Big House or White House?

Even in a state that has seen three former governors go to prison in the past 35 years (a fourth was acquitted in the 1960s of evading income taxes), Gov. Rod Blagojevich has set a new standard in making political ethics an Illinois oxymoron.

Yesterday we discussed much of his sordidness and called for his resignation, but one aspect of Mr. Blagojevich's conduct is of particular interest to us, namely, according to the Justice Department that taped him, that Mr. Blagojevich allegedly threatened to withhold assistance to the Tribune Co. regarding the sale of Wrigley Field unless members of the Chicago Tribune's editorial board who were critical of him were fired.

Obama hits 'Reboot Image', activates Blago transfer file software

At the rate this is going, there may be no unindicted Democrat left in Illinois to fill Obama's seat. There's so much Democrat corruption in Illinois that even a Republican could win an election.
Fearing this, every Senate Democrat today signed a letter by Sen. Harry Reid -- addressed to Blagojevich -- demanding that he resign in order to avoid an election for Obama's seat. Among the risks of holding an election, Illinois could have a real Senator for a change.
Instead, Reid wants the Lt. Governor making the appointment, which is a reversal from his position a day earlier. Maybe we can finally get Democrats to repeal the 17th Amendment.
Meanwhile, Obama says this isn't the Blagojevich he knew, calling on him (a day late) to resign, and insisting he did not have contact with that Governor.
Being totally fair and objective, the press twisted itself into a pretzel trying to tie Ken Lay to Bush during the Enron brouhaha, so now we are told to believe that Obama never once spoke with the governor of his own state about his own Senate seat. There were supposedly no Blago-Obama meetings but Blago called Obama a [bleeping bleeper] after the Blago-Obama meetings they didn't have.
Yet, in an interview on Fox News Chicago on November 23, Obama honcho David Axelrod said "I know [Obama's] talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them." After ABC's Jake Tapper posted a story quoting those words, an Obama Transition Team hack said that Axelrod misspoke. They just remembered!
The media are even insisting Obama and Blago have never ever been close. This must be why Obama served as one of Blago's top advisers in his first (successful) run for governor in 2002. In the summer of that year, then-state Sen. Obama told a Chicago TV show that "Right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as Governor." In contrast, the misspeaking Axelrod refused to work for Blago at the time, concerned that his one-time client wasn't ready for the gig.
Earlier this year, Rahm Emanuel -- who, like Obama, was a top adviser in Blago's 2002 campaign -- was quoted in the New Yorker saying that he and Obama "participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor. We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I and these other two."
In 2006, during Blago's reelection run, subpoenas from Patrick Fitzgerald were landing all over the Blago administration. A plethora of state agencies were being probed for "endemic hiring fraud." In response, Obama endorsed Blago for reelection.
"We've got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois," Obama said at a rally at the Illinois State Fair in August 2006. Blago returned the favor by reserving the Old State Capitol for Obama's presidential announcement. Clearly, Obama and Blago weren't close.
Which is the part and parcel absurdity in Obama's lame-o 'just another guy in the neighborhood, no direct contact with that Governor, was only 47 years old' alibi. Obama could simply have said, 'sure, I've talked to the Governor about a broad range of issues, including naming a replacement to my Senate seat, but in none of our conversations was anything improper even considered.' Being painfully stupid, Obama instead opted for the blanket denial of ANY meeting and ANY contact, forcing his shoulder-parrots in the media to go to insane lengths to run interference. KHQA TV in North Korea, Ill., went as far as to take down a print story they ran a month ago on their Connect Tristates website about a scheduled Blago-Obama meeting, claiming the station misspoke:

"KHQA wishes to offer a clarification regarding a story that appeared last month on our website . . . The story housed in our website archive was on the morning of November 5, 2008. It suggested that a meeting was scheduled later that day between President Elect Obama and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. KHQA has no knowledge that any meeting ever took place."

But, just three days after the original story, the station misspoke again! In a November 8 article entitled, "Duckworth comments on consideration for Senate," Alexis Hunt (not the same reporter who authored the November 5 story) wrote that "Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week to discuss" naming a replacement to his seat. Then today, after a few bloggers spotted the follow-up article, the Kim Jong-Illinois station took that one down, too. I feel this tingle up my leg.
Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"

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