some involvement in this? There aren't too many ways the MSM can spin that. (On the other hand, look at Vince Foster - and the Clinton Machine survived...)
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