Right Rod, you were set-up, suuuuurrrrre....
He was set up in the sense he was promised by higher powers that as long as he played the game right they would take care of him - and they abandoned him, instead. Always a risk in these high-level games, and one our senior GOP office-holders seem keenly aware of.
Justice Department Briefing on Blagojevich Investigation:
Patrick Fitzgerald, United States attorney general for the Northern District of Illinois [speaking to press]:
Published: December 9, 2008, New York Times
Excerpts from the transcript:
Fitzgerald: "In the governor's words -- governor's words, quote, 'Fire all those bleeping people. Get them the bleep out of there. And get us some editorial support', close quote. And the bleeps are not really bleeps."
(snip)
Fitzgerald: "A month or so ago a $1.8 billion tollway project was announced. While that tollway project was being announced, Governor Blagojevich was privately seeking to have a person benefiting from that contract raise $100,000 in contributions, and privately the government (sic) said, 'I could have made a larger announcement but wanted to see how they would perform by the end of the year. If they don't perform, bleep 'em.' That's a quote. And the word 'bleep' was not the word he used."
(snip)
Fitzgerald: "The governor's own words describing the Senate seat, quote, 'It's a bleeping valuable thing -- thing. You just don't give it away for nothing', close quote."
Fitzgerald: "Another quote, 'I've got this thing, and it's bleeping golden. And I'm just not giving it up for bleeping nothing. I'm not going to do it, and I can always use it; I can parachute me there,' quote. Those are his words, not our characterization, other than with regard to the bleep."
Fitzgerald: "The tapes reveal that Governor Blagojevich wanted a number of things in exchange for making the appointment to the Senate seat -- an appointment as secretary of health and human services or an ambassadorship, an appointment to a private foundation, a higher paying job for his wife or campaign contributions."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/politics/09text-illinois.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
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Blago's wife...
"Mrs. Blago, the former Patti Mell, won the hearts of old-school thugs everywhere with her f-word-filled rants captured on FBI wiretaps, some of which were colorfully detailed in the criminal complaint against her hubby..." --Michelle Malkin, December 17, 2008
http://710knus.townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2008/12/17/the_real_housewives_of_crook_county
“I’ve got this thing and it’s (expletive) golden,” Blagojevich said in a conversation secretly recorded by government agents. “I’m not just giving it up for (expletive) nothing.”
Blagojevich was talking to his onetime deputy governor, Doug Scofield, who had been part of his two campaigns for the state’s top office. Scofield found himself advising his former boss just as Obama was cruising toward winning the presidential election, and Blagojevich had a decision to make.
“The thing he’s referring to is his ability to appoint a senator,” Scofield testified moments after a wiretap of that call was played at Blagojevich’s corruption trial. “It’s valuable to him and he’s not giving that thing of value up for nothing or in exchange for nothing,” Scofield said.
The “golden” line has served as a virtual trademark for the government’s case ever since it was first publicized in a court document on the day of Blagojevich’s December 2008 arrest. But it was almost a month into the trial before the recording was played for jurors, as prosecutors continued to press the point that Blagojevich wasn’t interested in using his Senate pick for the good of the people of Illinois. Rather, prosecutors claim, he saw his power to fill the Senate vacancy as leverage to help himself as his political options were closing and a federal probe was swirling around him.
During the phone call, Blagojevich told Scofield that he would take an appointment from Obama as secretary of Health and Human Services “in a second,” and if that didn’t materialize, he could “(expletive) parachute me there,” meaning appoint himself to the Senate.
Scofield testified he had left the new Blagojevich administration in 2003 in part because the roles of Antoin “Tony” Rezko and fellow fundraiser Christopher Kelly left him uncomfortable. They went from raising campaign funds before the 2002 election to being key players in the transition period, including naming people to state boards and commissions. ...”
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-06-29/news/ct-met-blagojevich-trial-0630-20100629_1_blagojevich-trial-doug-scofield-fellow-fundraiser-christopher-kelly
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I don’t know why he got the full ‘treatment’ when he too is a Dem. He’s not even halfway through the sentence.
Wonder if his wife has started dating again?
She was a real ‘firecracker’ of a person, who enjoyed attention as much as her husband, as I recall.
Like R Kelly was set up.....he set up the camera!
His buddy obama needs to be right along side him with a mop and a bucket, and not a pen and a phone.
Has he tried to sell the broom yet?
The original Governor Goodhair.
"Following expose from Gateway Pundit and Stop the ACLU."
Blago didn’t do anything lots of other powerful politicians have done. He was just a bit to direct with his offers.
Your democrat pals screwed ya, huh?
Gotta wonder what he has and where it’s hidden that’s keeping him alive.