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Blago Blogging (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)
The holidays are starting to look pretty good.  As Mawm said “All I got last Fitzmas was a Scooter.” Maybe this year we’ll get a pony after all.

Matt Davies

A reading from the Obama Scriptures: The Demon Story. (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
In those days in the land of the Machine
That is the Lord’s home
it came to pass that a demon was loose.
And the demon was muchly on the talking rock.
For he was a merchant.

The Lord had left his seat in the land of Reid
And the seat was cold – nary warmethed by the Lord
For the Lord made no impression in the Seat.

As it was foretold by the oracle Soros:
Lord Obama now planned his journey down the road of Pennsylvania
To claim his rightful throne in the House of Whiteness.

So his former seat was empty.
And the demon set a price on the Lord’s seat.

The Lord knowed the Demon Blag. (But there was no evidence that he KNEW the Blag.)
You must click through to read this entire chapter of the scriptures.  It’s hilarious.

Rod ‘I Want The Money!’ Just Couldn’t Wait (by Richard Reeves—yes, he’s a conservative)
 if I’m asked how I know about political corruption, I have a five-word answer: “I grew up in Jersey.” Now young reporters will need only need one word: “Chicago!” A new generation will laugh when someone remembers Rod “I want the money!” Blagojevich… Honest folk wait until they are out of office before they cash in on books and speeches, become lobbyists, or just introduce manufacturers and bankers to the powerful politicians still in office at home and around the world. So, “I want the money!” Blogojevich is not unique, he is just crazier or stupider than most. Also, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, is smarter and tougher than most.
My knowledge of political corruption comes from having grown up in Louisiana.  I felt right at home when I moved to Chicago.  And let me make a point about honest politicians.  One of them is Bill Clinton.  He barely made any money at all until after he left office.  Sometimes I wonder if that’s one of the things the Beltway insiders held against him.  And then held it against Hillary.

By Chicago standards, Blagojevich isn’t crazy (by John Kass, Chicago Tribune)
The governor isn’t the only one in this mess. His chief of staff, John Harris, also was arrested. Before Harris worked for Dead Meat, he worked for Mayor Shortshanks at Chicago’s political golden goose: O’Hare International Airport. Blagojevich “has to figure out what’s best for him and his family, and the State of Illinois,” the mayor said. “He will have to do the right thing.” Ah, the right thing. When Harris spills—and he will, because he’s not crazy either—Daley doesn’t want Harris to spill on him. He wants guys to do the “right thing,” which, if I may translate, means to keep their traps shut.

So listen up, you amateur psychiatrists from national cable TV land. Don’t be alarmed when Chicago machine politicians act like raving lunatics. It’s when they’re quiet and reasonable that you’ve got to worry.

Rahm Emanuel talked with governor’s office about who should fill Obama’s Senate seat (Chicago Tribune)
Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick to be White House chief of staff, had conversations with Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration about who would replace Obama in the U.S. Senate, the Tribune has learned… Emanuel, who has long been close to both Blagojevich and Obama, has refused to respond to questions about any involvement he may have had with the Blagojevich camp over the Senate pick. A spokeswoman for Emanuel also declined to comment Friday.  One source confirmed that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps.

Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor’s administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win. Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be “acceptable” to Obama, the source said.

Rahm’s List (Political Wire)
We noted [Friday] that Rahm Emanuel gave Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich a list of “acceptable” candidates for Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. The Chicago Tribune has the list: Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Attorney General Lisa Madigan. All are Democrats. Missing from the list: Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) — a.k.a Senate Candidate 5 — who Blagojevich threatened to name if Obama wasn’t willing to give him anything more than “appreciation.”

Sources: Emanuel not target of Illinois probe (AP)
WASHINGTON – People who have been briefed on the Illinois governor corruption investigation say Barack Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is not a target of the probe. Emanuel, a Chicago congressman who would have been a likely contact between the Obama transition office and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, has been a focus of media attention since Obama said Thursday he has asked for an internal review of contacts between his staff and Blagojevich.

What Obama Offered Blagojevich (by  Patrick J. Buchanan—yes, he’s a conservative, too)
While Obama said he had never spoken with the governor about the Senate seat — understandable, given how toxic the scandal-plagued Blagojevich was — he did not say his staff had not done so… Did Barack’s aides all treat Blagojevich as a political leper and not communicate to him any interest in or concern about whom he might appoint to succeed Obama? This defies credulity… Who told him Barack would not pony up and play ball? And if any Obama aide was solicited for a bribe, did they relate that to Obama? Did they report it to the FBI or the U.S. attorney’s office? [Emphasis added.]… [T]he U.S. Senate should probably make the confirmation of Eric Holder as attorney general, the Clintonite who midwifed the pardons of Marc Rich and the Puerto Rican terrorists, contingent on his naming an independent counsel in the Senategate scandal.

Who’s crying now, JJJr? (by lambert at Corrente)
So, $1,000,000 in the indictment from Senate Candidate 5, $1,000,000 discussed by supporters of JJr. Not proof, but certainly…. Interesting… And look, I know it can’t be true. Why? Because Jesse “Fake Tears” Jackson, Jr.’s denial was emotional! So emotional he couldn’t answer questions. Then again, what would I know? I’m a racist.
My comment: But did JJ Jr shed tears for Katrina victims? Or for the war in Iraq?

Now Playing: The Beast That Slimes Chicago (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

[Thursday] during his news conference Obama said that some people see politics as a “business” (translation: make money any way that works, legality be damned) and others “want to serve.” Presumably, we are to infer, Obama means to place himself in the latter category. But why did he come to Chicago in the first place? He had no ties there that I ever heard of, except for a job offer from now convicted Tony Rezko (who also helped him buy his home). Why would he have anything to do with William Ayers or the long line of those “business-oriented politicians” from whom he accepted large sums of campaign money?

Obama’s Crooked Muse (by Jacob Freeze at TalkLeft)
The settlement negotiated between [billionaire Obama backer Penny] Pritzker and the FDIC [over the failure of Superior Bank] was unimaginably worse than I had assumed it was… [A] professor of business law at Loyola in Chicago, Christian A. Johnson, wrote an full-tilt academic survey of the Pritzker-FDIC deal, which is available online… And so I learned yet another miserable truth about Barack Obama and his closest friends… [F]or the Pritzkers and Dwormans … $343 million net profit for diddling away all the deposits in the bank on worthless sub-prime repackaging while paying yourself $200 million in dividends on phony profits! $343 million net profit for cheating elderly depositors out of half their life savings! And that’s without the $500 million that the FDIC promised to pay the Pritzkers and Dwormans if they won their suit against Ernst & Young!

Professor Johnson asks a very reasonable question about this beautiful deal with the owners of Superior Bank: “Did the FDIC act unjustly or unfairly to other depositors and creditors when it gave preferential treatment to its wealthy stockholders?” You decide.

Is Anybody Else Freaked Out Yet? (by Ani at No Quarter)
So here’s my problem with [Obama] in the judgment department. How can a man with the political savvy the media and his followers keep trumpeting be goofy enough to surround himself for twenty years with the likes of Rev. Wright, Rev. Pfleger, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers (now practicing revisionist history on every talk show and newspaper who will have him), Emil Jones, Gov. Blagojevich, Mayor Daley, Jim Johnson, Penny Pritzker, et al….I could go on singing!… Never mind ‘surrounding’ himself with these people, and praising them, surely not the work of someone with good judgment, but when questioned on their negative influence, their crooked actions, questionable ethics or downright criminal behavior, his answer is invariably one of the following:

I didn’t know.
I thought he was reformed.
We never spoke.
Oops, that was a boneheaded move.
He doesn’t work for me.
This is not the man I knew.
I am sobered and saddened.
Come [on] fellas, can’t I just eat my waffle?…

Right now, it looks as though we have two choices: he is ignorant of all of this or is being dishonest about his involvement. Which is worse?

Embattled Illinois Gov. Blagojevich makes brief appearance at federal courthouse (AP)
Gov. Rod Blagojevich finished his work week in a federal courthouse, attending to duties in his newfound role of criminal defendant as the attorney general asked the state’s highest court to have the scandal-ridden governor stripped of his powers… Blagojevich showed no sign of backing down from his critics, even signing a bill that extends insurance coverage for autistic kids in what represented a clear sign that he’s still in charge. As he left his office Friday, Blagojevich refused to answer questions from reporters, saying only, “I’ll have a lot to say at the appropriate time.”

Illinois governor’s chief of staff resigns three days after arrest (AP)
CHICAGO – The chief of staff to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (bluh-GOY’-uh-vich) has resigned, three days after he was arrested on government corruption charges along with his boss.

Madigan launches legal attack to oust Blagojevich (Chicago Sun-Times)
Saying the state is “paralyzed” by Gov. Blagojevich’s inability to govern, Attorney General Lisa Madigan called on the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday to strip the scandal-plagued executive of his powers.

Blago could decide future by Monday (Chicago Sun-Times)
Gov. Blagojevich will decide early next week — perhaps as early as Monday — whether he should resign, a source close to the governor told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Blago Lawyers Up (New York Daily News )
Clinging to the wreckage of his political career, indicted governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois first took advice from three priests, then went shopping for a lawyer. Top of his list, Ed Genson, who defended rapper R.Kelly from child sex charges and the newspaper magnate Conrad Black from fraud charges. Genson, who is not exactly publicity shy, is hesitant about taking on the Blago rap. “We’ll make our mutual decision on Monday,” he said. Genson has enjoyed mixed results. While he managed to reduce Kelly’s 21 counts of having sexual intercourse with a minor down to a single charge of soliciting a minor for child pornography, then an acquittal, Lord Black of Crossharbour did not fare so well. He is currently serving a 78 month sentence in federal prison, he had to pay back his company Hollinger $6.1 million, and paid a fine of $125,000.

Rostenkowski Weighs In (Political Wire)
Former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL) — who spent more than a year in jail on his own corruption conviction — writes about the troubles of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) for the Daily Beast. Writes Rostenkowski: “As a politician who more than a decade ago was disciplined for breaking the rules, I’m still uncomfortable writing about it… I can sympathize with the pain the governor’s family must feel and can uniquely understand their concerns about what comes next.”

Stay classy, Chicago Sun-Times, cont’d (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Just to update our [previous post] regarding the Sun-Times’ remarkably bad Rahm Emanuel/Blago report,  the AP is now reporting that prosecutors have more formally confirmed that Emanuel is not the target of any investigation because he did nothing wrong. But of course that won’t stop the press from clinging on its Blago story. “This story will not go away,” Politico’s John Harris announced on Hardball, until the White House discloses who talked to Blago. Again, not to be repetitious, but the press will remain in a frenzy until it finds out which Obama aides talked to Blago. Until it finds out which aides talked to Blago and did nothing wrong. This really has been a landmark week for the Beltway press.
My comment: Remember when it was the Clintons who were being treated this way? Remember when Obama HAD to be nominated because he WOULDN’T be treated this way?

Conservative Pundit Attacks Patrick Fitzgerald (Think Progress)
Former Bush Justice Department official Victoria Toensing rips U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in a Wall Street Journal piece, writing that he should “keep his opinions to himself.” By characterizing Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s conduct as “appalling” and as a “political corruption crime spree,” Fitzgerald “violated the ethical requirement of the Justice Department guidelines,” Toensing argues… Toensing has had it out for Fitzgerald ever since he had the gall to prosecute Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff… Toensing complained to Fox News recently that she believes Fitzgerald is “overzealous” because “he doesn’t know the color gray, he’s only black or white, and just about everyone but him does wrong.” Toensing would apparently prefer prosecutors who have more sympathy for crimes and illegal conduct.
Toensing and her husband, Joseph DiGenova, were also big Clinton criticizers.  They got a lot of air time because they were billed as Democrats, if I recall correctly.  There’s nothing the media like better than someone who calls himself a Democrat and criticizes a Democrat.

Ill. scandal puts spotlight on vacant seat in NY (AP)
ALBANY, N.Y. – The corruption scandal engulfing Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich puts a spotlight on the nation’s only other vacant Senate seat — that of Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York.

No Obama-JFK Comparison This Time (by Michael Barone—and yes, he, too, is a conservative)
I have not seen it recorded whether John F. Kennedy, after he was elected president in 1960, held conversations with Massachusetts Gov. Foster Furcolo as to who would be appointed to fill his seat in the Senate. History does record that Furcolo, just nine days before turning the governorship over to the Republican elected to succeed him, appointed one Benjamin A. Smith II, a college roommate of Kennedy’s and former mayor of Gloucester, who chose not to seek the seat in the next election in 1962, which happened to be the year in which Edward Kennedy turned 30 and was therefore old enough to run for it.

Memory tells me that there was little fuss made of this at the time. Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy obviously wanted someone appointed to keep the seat warm for Teddy, and so it was done.
No wonder Teddy thinks it’s A-OK to pressure New York’s Governor Paterson to appoint his niece Caroline to Hillary’s seat.  I don’t like dynastic politics, so I don’t mean to justify the gift to Teddy, but there’s a difference between Teddy in 1962 and Caroline now.  The difference is that Teddy’s mother’s milk was politics.  He was raised in a family that breathed politics.  Caroline was not, because Jackie took her children away from the political world after the JFK assassination.  Sure, Caroline has a sense of service, of noblesse oblige, but that’s not the same as diving wholeheartedly into the rough and tumble world of fighting for votes.