Posted on 12/11/2008 9:01:42 AM PST by BGHater
President-elect Obama said he has not spoken with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) about filling his former Senate seat.
Obama, at a Thursday news conference in Chicago, pledged to research who on his staff had been in communication with the governor's office and promised to report back.
"I was as appalled and disappointed as anybody by the revelations earlier this week," Obama said of Blagojevich's arrest on federal corruption charges, including a charge the governor allegedly tried to profit from filling Obama's seat. "I'm confident that no representative of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat. I think the materials released by the U.S. attorney reflect that fact.
"I've asked my team to gather the facts of any contacts with the governor's office about this vacancy so that we can share them with you over the next few days," Obama said.
Obama repeated his call on Blagojevich to resign, saying the governor cannot effectively serve. "I want to make sure that the next senator from Illinois ... is not tainted by what has taken place so far," Obama said.
A public servant who came of age in the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago politics, Obama said Blagojevich's actions were on the "far end" of "a culture that thinks of politics as a means of self-aggrandizement."
"There are times when people are not thinking about what's best for the public good," Obama said. "This Senate seat does not belong to any politician to trade. It belongs to the people of Illinois, and they deserve the best possible representation."
The president-elect said neither he nor his transition team have been contacted by federal officials seeking interviews in the matter, and pointed out that the affidavit filed on Tuesday makes it clear Obama's team was hesitant to make any deals.
The president-elect also made light of Blagojevich's frequent profanity-laced tirades, in which he used various vulgarities to refer to the president-elect. "I'm not going to repeat back some of the things said about me," Obama joked. "This is a family program, I know."
Even the morning news was showing a half dozen pictures of the two together. As in love with BHO as the press is, frankly, I was very surprised they showed pictures of the two of them together. My guess is there will be a very stern conversation taking place regarding that topic some time today.
We won’t seem them again.
This is taken from Katie Allison Granju’s blog at the Knoxville, TN “Knox News” website (http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/granju/2008/12/more-evidence-that-obama-and-b.html). I may post a separate thread because the Obama-Blago visit has been censored on her original link to KHQA TV 7 serving Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. However, other news outlets independently reported the meeting between BO and Blago. Here is her blog.
CHICAGO, ILL. — Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.
That’s one of Obama’s first priorities today.
He’s meeting with Governor Rod Blagojevich this afternoon in Chicago to discuss it.
Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement.
There’s already been speculation about his selection...from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. of Chicago’s south side who co-chaired Obama’s presidential campaign, to recently-retired state senate president Emil Jones, to the governor himself.
It’s likely the governor will make his decision quickly so the new senator will get some seniority before newly-elected senators take office in January...
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 4:04 p.m.
KHQA TV wishes to offer clarification regarding a story that appeared last month on our website ConnectTristates.com. The story, which discussed the appointment of a replacement for President Elect Obama’in the U.S. Senate, became the subject of much discussion on talk radio and on blog sites Wednesday.
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 Blagojevich. KHQA has no knowledge that any meeting ever took place. Governor Blagojevich did appear at a news conference in Chicago on that date.
(source http://www.connecttristates.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=233822)
By Alexis Hunt
Saturday, November 08, 2008 at 9:48 p.m.
QUINCY, IL — Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.
Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week to discuss it. Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement. There’s already been speculation about his selection…from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Junior to Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth.
Duckworth made an appearance in Saturday’s Veterans’ parade in Quincy. We asked her about the possibility of filling Obama’s seat.
“The Governor’s office confirmed yesterday that he is considering me and I am deeply honored jus to be considered. I hope whoever is selected is someone who is willing to travel around the state and gets to know this wonderful state. I’m just honored to be considered,” Duckworth said.
The governor expects to make his decision before Christmas. Part of the timing depends on when Obama officially vacates his senate seat.
3) http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/10/gov-mum-on-who-may-succeed-obama.html
Blagojevich mum on possible successors to Obama
Chicago Tribune (IL) - Friday, October 31, 2008
Author: Rick Pearson and Monique Garcia, TRIBUNE REPORTERS
Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday cited the potential for bad “karma” and avoided discussing potential Senate successors to Barack Obama should the Democratic nominee win the White House, but acknowledged he has a process in mind for making the most important appointment of his career.
“I just don’t want to jinx him and I don’t like the karma of me thinking that far ahead,” Blagojevich said of Obama ‘s prospects in Tuesday’s election. The governor added, “We have had some discussions about a process which we’ll share ... if all goes well.”
http://www.connecttristates.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=233822
“I’ve asked my team to gather the facts ...”
Didn’t Bill Clinton say something just like this when the Lewinsky scandal was starting to brew ?
The similarities are unbelievable and yet, absolutely believable.
The corruption bubbling around the edges, the hinky land deals , the same exact players.
That short woman hectoring in the background.
We should hear the sound of ashtrays breaking any day, now.
The Big He has morphed into The One.
POLL TO FREEP
Quick Poll
Will the Blago scandal tarnish Obama’s reputation?
1. 1 Yes. it shows Illinois breeds corrupt politicians
2. 2 No. He has no connection whatsoever
3. 3 Maybe. But he’s managed to distance himself
4. 4 It’s too early to tell
1. 1 25% Yes. it shows Illinois breeds corrupt politicians
2. 2 27% No. He has no connection whatsoever
3. 3 24% Maybe. But he’s managed to distance himself
4. 4 24% It’s too early to tell
Obama even acknowledged in his presser today that the Governor spoke to aides about Obama not being willing to play the game. How could the Governor know that Obama wasn’t willing to go along unless their had been some contact between the Governor and the transition team? Why was the Governor mentioning that he might just give the seat to himself if Obama didn’t want to play ball if he hadn’t spoken to someone in the Obama camp?
Oh, that meeting. But wink, wink that meeting was unrelated to my Senate replacement wink, wink. Seriously, Obama was slick enough to get elected President and I doubt he was stupid enough to be incriminated with that idiot Governor...the one that called Obama a mf that would not do business and f____ him.
The way 0bama’s talking smack about they guy who’s got the goods on him makes me think Blago might be taking a dip in the Chicago River real soon.
Why are they “Illinoisans” and not “Illini”?
obanas halo is missing
In blago speak... “hussein is a lying MF’er”!
LLS
My guess is that, since Fitzgerald is such a relentlessly partisan Democrat, he will do as he did in the Wilson/CIA Deskjockey investigation: ignore the core of what he was tasked to find out, and put the matter quietly away in a manner that doesn't damage his Party's interests. In the case of the blonde CIA deskjockey, he failed to inquire or draw a conclusion on what was the entire subject of his grand opening press conference, and the only legal justification for his investigation: Was the covert identity disclosure law violated? At no time did he attempt to establish that Mrs. Wilson had a covert identity to violate. Meanwhile, statements put into the public record by her buffoon husband in his book establish that she was not, by the definitions in the law, working as a covert agent for the CIA. And that's why Fitz was forced to go out with a whimper—a little he-said-she-said perjury charge.
In this case, I'm betting Fitz will not do what real prosecutors do in cases like this: start making deals in exchange for testimony all the way up the food chain to see how high the corruption goes. He will not turn Blago in the hopes of bagging, say, Obama for colluding to sell the Senate seat. He will pin the whole thing on Blago and his wife and shut the investigation down. Fitz is a coward, and a man who seems to have his own, invisible set of principles that safely keep him from protecting the public weal.
Curiously, as with the Wilson case, Fitz came on like an amateur in his Blago arrest announcement. He was self-important, but not serious about his job. He made blanket assertions about the Governor that left no room for the presumption of innocence, using inflammatory language instead of making bare, respectful statements about "the People's charges against the defendant." If I were Blago's lawyer, I'd petition the Court for a change of venue, since Fitzpopinjay's public statements have made it impossible for Blago to get a fair trial in Illinois, or possibly anywhere south of Alaska.
Does anyone know where Blagojevich held his press conference? I haven’t been able to find it. If he held it at his Friends of Rog Blagojevich office, he was a few blocks from where Obama was hanging out for the day on November 5.
Hey Zer0, are you hanging in there with the big boys? How's the smoking and facial tics coming along? Enjoy your ride. The fun is just beginning.
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