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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2008
What's the matter with Illinois?
That was the gist of a question for Barack Obama at his press conference just now.
All but one of the questions were about the Blagojevich scandal -- even though O's topic of the day was health care. (He introduced Tom Daschle as his pick for HHS secretary.)
He didn't answer that question, unsurprisingly. Not that he called it out of bounds. He just followed a strategy -- as he did for all the Blagojevich questions -- of saying, essentially, I'm one of the good guys and Blagojevich is one of the bad guys.
Why do bad things seem to keep coming from Illinois government? You'll have to accept as the answer that there is also good from Illinois, and he is on the side of the good.
ADDED: The news conference is detailed here:
He was asked how the governor got the impression that neither Mr. Obama nor his senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, a possible pick for the Senate seat, were willing to play ball and why he said those unrepeatable things about you. A second part of the question referred to the previous governor of Illinois who is still moldering in federal prison, raising the question: Whats wrong with Illinois?
Mr. Obama said he could not speculate what was going on in the governors mind.
And he repeated what he said a few minutes ago, that he believes there are two different views of politics. One involves sacrifice and public service, the other is that politics is a business, youre wheeling and dealing and whats in it for me? He noted that there are good politicians in Illinois.
If the allegations against the governor are true, he said, this is sort of the far end of the spectrum, that business mentality of politics.
He added that his own campaign was about changing that view of politics. You can get elected by playing it straight, he said. You can get elected by doing the right thing.
Labels: Blagojevich, Daschle, health, Illinois, Obama
POSTED BY ANN ALTHOUSE AT 10:18 AM
it may seem like that to the Obamabots, but reality folks, yeah it's a freaking blog:
Althouse: What's the matter with Illinois?
Blog or not, the questions will remain until addressed.
pity, too few. Corruption corrupts. Just ask anyone in LA, IL, or NJ.
I'm taking a course at present and one of the other guys is a Chicago architect. He basically says exactly what you just did. But he would not agree that LA or NJ are anywhere near as corrupt as Chicago. Th stories he tells about what are basically legalized kickbacks are simply astonishing.
Seriously, I think it's Obama's protests that he isnt involved drawing most of the attention to him. I mean no one is thinking about Obama in this scandal till the guy comes out and denies his involvement. I mean no ones accused you of anything so why are you denying it?
I think Obama's creating more problems for himself than anyone else.
Indeed. It's what makes this city 'work.' The obvious corruption though, that will cost Chicago the Olympics.
North Dakota tops analysis of corruption
On a per-capita basis, however, Illinois ranks 18th for the number of public corruption convictions the federal government has won from 1998 through 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Department of Justice statistics.
Louisiana, Alaska and North Dakota all fared worse than the Land of Lincoln in that analysis.
Seriously, I think it's Obama's protests that he isnt involved drawing most of the attention to him. I mean no one is thinking about Obama in this scandal till the guy comes out and denies his involvement. I mean no ones accused you of anything so why are you denying it?
I think Obama's creating more problems for himself than anyone else.
Seriously, I think it's Obama's protests that he isnt involved drawing most of the attention to him. I mean no one is thinking about Obama in this scandal till the guy comes out and denies his involvement. I mean no ones accused you of anything so why are you denying it?
I think Obama's creating more problems for himself than anyone else.
it may seem like that to the Obamabots, but reality folks, yeah it's a freaking blog:
Althouse: What's the matter with Illinois?
Blog or not, the questions will remain until addressed.
What?!
The accusations and insinuations started the moment the scandal broke.
And that's all they are, too.
Baseless politically motivated insinuations.
More politics by character assassination.
Typical Republican mudslinging BS.
Is Emanuel the adviser on gov tape?
MUM | Obama's chief of staff refuses to answer the question
December 11, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporters
President-elect Barack Obamas 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...
...Emanuel was uncharacteristically absent from Obamas news conference this morning. He was spotted two hours later in the lobby of Chicagos 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.
Youre wasting your time, Emanuel said. Im not going to say a word to you. Im going to do this with my children. Dont do that. Im a father. I have two kids. Im not going to do it.
Asked, Cant you do both? Emanuel replied, Im not as capable as you. Im going to be a father. Im allowed to be a father, and he pushed the reporters digital recorder away....
Blagojevich fundraiser held by Jackson allies Saturday
By David Kidwell, John Chase and Dan Mihalopoulos
Tribune reporters
December 12, 2008
As Gov. Rod Blagojevich was trying to pick Illinois' next U.S. senator, businessmen with ties to both the governor and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. discussed raising at least $1 million for Blagojevich's campaign as a way to encourage him to pick Jackson for the job, the Tribune has learned.
Blagojevich made an appearance at an Oct. 31 luncheon meeting at the India House restaurant in Schaumburg sponsored by Oak Brook businessman Raghuveer Nayak, a major Blagojevich supporter who also has fundraising and business ties to the Jackson family, according to several attendees and public records.
Two businessmen who attended the meeting and spoke to the Tribune on the condition of anonymity said that Nayak and Blagojevich aide Rajinder Bedi privately told many of the more than two dozen attendees the fundraising effort was aimed at supporting Jackson's bid for the Senate.
Among the attendees was a Blagojevich fundraiser already under scrutiny by federal investigators, Joliet pharmacist Harish Bhatt.
That meeting led to a Blagojevich fundraiser Saturday in Elmhurst, co-sponsored by Nayak and attended by Jesse Jackson Jr.'s brother, Jonathan, as well as Blagojevich, according to several people who were there. Nayak and Jonathan Jackson go back years and the two even went into business together years ago as part of a land purchase on the South Side.
Blagojevich and the congressman met to discuss the Senate seat on Monday, one day before federal prosecutors arrested Blagojevich and charged him with trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. As part of the charges, prosecutors alleged that Blagojevich was considering awarding the seat to a politician identified as "Senate Candidate 5" because emissaries for that candidate were promising to raise as much as $1.5 million for Blagojevich's campaign fund....
More like typical political mudslinging, but whatever.
Interesting news here. Yesterday at Obama's press conference, noticeably absent were Emanuel and Axlerod. Of course, only the reporters could notice, as they are usually off camera. Thus, lots of questions about where they were, as they are always 'there.'
Emanuel was found and claimed he couldn't be more than one thing at a time and this time he was going to be 'father.' LOL! This guy can juggle tens of things at a time, which is how he got where he is:
do you ever get tired of being a partisan hack Annie?
are you saying that emanuel has the ability to be in two places at once? maybe he can show us that trick at some point cuz I'd love t figure out how to go to work and stay in bed sleeping at the same time.
