Posted on 12/21/2008 11:34:05 PM PST by Red Steel
Barack Obama has said that when all is revealed, it will be clear that neither he nor his staff had any contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich that could be considered improper.
The president-elect's office says it will release on Monday the promised report giving a full accounting of those contacts, and Obama aides say the official under the most scrutiny -- Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel -- will be exonerated after weeks of innuendo that they have long said was unfair.
Journalists, readers and viewers may be busy wrapping presents, lighting their menorahs or just eating when the report is released -- while Mr. Obama is in Hawaii and out of public view.
But there will be no revelations worth burying during the holidays anyway, transition sources say.
Nobody has accused Mr. Obama or his staff of legal wrongdoing. But the transition team's sometimes awkward handling of the issue has raised anticipation of just what the report might
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The day of Mr. Blagojevich's arrest, the president-elect said he couldn't comment on the governor's alleged efforts to sell Mr. Obama's vacated Senate seat. The next day, he did comment, calling for Mr. Blagojevich's resignation and offering assurances that neither he nor his aides were involved in any deal making.
Then he promised to account for any and all contacts between his staff and the governor's, setting a release within days. Finally, he said the account was complete, but he wouldn't release it until Christmas week.
-snip-
Regardless of how clean the Obama camp is, the release of the report isn't likely to be clean.
-snip-
The coming Blagojevich release will have the same effect.
"The contacts are a potential Pandora's box," Mr. Bonjean said. "They'll take reporters in all different directions, like having dozens of little rabbits running around
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“They’ll take reporters in all different directions, like having dozens of little rabbits running around”
This is why the timing may not be such a bad thing. Rather than be “old news” by the time people start paying attention again in January, hopefully there will be at least a few intrepid reporters such as John Kass who have connected some dots that raise a raft of NEW questions that will beseige PEBO. In the meantime, the extended radio silence may begin to look more and more to people like a standard-issue political cover-up.
Doesn't say anything about them (BO or Rahm-E) having contact with Blank=O aid, or other staff members.
All illegal activities must be kept a couple of levels away from the instigator.
Does anyone know if it is even possible to wire cell phones or BLACKberries?
Yes, it can be done through roving wiretaps.
yes
“Barack Obama has said that when all is revealed, it will be clear that neither he nor his staff had any contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich”
Well, strictly speaking, that itself is a lie. We know, or at least we think we know that RE had at least one contact with Blago, albeit “pro forma.” I’m still waiting to see how the “21 conversations” pans out. Even if 20 were with Blago staff, it defies credibility that RE wasn’t engaged in bargaining—even if it only took the form of turning down repeated “pay” proposals.
Who said all 20 of Rahm -E’s conversations were with Blank-O. They could have been with his assistant or BO or even Axelrod....
We know there were wire taps. We don’t know if they were just issued for one person. We others tapped also. Was it Blank-O being taped or Rahm E or all?
Why the delay, unless Fitz want to continue recording more from one of the sources....
I’d sure like to hear Rahm-E and BO’s conversations this week.....Think others would too?
“Who said all 20 of Rahm -E’s conversations were with Blank-O”
Certainly not me. All that’s been reported from 2 separate sources are a) 21 total conversations involving RE; b) 1 RE-Blago conversation, allegedly “pro forma” (e.g., “Hi, what’s up? How’s the wife and kids?”). If b) is true and a) is false, it’s probably going to be easier to keep RE out of hot water. But if a) AND b) are true, then the point of my post was to say that it’s inconceivable that a back-and-forth exchange that extended would be completely devoid of RE’s discussing what a) could; b) might; c) would; or d) would not be traded in exchange for Blago giving Valerie Jarrett the Senate seat. Thus, whether RE made some counteroffers or merely consistently refused all Blago proposals for “consideration”, this detailed a conversation is completely inconsistent with Obama’s claim that “we, whoops, I” knew nothing about what Blago was doing.
Is RE prepared to fall on his sword for Obama? Maybe, but he’s smart enough to be thinking 3 steps ahead. It does him no good to trash his own career and do jail time on Obama’s behalf in hopes of later being rewarded for being a good soldier if he expects that Fitz will eventually nail Obama himself for activity related to Board Games investigation or Rezko’s real estate deal with Obama. If RE reasons that Obama’s going to get taken down anyway, why not be a hero and rat him out himself instead of being the fall guy?
I just can't see Rahm-E falling on the sword....True, He's played politics to get where he is: Worked for Clinton's, ran for office, did grunt work at the beginning for others.
Yes, he has been rewarded. Others have said he was at the “right" place at the “right” time. But we cannot rule out political pay backs.
I cannot see him overtly doing a criminal act and risque doing jail time. That would bring dishonor to his mother and family, not a Jewish thing....
Yes I can see him being three jumps ahead of others. Whether that would be enough for him to contact Fitz, we'll have to see.
I think I mentioned before, when doing research on Chicago, that of all the people working with BO, he seems the “cleanest”
He first said that he is "confident" that none of his staff had "any contact" with Blagojevich about the Senate seat replacement.
Did you see Rahm-E is spending the holidays in Africa? Where? Hope FItz or someone else has a tail....Where is 007 when you need him?
I didn’t see that. In post 29, does your reference to RE being the “cleanest” mean “cleanest-appearing” (meaning he may have a leg or two up on others when it comes to getting caught) or does it mean he actually has more integrity than most of the clowns surrounding him in the Chicago swamp? Just curious.
Rahm -E seems to be an expert in keeping under the radar....Just like trying to find where he has gone in Africa....Many comments and news stories are VERY general...Therefore he appears less and is more difficult to see what, if anything, he’s up to....OTOH. He may just have a higher level of integrety ;~)
Sure do wish I knew “where in the WOrld Rahm E” has gone over the holiday!
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