Interesting. Before the scandal broke, Axelrod said Obama was in contact with Blago. Local news reported there would be, and subsequently reported that there was, a meeting between Obama and Blago discussing this. On the tapes, Blago is reportedly cursing Obama because his team offered only “appreciation” rather than cash for putting the Obama pick in the Senate.
Then the scandal breaks, and Obama said they never spoke - and all of the sudden Axelrod and the local news outlet retract their comments. (Any follow-up on why such an egregious error was made? What’s the explanation for the “false story” about a meeting being there in the first place? Who was involved in reporting the story? Has anyone asked them how they were so “mistaken?”)
So either (i) Obama never breathed a word to the Illinois governor about who he would want to be dealing with as one of a hundred members of a Senate teetering on the precipice of a filibuster-proof majority, Axelrod and the local news outlet (two very different actors in totally different positions with respect to the story and presumably relying on different sources) made the exact same mistake, and Blago was somehow delusional and hallucinated that he knew Obama’s preferred candidate for the job, or (ii) Obama made a false statement and Axelrod and the local media are covering for him.
Which is more likely?
But but but... his kind eyes and confident smile are an inspiration to us all!
What is this about 3 wks of taping missing from the transcripts....why would Fitz not include that CRITICAL time?