Here’s Barack Obama senior advisor David Axelrod on November 23, talking with Fox News Chicago about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s impending pick of someone to replace Obama in the U.S. Senate::
I know he’s talked to the governor and, you know, he’s — there are a whole range of names, many of which have surfaced, and that, and he’s, uh, I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.
Here’s Barack Obama today:
I had no contact with the governor or his office, uh, and so we were not — I was not aware of, uh, what was happening.
And now Axelrod throws himself under the bus in a written statement:
I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the president-elect has spoken directly to governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.
Ben Smith at Politico notes that Obama and Blagojevich met just seven days ago at the National Governor’s Association conference. (The Associated Press photo below was taken at the event.)
It turns out that the future President and the future inmate are old buddies with a long history of mutual political back-scratching. Anyone really believe they talked about something besides the Senate pick? Deep-dish pizza recipes, perhaps?
Personally, I’m wondering what was going through Obama’s mind today when he tripped over “we were not” before replacing it with “I was not aware…” I’m not a tinfoil-hat conspiracy nut. Just curious if maybe the President-Elect sent an envoy to discuss things with Governor Blago.
In this case, the distance between “we” and “I” could be huge. (cf: “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”)
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Let me get this straight…Obama finds himself entwined in the affairs of ANOTHER corrupt person but had no idea about any of it, AGAIN. I’m sorry but this man is either the most clueless person on Earth or is lying with every other statement he utters. Now I’m just a little country mouse, but it’s occured to even me that to rise to the top of the corrupt Chicago/Illinois political system (like to say, a state senator) you have to play meaner, dirtier and more dishonest than all the other mean, dirty, dishonest guys dying to take your place. I don’t wear a tin hat either (at least not when I’m away from my computer)but I think Obama is drowning in corruption and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Well duh.
Well said winewife. The questions the bears asking, how did someone who is “not corrupt” make such a metoric rise to power in a system that is rife with corruption?
John Edwards! John Edwards!
Oh this will be swept under the rug with all the other scandels that the Main Street Media have been ignoring for over 2 years.
You can not tell me that he met with this man 7 days ago, after he was elected prez, and they did NOT talk about his vacant seat and who would be filling it. as Winewife stated, you don’t get to be a senator in Illinois without playing politics with all the slime and scumballs in the local government. For him to sit there and lie is the start of Slcik Willie all over again.
What?!? I’ve never even met the guy!
Well, ok, I may have met the guy, but we certainly didn’t talk about who would fill my senate seat.
Why would we? The President-elect in a private meeting with the governor who will fill that seat…there are a million other things to talk about…
-Pres-bu-dent-elekt BO
So for the next 4 years we are going to have analyze his statements because he can’t just come out and say “yea, this guy contacted my people. We let him know who we would like to take over my seat but it is ultimately his decision”
How difficult is that? Because after reading the indictment Blago seemed to know who Obama wanted to take over in his place. How would he know this if he hadn’t spoken with Obama or Obama’s peeps?
Whether he’s the ethnic, male equivalent of the chick in “Clueless” or one of the most frequent liars on the face of the earth, *both* of these things make me exceedingly uncomfortable thinking about him being in charge of the country. But hey! It’s OK! He’s black (sort of). He’s GOT to be better than a Republican!! No matter how many skeezy friends he accidentally made without any knowledge of making them.
Anybody else think it’d be super funny for them to find some serious bad dirt on Michelle and for him to go, “What?! I, um, I don’t, uh, know who that, um, p-person is. We–we’ve NEVER, um, spoken. Uh, married? Um, don’t–don’t be, uh, ridiculous. What?”
From the indictment text:
INDICTMENT: “In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them.”
Why Obama can’t just come out and say he or his people talked to Blag and his people about the Senate seat appointment, especially if they weren’t willing to pony up anything more than ‘appreciation’? In that case, it makes Obama look like a good guy. So why all the backpedalling?
I know McMom, thats what confuses me. It also puts up red flags that the One cannot just say the truth without trying to appear he is covering something up. When I first read that yesterday I though ‘good, he and his people did the right thing.’ But the backpedaling now makes me think there is more to the story.
Great article Oversneer, and points everyone.
How or where do people like the Clintons and Obama find people who are so willing to take the blame when things get weird?! Can the promised whatever-reward down the road be so attractive that they’ll willingly take the hit for them? Wow. It’s weird to see this happening all over again like with the Clintons…”what the meaning of ‘is’ is”, indeed.
Oh yeah D- there’s gonna be a whole lot more to this.
The Blagojevich phone taps were the result of Rezko singing to federal prosecutors for a reduced prison sentence. Rezko is tied with Obama (fundraising, real estate) but also directly with Blagojevich, Emanuel, Axelrod, and with Daley.
I can’t imagine Rezko would only rat about Blaggie.
And Blag in turn will do some snitching of his own. Rezko may be looking for clemency from President O, but Blaggie looks like the kind of guy that’ll burn the whole barn down.
The interesting hypothetical is how do we handle a Watergate type scandal which breaks after an election but before an inauguration.
President Biden?????
Grats Minnow, I was beginning to wonder if I wasn’t the only person that caught the similarities of Watergate. Now the question is will the Democrat House and Senate do anything to impeach a incomming president if it is found that Obama is guilty of being part of this disgusting travesty of corruption.
Watergate only happens to Republicans. Democrats get censured,like Clinton.
And here everybody (huge generalization) thought his race would be the problem… looks like it’s just his hometown.
I’m kind of tired of Republicans running with their tails between their legs after lesser scandals (ie, Lott) while Democrats flaunt their crimes and continue to serve as if it’s their right.
Joe: Sex crimes like cheating on one’s wife, seducing an intern, and almost getting impeached out of office for it? Oh! Wait! Never mind. At least *most* Republicans preach morality and *a few* don’t practice it, as opposed to the liberals, where *most* don’t preach it and *a few* practice it.