Jake Tapper of ABC News has probably just gotten himself uninvited from any future trips on Air Obama. Tapper has been sifting through the muck of the Rod Blagojevich corruption mess with not a rake, but a backhoe. And some ugly facts are emerging from the sewage.
Asked what contact he’d had with the governor’s office about his replacement in the Senate, President-elect Obama today said “I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening.”
But on November 23, 2008, his senior adviser David Axelrod appeared on Fox News Chicago and said something quite different.
While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a “kingmaker,” Axelrod said, “I know he’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.”
(UPDATE: An Obama Transition Team aide says that Axelrod misspoke on Fox News Chicago.)
(UPDATE #2: Axelrod this evening issued a statement saying. “I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.”)
Oh, but there is soooooo much more. Go read the whole thing. Obama has a long record of supporting Blagojevich – even helping engineer Blagojevich’s first election to the governor’s office. So, the questions now are how deep is the muck and how much will splash onto Obama. Sure, the majority of the media is going to give this a pass. But there will be a certain amount of stink that will stick.
UPDATE: I actually thought of that tune when I titled this post. Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the link. Please take a look around, Instapundit readers. We have a lot to explore, like the shovel-ready infrastructure improvement project.
Side thought: What is to stop Rod Blagojevich from appointing himself to the Senate tomorrow? I don’t think there is anything in Illinois law to prevent it. (Lived there for five years under the last convicted governor’s administration.)
Would that be a blogsplosion, or what?
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>Obama has a long record of supporting Blagojevich – even helping engineer Blagojevich’s first election to the governor’s office.
So how do you suppose this ties in with the “Rahm Emanuel tipped off the Fed” rumor?
(And I confess I’ve been distracted today and mostly read headlines. The aforementioned rumor may have been debunked already.)
I read somewhere that Emanuel is denying any involvement. (Sorry, no link). But the Feds had longstanding wiretaps in place already – I rather doubt Emanuel will try to take credit.
To answer your question, re: What is to stop Rod Blagojevich from appointing himself to the Senate tomorrow?
The Senate would refuse to seat him.
The former Democrat governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman, was convicted of bribery but is now free because he got a Federal judge to buy his wacko conspiracy theory about how Karl Rove set him up. Might Blagojevich pull a similar Houdini move?
Blagojevich might want to start by attacking the people of Illinois and label the investigation as a Republican witch hunt. I seem to recall a certain Presidential candidate who berated the voters of Pennsylvania as “embittered” and “clinging to God and guns”, and rumor has it that he did all right in that state this past November. Never underestimate the power of pure chutzpah fueled by god-like arrogance.
I will make this prediction. The state-run media (formerly known as the MSM) has all day been nervously assuring its dwindling public that this indictment will in no way injure the Chosen One. If, in the coming days and weeks, we see an explosion of “Free Rod Blagojevich” websites, and the state-run media/Democrat Party axis start to suggest that this indictment was politically motivated, then we will have indirect evidence that there is some damaging connection that could harm He Whose Middle Name Must Not Be Mentioned.
But then what? Would the seat be vacant despite the Senate refusal? This is a real problem that could take a long time to sort out, no?
your shovel-ready link is bum. This was a good post though. Except for using the word blogsplosion.
Uhh, Blago. Dude. Lose the toup. Spend a few hundred of those dirty dollars and get a decent crown cover. You are SO not going to be forgiven as long as you wear that opossum on your head.
The Senate would refuse to seat him? In what universe? With Reid at the helm, the one and only qualification for a Senate seat is a “D” after one’s name.
Thanks, I fixed the link.
Has Obama ever been associated with anyone who isn’t a complete ******* and/or criminal?
[Edit. Warning on language.]
Funny you should bring up the hair, a couple months ago there was a big blow up over the fact that he spent over 700$ of state money on a stylist….
Seriously annoyed by how this has become a big issue, unless im mistaken he already stated on the record that his disliked Obama for not wanting to play ball so why is Obama still being linked to this individual? Irregardless of past associations they obviously aren’t associated now, This was just a desperate attempt by a desperate politician looking to climb the ladder the easy way. Sadly its nothing new,.
How come there are no stories on what got the investigative ball rolling in the first place. Who provided the info that enabled Fitzgerald to get the wiretap in the first place. Rezko?? If so then the muck could be very deep.
re By Meremortal, Wednesday, 10 December , 2008 @ 12:28 am
Uhh, Blago. Dude. Lose the toup. Spend a few hundred of those dirty dollars and get a decent crown cover. You are SO not going to be forgiven as long as you wear that opossum on your head.
I wonder how much he had tou-pay for it originally!
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A couple of things strike me about this. First, the Dems and MSM are scrambling like crazy to distance the Obamessiah from this scandal – even tough one of the wiretap exerpts that I read yesterday seemed to indicate that he not only knew about it but expected Blagojevich to appoint his (Obama’s) candidate and Blagojevich should just “suck it up” I believe was the term used.
Second, there is nothing to stop Blagojevich from appointing himself to the seat. In fact he floats the idea on another of the exerpts I read from the wiretaps.
Third, both Blagojevich and the Chosen One have had close ties to each other and to Tony Rezko who has funded both of their political careers, among other things like Barrie’s house.
Last, I predict this will disappear quickly from the MSM as they don’t want anything to splash onto Obama from it. Would anything stick if it did splash? Of course not! Obama is the CHOSEN ONE – HE CAN DO NO WRONG.
If Blago tried to appoint anyone (including himself) the Senate would refuse to sit them. The Illinois state legislature would work to call a special election for the seat…which they already are doing.
Look, this is so bad there is no way the Dems can take the Ted Stevens approach and wait for the judicial process to play out. Obama has called for Blago’s resignation, after only 24 hours.
Richt now Rod has all the shelf life of luke warm pork, and everybody knows it.