Shocking: GOP jumps to tie Obama to Blagojevich

[sabra]

http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/bellantoni/2008/Dec/09/gop-jumps-to-tie-obama-to-blagojevich/

Christmas came early for the Republican National Committee.


Less than an hour after word broke this morning that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on wide federal corruption charges - most notably trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat for personal gain - the RNC sends out a little note.

"Obama&Blagojevich" is the subject line, though the ties are pretty weak. It's well known that Obama and Blagojevich were not close confidantes and Obama did not include him in his presidential campaign.



From the RNC's Alex Conant:



All – In light of the arrests in Illinois today, please recall the below points:

Obama Has Advised The Blagojevich Campaign And Endorsed Him For A Second Term:

Obama Advised Blagojevich On His Victorious Gubernatorial Run. “That year, gained his first high-level experience in a statewide campaign when he advised the victorious gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich, another politician with a funny name and a message of reform.” (Ryan Lizza, “Making It,” The New Yorker, 7/21/08)

Obama: “If the governor asks me to work on his behalf, I’ll be happy to do it.” (John Patterson, “Senator Says He’s Still Willing To Help Blagojevich Despite Hiring Concerns,” Chicago Daily Herald, 7/27/06)

Obama Endorsed Blagojevich For A Second Term. “Obama, who endorsed Blagojevich for a second term nearly 18 months ago, said he’s ready to help Illinois democrats in the upcoming elections.” (John Patterson, “Senator Says He’s Still Willing To Help Blagojevich Despite Hiring Concerns,” Chicago Daily Herald, 7/27/06)

Obama: “We’ve got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois.” (Deanna Bellandi, “Illinois Democrats Talk Unity But Don’t Show It,” The Associated Press, 8/16/06)

:rofl:

[ErinBerin84]

1. oh my.

That's some weak sauce right there!

[babylonsister]

2. What a bunch of idiots. They must have missed this:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/247390.php

Obama Wouldn't Play Ball
12.09.08 -- 11:03AM
By Josh Marshall


If you look down on page 8 of the Blagojevich indictment, it seems he wasn't happy with Obama since he wasn't willing to play ball.

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."

"Harris" is John Harris, Blagojevich's chief of staff, who was also arrested this morning.

We're trying to confirm the identity of "Senate Candidate 1". It appears to be Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett.

[AllentownJake]

3. Well at least the Freepers will be off the BC nonsense

and onto the Blago connection nonsense.

[WeDidIt]

11. Yep, it'll be a never ending line of "Obama is TOAST" nonsense

meanwhile, eight years of prosperity while moving towards peace.

[polmaven]

34. Wait!

Has anyone seen a birth certificate for Blagojevich? Funny name, ya know!


Oh...for lurking freepers.....:sarcasm:

[Kahuna]

36. Bless their hearts. It'll give them something to do...

:rofl:

[mn9driver]

4. Ayers, Wright, now Blago

This is all they can do, since they don't actually have any valid ideas about governing.

[democrattotheend]

5. Someone needs to tell these guys the campaign is over

This may have been a valid charge during the campaign, although I honestly don't think Obama was ever that close to Blagojevich. But what's the point of sending something like this out now? What is their goal with it? Convince people not to vote for Obama's reelection 4 years from now because he has ties to the governor of his home state?

Unless there's evidence Obama had anything to do with Blagojevich's attempts to get a payoff for his Senate seat, there's no issue here. And I would be shocked if he had anything to do with it...there's no evidence he has even weighed in behind the scenes on his successor.

[Yukari Yakumo]

7. It's not that.

They're just trying to Clinton Obama as much as they can.

[AllentownJake]

14. Exactly

It all comes down to there strategy in the 90s.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

15. Actually the evidence is in Obama's favor here. Blaggo said F- him because Obama wouldn't bribe

him to get his choice in his senate seat.

[democrattotheend]

22. Good point

Democrats need to get out there and push that message. Obama should issue some sort of a statement on this.

[ErinBerin84]

6. I still haven't heard any of the media people

who are breathlessly talking about this mention that the Obama team would not play ball, how convenient for them.
edit: good, NBC's Pete Williams is reading this and saying that there is every indication that Obama would not play ball with them.

[LoZoccolo]

8. Yeah I'm sure Obama would really have some paltry sum for a Senate seat on his mind right now.

He's got nothing else ahead of him right now and nothing to do so he might as well get involved in some corruption.

NOTE: This post is sarcastic.

[rurallib]

9. I turned on FUX MOOZ out of curiosity and they are positively giddy

It is an early CHRISTmas for them.
Why, you'd think that the rapture had happened

[Alter Ego]

47. And then they remember it's December 9 and the election was more than a month ago

and their guy lost and they die a little more inside.

[dmallind]

10. meh - par for the course. We do no differently either. NT

[ClarkUSA]

12. Freeper and PUMA websites goin' crazy trying to make up shit, too.

I love how Barack drives his opponents crazy. :rofl:

[lamp_shade]

13. Freepers will be showing up here at DU any minute now. Heads up.

[ben_meyers]

16. No kidding, just look at that freeper huffpo's front page

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

[ProSense]

24. "Freeper front page"? What does that photo even mean?

Did you read the articles? There is nothing "freeper" about it.

[ben_meyers]

40. Just how naive do you have to be

not to see what a cropped photo of Blago and Obama implies? The rest of the real world isn't as smart as the average DU'er and can't see through the obvious propaganda.

[Thrill]

17. So what? the Election is over

[no_hypocrisy]

18. Cue up Sarah Palin . . .

[RebelOne]

19. The right-wing talk shows are going to have a field day with this.

Especially Hannity. He'll hang onto it like a dog with a bone.

[BuyingThyme]

20. He should. This is horrible.

[Binka]

21. Hasn't Your Village Come Looking For You Yet?

Jesus Gawd you are a real ***&*^!

[BuyingThyme]

23. You believe people should not go after this?

Are you stupid?

[WeDidIt]

26. Are you stupid?

Blagojevich is ON TAPE saying "fuck them" about the Obama people offering nothing but appreciation in return for appointing Valerie JArret, and you want Hannity et al going after Obama?

What kind of rightwingnut does that make you?

[BuyingThyme]

29. They should go after it for whateverf it's worth.

If it's worth nothing, they'll get nothing out of it. But they sure as hell better go after it.

[WeDidIt]

30. Welcome to ignore

As far as I'm concerned, you are no different than a Freeper.

[BuyingThyme]

32. You are exactly what the Freepers are. You are going out of your way

to ignore the corruption of your party. I'm far better than you.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

41. 'Your' party.

I thought because we are all DU members it was OUR party.
Just because this man is a crook it doesn't mean our party is corrupt.
No one here wants this man to get away with it.

[BuyingThyme]

46. Our party is corrupt if our party doesn't want this thing be to

examined from every angle.

[Binka]

27. Nice Straw Man Bub

You have reading comprehension problems sport. Plus you are an ***&%^!

[BuyingThyme]

28. You don't know what a straw man is.

[Binka]

38. Get Lost

I am not wasting any more time with you. PLONK.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

37. How idiotic

'people should go after this'.
Your suggesting Fox news people are just the people to sort things out. You sound like that republican congresswoman who said the media should investigate (go after) congress to find the 'un-american' members.

[BuyingThyme]

39. This is "un-American," genius.

Pull your head out of your butt.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

42. The key word here was MEDIA.

You are an idiot. How dare you talk to me like that!
Notice I've proudly been here since April 2001 and I have been proud of the fact that I have never put anyone on my ignore list. You are the first because you don't belong here as far as I'm concerned.

[BuyingThyme]

45. You are un-American is you believe the MEDIA should not pursue this.

It's very simple.

[Born_A_Truman]

25. Horrible? That Obama wouldn't give this sleaze bag anything?

[BuyingThyme]

33. No, what the Governor did.

[Danger Mouse]

44. But Obama had nothing to do with it.

:shrug:

[zulchzulu]

31. Watch the GOP ratings go in the shitter if they play this kind of crap

NOt that the GOP is ALREADY in the shitter, but if they want to play this crap in light of what's going on economically, I saw go for it Repigs!

The 12 Percenters and the Knucklehead Freepers will enjoy the slime bath, but the rest of the moderates out there will finally leave the sinking GOP ship for good.

[Alter Ego]

35. Yeah, Obama saying something positive about Blago two years

ago means that they're best buds! I wonder if Sarah Palin will now start trumpeting that Obama "pals around with governors"?

[AtomicKitten]

43. Blagojevich's profanity-laden spew about Obama seems to exonerate Obama.

The tapes reveal a two-term governor who no longer wants his job, badly wants cash and is determined to leverage a financial benefit out of his appointment powers.

He also appears to think little of the president-elect, whom he calls a "motherf***er" at one point.

“F**k him,” Blagjoveich says of Obama during a lengthy call with top aides and his wife recorded on November 10th, “For nothing? F**k him.”

In another section of the complaint, Blagojevich expresses exasperation that Obama and his team aren't willing to offer him an inducement in exchange for appointing an aide, apparently Valerie Jarrett, to the Senate.

Blagojevich "said he knows that the President-elect wants Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but 'they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. F**k them,'" says the complaint.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/

[Robbins]

48. Problems

Obama refused to give him a cabent spot In exchange for appointing who he wanted to the senate(most
likely valair Jarret)

there are some reports already that Emmanuel Is the one who alerted the Justice department on
Blagojevich.This suggests Obama knew what he was doing or tole him to rat Blagojevich out.

Obama had nothing to do with Blagojevich trying to sell the seat.

Republicans are stupid to try to tie Obama to Blagojevich.How well did trying to tie Obama to Rezko
work for Hillary? and besides we have Blagojevich on tape cusing Obama for not playing ball with him
and offering him nothing but thanks.

Democrats have long known Blagojevich was crooked.He won reelection In 2006 because he was a Democrat
and Republicans are In such sorry shape In Illinois.Since the LT Governor Is a Democrat noone will be
sorry to see him go.

[AspenRose]

49. I have a feeling that the longer and harder they rant about this, the more

they will come to regret it. Kind of like Rezko and Wright....it'll come back to bite them in the ass.