The race card is played even before all the bets are in. Sing it with me y'all. "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'round, turn me 'round, turn me 'round...
He urged people "not to hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer" and, after saying repeaedly that Burris would be the only African-American in the Senate, said that he believed no senator would want "to go on record to deny one African-American from being seated in the US Senate".
Rush is a former Black Panther who trounced Barack Obama in the 2000 Democratic primary when the then state senator challenged him for his House of Representatives seat.
The grinning Burris was told by Blagojevich - who policed the press conference - that "you're the senator". He appeared clueless about the money he'd donated to the governor, which will only add to the taint of the appointment.
As he left the room, Blagojevich echoed Rush, saying: "Feel free to castigate the appointer but don't lynch the appointee."
But Rush wasn't pleading. He was warning. He was daring Reid and the other senators to deny this black man the seat. I couldn't quite believe my ears when he used the word "lynch," but sure enough he did: he urged the members of the media "not to hang or lynch the appointee as you castigate the appointor." He went on to say that he and his congressional allies would push Reid to reverse his position and said of the prospect of a bunch of white senators denying Burris the seat: "I don't think they wanna go on record doing that."
Nice to see hims so willing to weigh in on the important matters. With the Gaza situation, just like the financial crisis he says nothing. But when it comes to something that is really just so trivial in the grand scheme of things, he's chomping at the bit. Of course he does. It involves what he is always claiming he's not about. Race.
President-elect Barack Obama waded into a racially tinged dispute Tuesday over who would replace him as the only black senator, siding forcefully with Senate Democrats in rejecting the respected African-American chosen by scandal-tainted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
"Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat," Obama said in a statement.
The president-elect spoke out after Blagojevich defied national Democrats and appointed Burris to fill the vacancy left by Obama's resignation.
"I will ask you to not hang and lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer," Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said during a Chicago news conference with Blagojevich and Burris.
"Let me just remind you that there presently is no African-American in the U.S. Senate," said Rush, who is black. "I don't think that anyone — any U.S. senator who's sitting in the Senate right now — wants to go on record to deny one African-American for being seated in the U.S. Senate."
Next week expect the Pampered Lady Hair Salon to run an ad featuring a photo of Blago and a caption that read "Because Your Hair Doesn't Have to Look Like His"
I told you this is how this would all play out. Obama to release the Emanuel and Blagojevich ties on Christmas Eve. In the hopes that few will notice.
Federal prosecutors investigating alleged corruption by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich interviewed President-elect Barack Obama and two of his top advisers last week in connection with the case, according to a memo released Tuesday by the Obama transition team.
The five-page memo denies any wrongdoing or improper communication between the transition team and Mr. Blagojevich, who prosecutors allege sought to fill Mr. Obama's vacant Senate seat in exchange for money or a better job. Prosecutors have said no one on the Obama transition team is a suspect.
Mr. Obama had promised shortly after Mr. Blagojevich's Dec. 9 arrest to release an accounting of contacts between his staff and the governor's office. Federal agents had been wiretapping conversations by Mr. Blagojevich in October and November as part of their criminal investigation.
The memo released Tuesday said Mr. Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, contacted Mr. Blagojevich and his staff at least five times after Election Day, and produced a slate of suggested replacements for Mr. Obama's vacated Senate seat. Mr. Emanuel spoke about four times to Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris to discuss the Senate seat.
You think the "most transparent administration ever would have told us this themselves. From the Smoking Gun:
President-elect Barack Obama and two of his top advisers were interviewed last week by federal prosecutors probing Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's alleged bid to sell Obama's vacated Senate seat, according to a report issued today by an Obama lawyer.
As part of his review of transition team "contacts" with Blagojevich, Craig reported that only incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had spoke with the Illinois pol. Emanuel, Craig disclosed, had "one or two telephone calls" with Blagojevich in early-November. Emanuel reportedly gave Blagojevich a "heads up" that he was accepting Obama's offer of the chief of staff job (and, as a result, would be resigning his congressional seat). Emanuel also "had a brief discussion with the Governor about the Senate seat and the merits of various people whom the Governor might consider." Craig also noted that Emanuel had "about four telephone conversations with John Harris, Chief of Staff to the Governor, on the subject of the Senate seat. In these conversations, Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Harris discussed the merits of potential candidates and the strategic benefit that each candidate would bring to the Senate seat." In addition to the president-elect, Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama confidante, were interviewed in the past few days by investigators with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago, which, on December 9, announced criminal charges against Blagojevich and Harris.
Of course that's what they say now. They've had weeks to wield their influence and tamper with the evidence. What happened to the "most transparent administration ever"?
Sources tell me that the Obama team's review of contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will show that Rahm Emanuel had only one phone conversation with Blagojevich.
The contact, described as a "pro-forma" courtesy call, came as Emanuel was named Chief of Staff for Obama. Most of the discussion concerned Emanuel's Congressional seat (which had previously been held by Blagojevich), with only a "passing reference" to the Senate vacancy, according to these sources. No deal for the Senate vacancy was discussed.
And this was the man Obama helped lead the people of Illinois? For such a smart man, Obama sure gets taken in by a lot of scumbags.
The ABC7 I-Team has learned that an attorney who went undercover for the FBI in the late 1980's says he told federal authorities years ago about wrongdoing by Blagojevich.
His name is Robert Cooley.
Cooley was a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago in the late 1980's who became one of the most potent witnesses against Chicago corruption, testifying for federal prosecutors in cases that resulted in dozens of convictions.
Cooley says that before Rod Blagojevich got into politics he was a bookmaker on the North Side who regularly paid the Chicago mob to operate.
Obama pledged to make the review public, but said he decided to hold off because prosecutors asked for a delay and "I don't want to interfere with an ongoing investigation." U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald released a statement confirming the request.
Oh, he'll make it public alright. Right around Christmas time. When no one is paying attention.
OK, so the Herald Sun issued a report stating that Rahm Emanuel was being urged to resign. Shortly after it's publication, however, the article was edited and re-published with no mention of any resignation by Emanuel. Is this the work of the Obama truth goons, or just a bit of over-zealous reporting from down under?
Here was the original text of the article:
BARACK Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was under pressure to resign last night after it was revealed he had been captured on wire taps discussing candidates for the US president-elect's Illinios Senate seat.
And here's the article now:
BARACK Obama's chief of staff is under pressure over reported contacts with Illinois's corruption-tainted governor, who faces impeachment proceedings this week.
At least at one time the author thought Emanuel was being urged to resign. Now, the author makes no mention at all of any resignation. Just another example of bad Obama press disappearing from cyberspace.
A very well done video that details the Obama's regime involvement in the Blagojevich scandal.
The best part is where Obama, speaking about his contact with Blago, says: "We were not..er uh...I was not aware of what was happening"...So unquestionably he knew at that time his people had been in contact with Blago. I contend that is a distinction without a difference.
A federal source of mine with ties to Chicago says that FBI agents had enough to prosecute corrupt, helmet-haired Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich back in June, when he was already engaged in some of the blackmail and extortion alleged by the FBI affidavit and other documents associated with his arrest and prosecution.
The source says that the FBI was suddenly ordered by the U.S. Attorney's Office--and I believe that order came from the top, ie., U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and Justice Department officials in Washington--to hold off on doing anything until after the election, so as not to hurt Obama's White House bid. Here's what my inside source says.
I know for a fact FBI Chicago had enough to indict Blagojevich in June. They were 2 weeks from indictment in June based on cooperation and testimony at the Stu Levine trial. Levine was Tony Rezko's bud, fund raiser for Blago, and our President-Elect.
These are the ones we've been waiting for. This was Barack Obama yesterday:
"I have never spoken to the governor on this subject. I'm confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat,"
Sources close to the investigation said Rahm Emanuel, the new chief of staff, had conversations about the issue with Rod Blagojevich and John Harris, the governor's chief aide who is also facing corruption charges.
It is claimed that at one point he even gave them a list of acceptable candidates to take over the vacant seat.
Suspicion has grown that Mr Emanuel is the unnamed "Washington based adviser" mentioned in the 76-page prosecutors' affidavit that Mr Blagojevich ordered his chief of staff to contact.
Mr Obama, who takes office on Jan 20, has vehemently denied any of his staff were involved in deal-making and has promised to reveal any contact between members of his team and the governor's office.
Rahm Emanuel is refusing to answer questions about his relationship with Blagojevich. Just like Obama's website. Most corrupt administration ever. And they're not even in office yet.
Can you appreciate the irony of Emanuel playing the father card after the left attacked Sarah Palin's ability to serve and care for her children? To her credit, Palin stood fast and admitted she was capable of pulling double duty. Emanuel, on the hand, folded like a Chinaman in a Shanghai laundromat, admitting he was incapable of fulfilling his duties and being a father.
President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, refused to take questions from reporters this morning about whether he was the Obama “advisor” named in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The complaint states Blagojevich wanted a promise of a high-level appointment or some other reward for Blagojevich in exchange for Blagojevich naming Obama’s friend Valerie Jarrett to replace him in the U.S. Senate.
Emanuel was uncharacteristically absent from Obama’s news conference this morning. He was spotted two hours later in the lobby of Chicago’s City Hall. He was there to listen to his two children performing in a concert with their school, Anshe Emet.
A Sun-Times reporter pressed him to comment about whether he was the emissary named in the criminal complaint.
“You’re wasting your time,” Emanuel said. “I’m not going to say a word to you. I’m going to do this with my children. Dont do that. I’m a father. I have two kids. I’m not going to do it.”
Asked, “Can’t you do both?” Emanuel replied, “I’m not as capable as you. I’m going to be a father. I’m allowed to be a father,” and he pushed the reporter’s digital recorder away.
These are not the advisers Obama once knew. Rumblings that Rahm Emanuel is smack in the middle of the Blagojevich scandal. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Among the hundreds of hours of conversations involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich secretly recorded by the FBI since Oct. 22, one phone call is drawing particular scrutiny among politicos, journalists and others in Washington. It was a marathon conference call on Monday, Nov. 10.
The call lasted about two hours. On the phone were Mr. Blagojevich, his wife, his general counsel, an unnamed adviser, and John Harris, the governor’s chief of staff and his co-defendant in this week’s case.
But what’s drawing the most interest is who was on the line from Washington, and the sequence of political events that followed that same night and in the ensuing days regarding Barack Obama’s close friend and adviser, Valerie Jarrett.
According to the FBI, there were “various Washington, D.C., based advisers” on the call with Mr. Blagojevich & Co., although the Washington callers are not named. The FBI also said participants popped on and off the line throughout the conversation.
During the call, Mr. Blagojevich and those closest to him allegedly detailed virtually every one of their ideas for turning Mr. Obama’s open Senate seat into something valuable. Specifically, the governor asked “what he can get from the President-elect for the Senate seat,” the FBI alleged, adding later that callers talked about how to “monetize” Mr. Blagojevich’s connections.
Mr. Blagojevich also bemoaned what he called his financial struggles, although his post reportedly pays about $177,000 per year. “The immediate challenge,” the governor allegedly said, “[is] how do we take some of the financial pressure off of our family.”
Callers discussed the possibility of ambassadorships, which are made by the president. They talked about an appointment for Mr. Blagojevich as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, also made by the president. They explored the idea of getting Mr. Obama to use his clout to put the governor’s wife on corporate boards. And they discussed a deal involving the Service Employee International Union, which would be asked to install Mr. Blagojevich over one of its top political groups in exchange for the union getting to tell Mr. Obama that it was delivering the open U.S. Senate seat to his favorite candidate.
That candidate, Mr. Blagojevich believed, was Valerie Jarrett, according to sources familiar with this part of the probe.
There is no inference that Mr. Obama knew about or encouraged any of this alleged scheming, and he has explicitly denied it. But the big question today is this: Were any members of his transition team among the “Washington advisers” on the line during this marathon conference call, or did one of the participants fill them in about these wild ideas?
Mr. Obama’s people are not commenting on details about the case. But the reason that question is on so many minds today is because of what happened that very same Monday night.
And here is more on the November 10 conference call:
And then there is this from Page 102 of the criminal complaint against Blagojevich:
"Later on November 10, 2008, Rod Blagojevich and Advisor A discussed the open Senate seat. Among other things, Rod Blagojevich raised the issue of whether the President-Elect could help get Rod Blagojevich's wife on "paid corporate boards right now." Advisor A responded that he "think(s) they could" and that a "President-Elect...can do almost anything he sets his mind to do."
Finally, The Smoking Gun states that, "Additionally, Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, is referred to in the affidavit as "President-elect Advisor."
This is yet another report. Read it before it disappears. This report even predates the November 5 report (referenced below) that disappeared from cyberspace.
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.”
Why are there so many people saying that Obama and Blago discussed the matter and he's says they didn't? Why?
Ace of Spades and No Quarter are reporting that it is likely that Michelle Obama is the "Specifically Named Individual" on page 64 of the Criminal Complaint against Governor Rod Blagojevich.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant are believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherf***er [the President-elect] his senator. F**k him. For nothing? F**k him.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH states that he will put “[Senate Candidate 4]” in the Senate “before I just give f**king [Senate Candidate 1] a f**king Senate seat and I don’t get anything.” (Senate Candidate 4 is a Deputy Governor of the State of Illinois).
ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that he needs to find a way to take the “financial stress” off of his family and that his wife is as qualified or more qualified than another specifically named individual to sit on corporate boards.
No Quarters explained:
The “specifically named individual” is Michelle Obama, who was appointed to the Board of TreeHouse Foods, a WAL-MART vendor, on June 25, 2005, even though she did not have experience in the private sector previous to the appointment. Here are the benefits the Obama family received as a result of Michelle Obama’s stint with the WAL-MART vendor:
According to the couple’s tax returns, Mrs Obama earned $51,200 (£25,700) for her work as a non-executive director on Treehouse’s board last year, on top of the $271,618 salary she was paid as a vice-president of the University of Chicago Hospitals.
She also received 7,500 Treehouse stock options, worth a further $72,375, as she did the previous year, when she banked a $45,000 salary from the company.
These disappearing web reports are starting to become standard operating procedure under the Obama regime. From American Thinker:
The President-elect told the nation yesterday that he didn't meet with his governor over appointment of a successor. Later, top aide David Axelrod confessed that when he claimed otherwise, he misspoke.
But what about this report (update: the report has been removed*) from KHQA (studios located in Quincy, IL)? dated November 5th, revealing that the PE was meeting with the Gov to discuss his successor. Carol Sowers reported the day after the election that:
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.
One presumes Ms. Sowers did not make this up. She must have been told by someone that the meeting was scheduled. It is of course possible that this website report is a hoax, but I don 't see any signs of that.
Perhaps the meeting was scheduled and then cancelled? If so, why? What information or other new development would cause the PEOTUS to diss his own Governor?
Luckily, you don't have to take the word of some conservative bloggers. Gateway Pundit has a screenshot of the Sowers article. Taken before the whitewashing:
The race card is played even before all the bets are in. Sing it with me y'all. "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'round, turn me 'round, turn me 'round...
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