Rod Blagojevich officially facing federal corruption charges

[lostfan]

About as much correlation as John McCain being George W. Bush the Second.

 

It's funny when the same games are played by "your guy" how he's defended in his actions.

Who's defending him? I basically called him a dumbass just now.

[mr_genius]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but if Obama knew about the seat being sold and didn't do anything to stop it that would be a big deal. I think it's obvious that he wasn't going to pay Blago's bribe and probably didn't want anything to do with the whole situation, but still he is the president elect and if he knows about a Senate seat possibly being sold he would obviously need to take appropriate action. I have a feeling that he has realized this and maybe that's why the story has changed a bit.

[lostfan]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but if Obama knew about the seat being sold and didn't do anything to stop it that would be a big deal. I think it's obvious that he wasn't going to pay Blago's bribe and probably didn't want anything to do with the whole situation, but still he is the president elect and if he knows about a Senate seat possibly being sold he would obviously need to take appropriate action. I have a feeling that he has realized this and maybe that's why the story has changed a bit.

I thought I read somewhere that Rahm Emanuel blew a whistle at some point.

[Soxbadger]

Obama is the rat.

 

He just doesnt want to come out and say that hes a rat because well there is a pretty big social stigma associated with ratting out other politicians.

 

My personal opinion is that Obama gave Fitzgerald the go ahead because with out Obama's blessing this investigation goes no where.

Edited December 15, 2008 by Soxbadger

[mr_genius]

I thought I read somewhere that Rahm Emanuel blew a whistle at some point.

 

Yea I heard that is a likely possibility. If that's what happened Obama is totally off the hook and basically is making things harder on himself for no reason.

[BigSqwert]

Yea I heard that is a likely possibility. If that's what happened Obama is totally off the hook and basically is making things harder on himself for no reason.

 

Seeing that Obama and Blago have never been close I could see Soxbadger's theory ring true.

[StrangeSox]

The very actions he is undertaking here arouse suspicion where there should be none. If he had just came out and said I did the prudent thing and met with the governor regarding my replacement, there really isn't much that could be said. Instead they went through the back door, with not even direct contacts, but something like 5th party contacts. Why go so far to try to hide your meeting, even before an arrest had been made. and Blago became political kryptonite? Heck he promised us more direct contacts with dictators, yet he won't meet face to face with the governor of his own state, even before his arrest? The more I read, the funnier things smell.

 

Blago's been political kryptonite for a while. Obama didn't campaign or stump with him once and didn't invite him to speak at the Convention, even though he invited many other Illinois politicians.

 

Yea I heard that is a likely possibility. If that's what happened Obama is totally off the hook and basically is making things harder on himself for no reason.

Hopefully more details will emerge, but it seems likely to me that they went to the Feds with this info and the Feds said "yeah, he's already wiretapped, we can't believe he is actually trying to do this. Don't worry, we got this."

Edited December 15, 2008 by StrangeSox

[whitesoxfan101]

Obama is the rat.

 

He just doesnt want to come out and say that hes a rat because well there is a pretty big social stigma associated with ratting out other politicians.

 

My personal opinion is that Obama gave Fitzgerald the go ahead because with out Obama's blessing this investigation goes no where.

 

Agreed. It's MUCH better to be the rat than the criminal obviously, but with all the criminals in politics, it's not the best thing in the world to be a rat and try to get things done in that world.

Edited December 16, 2008 by whitesoxfan101

[southsider2k5]

Yet another play out of the Bush playbook...Delay the release of info until no one is paying attention.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1229367451...icle-outset-box

 

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team said it had completed an internal review of contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- but wouldn't release its findings until Christmas week, at the request of federal investigators.

 

The move comes as Mr. Obama tries to keep the news of his home state's disgraced governor from overshadowing his transition, and highlights the challenges of dispensing with the controversy in the face of a live investigation involving Mr. Obama's Senate seat.

 

Mr. Obama, in a press conference called to announce his energy and environment team, said the review's conclusions underscore his prior statement that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that no one in the Obama camp was involved in inappropriate deal making over a successor for the president-elect's Senate seat.

 

By delaying the release, Mr. Obama has virtually guaranteed another week of speculation about who in the Obama team discussed what with Blagojevich aides. "I would ask for your patience because I do not want to interfere with an ongoing investigation," Mr. Obama told reporters in Chicago.

 

In a written statement released by his office late Monday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald confirmed that he asked for the delay, saying he wanted more time to conduct interviews.

 

"After the President-elect announced an internal transition team investigation, the United States Attorney's Office requested a brief delay of the release of a report of that investigation to conduct certain interviews," Mr. Fitzgerald said.

 

Obama aides said Monday the transition team has tapped Gregory B. Craig, a prominent Washington lawyer and Mr. Obama's choice for White House counsel, to keep the U.S. attorney's office informed about internal deliberations during the transition.

 

Mr. Fitzgerald and other federal prosecutors often ask those affected by high-profile investigations to hold off on making public disclosures. Mr. Fitzgerald had suggested last week that his office was just beginning to interview people whose names might have come up in the secretly recorded conversations, or were also recorded.

 

But lawyers knowledgeable about such cases say Mr. Fitzgerald has no authority to compel the president-elect to stay silent on a matter that has clouded his transition and interfered with his policy messages.

 

"There is absolutely no legal impediment or injunction that Fitzgerald could put on them," said Stanley M. Brand, a Democratic lawyer with experience in such scandals. "They've decided not to talk."

 

Robert Luskin, a Washington white-collar defense lawyer who knows Mr. Fitzgerald well, said he doesn't doubt the prosecutor would have asked that Obama officials keep quiet until his investigation is further along. That is to prevent witnesses from tailoring their stories to what they learn others are saying. But, he said, Mr. Obama and his aides don't have to comply. They are using the prosecutor as a "fig leaf" to avoid answering questions just now, Mr. Luskin said. They could just as easily have decided that assuring the public about their actions is more important than acceding to the prosecutor's request.

 

And Christmas week is a good time to bury news, added Robert Bennett, another prominent Washington defense lawyer.

—Susan Schmidt and Cam Simpson contributed to this article.

 

Write to Jonathan Weisman at jonathan.weisman@wsj.com

[StrangeSox]

Yet another play out of the Bush playbook...Delay the release of info until no one is paying attention.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1229367451...icle-outset-box

 

 

So he should go against the wishes of the federal prosecutors? Either it's "yet another play out of the Bush playbook" or he's stepping all over their work. Sounds like a lose-lose no matter what.

 

From the first line of your article:

"President-elect Barack Obama's transition team said it had completed an internal review of contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- but wouldn't release its findings until Christmas week, at the request of federal investigators."

 

and later:

In a written statement released by his office late Monday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald confirmed that he asked for the delay, saying he wanted more time to conduct interviews.

 

"After the President-elect announced an internal transition team investigation, the United States Attorney's Office requested a brief delay of the release of a report of that investigation to conduct certain interviews," Mr. Fitzgerald said."

 

So what should he have done here, in your opinion?

Edited December 16, 2008 by StrangeSox

[Chet Lemon]

Yet another play out of the Bush playbook...Delay the release of info until no one is paying attention.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1229367451...icle-outset-box

 

Fitzgerald requested that the info be withheld until the 22nd of this month.

 

 

 

[Soxbadger]

Seriously this is an ongoing trial, its not the best idea to reveal your evidence to the Defense before you have to.

 

Funny thats exactly what the article says:

 

"I would ask for your patience because I do not want to interfere with an ongoing investigation," Mr. Obama told reporters in Chicago.

 

In a written statement released by his office late Monday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald confirmed that he asked for the delay, saying he wanted more time to conduct interviews.

 

"After the President-elect announced an internal transition team investigation, the United States Attorney's Office requested a brief delay of the release of a report of that investigation to conduct certain interviews," Mr. Fitzgerald said.

 

So I guess Fitzgerald is the bad guy?

[StrangeSox]

Seriously this is an ongoing trial, its not the best idea to reveal your evidence to the Defense before you have to.

 

Funny thats exactly what the article says:

 

 

 

So I guess Fitzgerald is the bad guy?

 

Fitzgerald, just another Bush Obama cronie

 

To expand this thought a bit, the "Bush playbook" would be to stonewall any questions, cry about partisanship and then claim executive privilege if anyone tried to investigate you. It wouldn't be to conduct an investigation and delay releasing by a week at the behest of the federal prosecutors.

Edited December 16, 2008 by StrangeSox

[Texsox]

Please, God.... do not let this man get off scott-free.

 

Jesse Jr. is guilty, people don't just raise 500K for no good reason, and he should be held accountable on some level. He wont go to jail, but in the public eye... people must remember.

 

They raise far more than that. Every candidate has to for major offices.

[BigSqwert]

Kudos to Newt Gingrich...

 

I was saddened to learn that at a time of national trial, when a president-elect is preparing to take office in the midst of the worst financial crisis in over seventy years, that the Republican National Committee is engaged in the sort of negative, attack politics that the voters rejected in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles.

 

 

The recent web advertisement, "Questions Remain," is a destructive distraction. Clearly, we should insist that all taped communications regarding the Senate seat should be made public. However, that should be a matter of public policy, not an excuse for political attack.

 

In a time when America is facing real challenges, Republicans should be working to help the incoming President succeed in meeting them, regardless of his Party.

 

From now until the inaugural, Republicans should be offering to help the President-elect prepare to take office.

 

Furthermore, once President Obama takes office, Republicans should be eager to work with him when he is right, and, when he is wrong, offer a better solution, instead of just opposing him.

 

This is the only way the Republican Party will become known as the "better solutions" party, not just an opposition party. And this is the only way Republicans will ever regain the trust of the voters to return to the majority.

 

This ad is a terrible signal to be sending about both the goals of the Republican Party in the midst of the nation's troubled economic times and about whether we have actually learned anything from the defeats of 2006 and 2008.

[southsider2k5]

Kudos to Newt Gingrich...

 

Someone is getting ready to run for office...

[mr_genius]

I have a feelign the SEIU was a major player in the Blago bribe schemes. Should be interesting.

[mreye]

Someone is getting ready to run for office...

 

I thought he wanted to be Chairman of the GOP. I guess that's out now.

 

Yes, I agree. Kudos. Gingrich has always made sense (to me, at least). Too bad he couldn't keep his pants on, he coulda been a contenda!

 

[Texsox]

I guess that's out now.

 

Maybe not. I'm guessing there are many on that side of the aisle that agree with him. The tag line solution party is brilliant. In a sound byte world, that will play well. I can hear Rush already.

 

If we ever could get both parties to play well together, and not just when they are spending our money, we'd be a happier nation. not.holding.my.breath

[NorthSideSox72]

L Madigan's bid with the IL SC to declare Blago unfit for execution of office... Denied.

 

[Soxbadger]

This pleading is nothing more than a political move, I cant imagine the Supreme Court buying into her "disabled" argument.

 

How much tax payer money do you think was wasted on that brief?

 

I guess if it improves her chances to become Governor or Senator it was money well spent.

 

(insert rolling eyes)

 

{Edit}

 

Oh yah and how much will the state have to pay Ed Genson when this is all done....

 

Genson also is asking the Illinois House to appoint and pay for Blagojevich's attorneys in the impeachment matter. That normally would be Madigan's job, he said, but she cannot do it because of her challenge to the state Supreme Cour

Edited December 18, 2008 by Soxbadger

[Texsox]

You must sing this (at least in your head) while reading to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen":

 

Get packin', Rod Blagojevich

The state's in disarray

The Tribune wants you unemployed

At least by Christmas Day

The TV pundits want your head

Could there be pay to play?

 

O Tidings of Comfort and Joy,

SAVE ILLINOIS!

O Tidings of Comfort and Joy

 

Good riddance, Rod Blagojevich

Your Elvis look's inane

The Senate's mad, so's Lisa's dad,,

You drive us all insane

Our transit's broke, the state's a joke,

The Tollway's one big pain

 

O Tidings of Comfort and Joy

SAVE ILLINOIS!

O Tidings of Comfort and Joy

 

Good luck old Rod Blagojevich

The feds have quite a place

Fitzgerald's poked his nose around

And if he has a case

George Ryan's moving stuff around

Creating extra space

 

O Tidings of Comfort and Joy

SAVE ILLINOIS!

O Tidings of Comfort and Joy

 

 

[mr_genius]

How much tax payer money do you think was wasted on that brief?

 

I guess if it improves chances to become Governor or Senator it was money well spent.

 

(insert rolling eyes)

 

{Edit}

 

Oh yah and how much will the state have to pay Ed Genson when this is all done....

 

I've never understood the reverence shown to Lisa Madigan on this board.

[Balta1701]

Just how much money do you think it would take to persuade Blagojevich to get the bleep out of the way?

 

I'm serious. Big corporations do it all the time. They've got a screw-up executive in the way, and they need to make a change. To save time and trouble, they pay him to get lost. It could be worth a try.

 

Would a year's salary do the trick? Probably not, but he'd have to give it serious thought.

 

Two years' salary? Might be too generous, but it would be better than if he somehow remained governor for the next two years and we had to pay him anyway. The cost would be more than offset by the savings of not having to pay for his lawyer, which strikes me as a real concern in the impeachment case.

Link

[NorthSideSox72]

Link

Interesting thought. But its wrong for the same reason its wrong for executives (which I have seen you yourself complain about) - you are rewarding bad behavior.

 

I'll pass.