Tuesday, December 9, 2008

What a maroon!

Zachary Roth has the gory details:

Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois' U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife.


Of course, corruption is suddenly bad again now that the Dems are in charge. Funny how that works, huh? And again, it's Fitzgerald going after the corrupt. Doesn't Obama have something for him in his admin?

Update: Rahm Brought Down Blago! Really, they're going to have to flat out lie if they want to pin Blago on Obama.

The governor, accused of seeking cash for the political appointment of Obama's Senate replacement, is not a close associate of the President-elect. Indeed, in the affidavit, Blagojevich called Obama a "motherfucker" for wanting him to appoint an official that the governor either did not like or wouldn't receive money from. Local news reports, meanwhile, suggest that it was Obama chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel who blew the whistle on the governor.


Update #2: Rahm Story Bogus!

39 comments:

Judith said...

Blagojevich arrested? WTF? Charges of conspiring to get financial benefits using his authority. I thought that was standard operating procedures.

iamcoyote said...

For Republicans. I haven't seen it stated plainly, but I think this guy was a Dem. Which means Obama musta been in on the deal and all Dems are corrupt and we should have a do-over election....or something like that, I'm sure. Fookin' idiot making deals on the phone, even after he was under investigation.

Anjha said...

I find it awfully strange that this DEMOCRAT has been under investigation for several years and all of a sudden - as soon as a DEMOCRATIC Senator from his state is elected President he is charged and the media is all over it.

The media has already done more reporting on this than they did on the entire Stevens trial, conviction and election. It is BS. Even if he is proven guilty (which, I might remind the talking heads, he has not been yet and there is a presumption of innocence,) the reporting has been completely unfair.

All that I can say, for now, is Remember Don Siegleman.

Anjha said...

Judith, what a lovely picture. Where did you get it?

Judith said...

Oh oh, Antoin "Tony" Rezko's name is being mentioned. You know what that means.

Judith said...

Anjha, it is one of my paintings. Thanks. I couldn't come up with anything, so I decided to just throw it up for now.

idiosynchronic said...

Blago has been corrupt for as long as the sun has been hot. This is not a surprise nor is it worth working to a tizzy about. Much like Jefferson of LA, we should be thanking law enforcement for finally moving on the corrupt son-of-a-bitch.

Of course GOP talking heads and other enemies of the Democrats are trying to implicate or at least associate Dems, particularly the president-elect, to Blago. Those are the things we should be pushing back against.

iamcoyote said...

Of course, Rezko. I guess the talking headlice think they have the scandal for the next four years, eh? Not as sax-ay as a cigar, but it'll do.

Judith said...

Actually, it is an oil pastel.

idiosynchronic said...

So its now Clinton Media Rules?

iamcoyote said...

Wow, Judith, you painted that? Way cool! We have to teach her how to post a picture, I wanna see more.

idio, of course they'll implicate Dems, that's why the "story" is suddenly a STORY! 8 years and trillions stolen by 'pukes from the nat'l treasury, and Jefferson's piddly $90K and Blago's idiocy are huuuuge scandals. Oy.

iamcoyote said...

Actually, it is an oil pastel.

Ah, that's why the colors are so brilliant. Love it! And I think pastels are really really hard to work with, myself. A little less than watercolors, but for me, not much. I'm impressed, Judith.

So its now Clinton Media Rules?

Did it ever stop? Just this morning, I was trying to get the weather, and frikkin' "will Clinton be able to get along with the new UN Amb. Rice?" Uh, why shouldn't they? They're adults, aren't they?

And every time I turn on MSNBC, there's Tweety slobbering and spitting about how Clinton might go rogue; every fookin' time, someone's saying 'uh, Chris, Obama makes the policy, Clinton will implement it.' He's still dumb as a stump, and I change the channel.

idiosynchronic said...

I attribute it to a high-turnover media cycle, & televised talking heads instead of reporting.

It's not thew media or low-hanging fruit, but of the frantic shallow laziness that television reporting specialize in.

iamcoyote said...

but of the frantic shallow laziness that television reporting specialize in.

Exactly. Still, Maddow's pretty good, but my phone always rings during her show. I miss it every time, though it's not important enough to record.

Anjha said...

Oooh, Judith, I am really, really impressed. Beeeuutiful!!

Post more, post more.

Do you have a website or even an account somewhere where you post your work?

Patrick Fitzgerald's presser is pretty amazing. Fitz is awesome. He is such a straight shooter.

Of course the fooking "reporters" are asking idiot questions like "Does President Elect Obama know about this? Was he involved? Who knows what? Dem. Democrat. Spplhhh Democratic Corruption. Democrats. Bad, evil, corrupt. The American people hate corruption - Democrats." Idiots.

Fitz, of course, is not having any of it. Sez, "I am not getting into any politics. I will not comment on anything that is not in the complaint."

I really, really like Fitz.

Seems Blagovich is a real POS.

iamcoyote said...

Yeah, I like Fitz, too. And he really does confound the damn reporters. But since they don't get answers from him, they're going to make it up. I hope Obama's said something already, because this has a potential to dog him cos the media's so bored and need something to screech about.

Anjha said...

I just searched the entire complaint against Blagovich, and there is not one mention of Obama, Emanuel, Jesse Jackson Jr or Jan Schakowsky.

The references to Rezko are about things that happened after 2002 and they make clear in the footnotes that Rezko might be "unreliable" as a witness.

Do not let the bastards spin this.

Anjha said...

Idio, can you fix it so that links open in a new window?

iamcoyote said...

Idio, can you fix it so that links open in a new window?

I always right click on links and open in new tabs or windows, cos some web sites do it, some don't.

iamcoyote said...

I just searched the entire complaint against Blagovich, and there is not one mention of Obama, Emanuel, Jesse Jackson Jr or Jan Schakowsky.

Hey, what a good idea!

iamcoyote said...

Wow, for the first time in a month, I'm looking forward to turning on the news when I get home. I wanna see Fitzie!

Anjha said...

Hey, what a good idea!

It is only cause I do not have the time today to read the whole friggin complaint and I wanted to be armed for when the trolls started accusin.

Local news reports, meanwhile, suggest that it was Obama chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel who blew the whistle on the governor.

Awesome.

And Durbin already called for Illinois legislature to pass an immediate law for a special election so that Blago cannot appoint the next Senator.

I have crap to do today, so I will not be around much.

There's a good movie on too, right now, called "Mercy or Murder." A fact-based drama staring Robert Young and Frances Reid about a 75 y-o retiree who kills his wife who has Alzheimers.

It is from 1987, before Alzheimers was that well known/talked about and long before the right to die with dignity was a common household term.

It sure is nice to escape into movie-land seein' as how the news media all are saying that Illinois is "The most corrupt state in the Union."

Nevermind that Alaska, where queen of the GOP resides and governs, actually had a front page section a couple of months ago dedicated to "Alaska Politician Trials and Charges and Convictions."

CG said...

Judith--love the picture. Wow! In case you didn't see Anjha's question, I'm also wondering if there's a website where you post your work. Is this your profession?

idiosynchronic said...

Re: opening a new window, there's a specific command you (as posters) can enter, but I need to look it up. I will also see if Blogger has a setting to convert all links to new windows/tabs (your browser mileage may vary).

Anjha said...

Rahm story is bogus!?

It sounds so Rahm.

Did you all see the Rahm skit on SNL?

Crap. I laugh just thinking about it. It is the first one in the series of them.

iamcoyote said...

Oooh, pretty picture! Speaking of SNL, I saw Alec Baldwin on Actor's studio and they played his old skit with the NPR girls talking about his Svetty Balls. Man, that was so hilarious! Remember the one with Canteen Boy? Ah, the good ol' days!

Anjha said...

Oooh, pretty picture!

Thank you.

I got tired of waiting for snark and my kid (who was also supposed to be making me an avatar) so I just picked one out of my saved files. I didn't want to be all standing out and everything, the only one without an avatar. [ahem, p-dip]

brisa said...

Funny how one day after Blago announces that the State of Illinois will no longer do business with Bank of America, the indictments hit the press.

A lot like Spitzer after his NYT article casting dispersions on AIG for fraudulant business practices.

The dirt stays buried unless a politician goes off the reservation.

iamcoyote said...

brisa, from all I've read, Blago's been under investigation for a while, and Fitz only pulled the trigger soon cos it looked like the Senate seat was going to sell.

Still, there's always connections that we don't see, so you never know!

Judith said...

Brisa, the timing is very interesting. With the media picking and choosing what latest scandal deserves their full attention, this will play on for weeks.

In answer to the questions about my paintings, no I do not have a site. I paint for pleasure and escape (and gifts).

One quote I love says: "I decided that the only thing I could do that was nobody else's business was to paint. I could do as I chose because no one would care." Anon.

Thanks for your kind remarks. Oil pastels are so much easier than watercolors, as mistakes can be altered without fuss.

Sorry I have not blogged much, but things are so busy for me right now. When things calm down I will try to be more prolific.

Seven of Six said...

Judith, That's why we said there is no pressure. Just when ever you come up with something.

iamcoyote said...

SoS is right, Judith, post when you find something you want to talk about. Comment when someone's talking about something interesting to you. It's just us goofing off. And you don't even have to write a post. Just put up a pic of one of your paintings, with a title, or even a pic you think is funny and we'll call it open thread. 'Course they're all open threads around here.

One thing everyone should remember: at L&L, staying on topic is for losers! And this isn't an anti-TLC site; if we criticize, it's because we love. We're more like a TLC alumni chat room. A place where we can go wildly off topic if we feel like it and not feel guilty about it, though we do that there, too.

That's why I tend toward just deleting the trolls. We get more personal here, and less formal, and it doesn't make sense to have unfriendly people causing a ruckus. Of course, p-dip likes to toy with the trolls, and it's funny to watch when he's on a roll. Maybe we could just have a troll-bait thread every once in a while for those who want to play?

We're kinda like a community run blog, so if you would like to see your fave blogs on the list, have someone put them on the list.

Anjha said...

Sorry I have not blogged much, but things are so busy for me right now.

There you've gone and done it Judith - and we were so counting on you.

Coyote, bygonnit - I think that you just wrote our blog rules. Or blog business plan. Or blog bylaws. Or blog Mission Statement.

Something like that.

We should put it up as a post and then link to it in the sidebar, 'cept I do not have the time to fuck around with all that copying and pasting. Bueller, Bueller, Anyone, Bueller.

iamcoyote said...

The Low and Left Rulz:

1. Staying on topic is for losers

2. Troolz Keep Out

3. ???

4. Profit!

Scribble it on a scrap o' paper and tack it to the ciderhouse door. We're golden!

iamcoyote said...

Ha! I just caught Maddow saying that today was officially Anti Corruption Day. The irony.

Judith said...

Anjha, I think your right. Coyote just gave the mission statement of L&L. Now, them are the kind of rules I can get behind.

Coyote, Troll Baiting Day? I'll bring the beer.

Judith said...

"I honestly felt even more dirty after I had been on the campaign trail and seen some things that take place. It was scary, man. I asked some pretty direct questions about the bailout, and wasn't pleased with the response. They appalled me, absolutely. You know, I was angry. In fact, I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him." Joe the Plumber talking about McCain.

Judith said...

You guys will love this:

Think Progress catches Bill O'Reilly and Karl Rove agreeing that there is a conscious effort among parts of the media, including the New York Times, to paint a dire picture of the economy in order to help Obama. Their logic seems to be that if the media can portray the economic situation as direly as possible, any change when Obama takes office will be for the better, thus giving the new president a bump.

It's that Liberal Media again, trying to make you think the economic crisis is actually as serious as news reports make it out to be.

iamcoyote said...

Judith, I'll always bring the beer!

I saw that Joe the Plumber story. Hilarious that one moron finds another moron appalling!