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December 9th 2008

A Prez-Elect Lie (?) And Other Tales From Chicago

From a media tactics standpoint, you can debate endlessly whether it was wise, naive or stupid for Obama to take just one media question regarding Illinois Gov. B-Rod’s effort to sell the Pres-Elect’s still warm Senate seat, but  one thing is above debate:  Obama and campaign chieftan David Axelrod should have first gotten their stories straight.

You know this by now, so let’s get through it quickly.  Here’s Axelrod a couple weeks back on Fox’s Chicago affiliate:

I know he’s talked to the governor and he’s … um … and there is a whole range of names, many of which have surfaced, and he’s … uh … I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.

Here’s Obama’s one answer to the one question he allowed today:

“I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening.  It’s a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment.”

Axelrod has since said he Bidened the comment, and since the FBI has tapes and the Obama campaign knows the FBI has tapes, we’ll take him at his word.  For now.  Who knows what will surface as this case unfolds?

Moving on to what’s more significant, saying that Dec. 9, 2008 is a sad day for Illinois is like saying that Dec. 7, 1941 was a sad day for Hawaii or Nov. 22, 1963 was a sad day for Texas.  It is most definitely inappropriate to not comment beyond that.

For starters, it’s Obama’s senate seat, for crying out loud!  They both supported each other on numerous campaign trails.  They are both products of the Chicago political machine and the Rezko fund-o-matic.

And more than that, Obama is the prez-elect, the tone-setter in chief of the entire planet, yet when he was asked to comment on this heinous scandal of shocking corruption and malfeasance, all he says that it makes him is “sad?”  Will he be “sad” if/when corruption hits his administration head-on?  Will he be “sad” if Iran nukes Israel?  Will he be “sad” if the jihadists finally succeed in pulling off another mass murder on US soil?

Today’s announcement of the B-Rod indictment was such an affront to our democratic principles, such an attack on the foundation of trust on which our government depends, that it demanded an emotional, severe and powerful response from the president elect.

But he’s just sad.  How sad is that?

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December 9th 2008

Don’t Let My Children Grow Up To Be Politicians

R

od Blagojevich – that’s him with his hand on the Holy Bible – has for months been the focus of corruption charges stemming from his ties to Tony Rezko’s scheme to squeeze companies for kickbacks in return for state contracts – but heck, he was just getting started.

Today, finally, Blagojevich is in jail (I presume), arrested this morning for trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder, and for strong-arming  the nearly broke Tribune Company, and for trying to get the Chicago Trib’s editorial board fired.  As if that weren’t enough, he proved how blind to reality politicans can become by considering appointing his corrupted a$$ as Obama’s replacement:

Blagojevich considered appointing himself. The affidavit said that as late as Nov. 3, he told his deputy governor that if “they’re not going to offer me anything of value I might as well take it.”

“I’m going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain,” Blagojevich allegedly said later that day, according to the affidavit, which also quoted him as saying in a remark punctuated by profanity that the seat was “a valuable thing — you just don’t give it away for nothing.” (Source)

Blagojevich’s top aide was also arrested.

As a society we’re pretty well attuned to avarice, but Blogojevich is a reminder that there’s always someone out beyond the worst we can imagine.  And when these cases come to light, there are always two sins prominent in the perp’s personality:  Ego and greed.

Blagojevich’s ego made him think he deserved the money he craved so greedily, and also convinced him that he could fool everyone, even as investigators swarmed around his administration.  The last two to manifest these sins, leading to their plummeting into infamy were Dems – Elliot Spitzer and now Blogojevich – but Duke Cunningham wasn’t that far in the past.

The lesson:  Trust politicians with your vote, but not much else.

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With Obama winning the presidency by seven percent, we can't blame the media. Their laudatory coverage and refusal to extensively probe into Obama's background and [lack of] experience was at best responsible for five percent of his vote, the pundits tell us. Here is a compilation of over 100 significant instances of pro-Obama/anti-McCain bias during the 2008 campaign.

For all 'Media Bias 2008' – Click Here