Obama says he is 'saddened and sobered' by Blagojevich, but he had no contact with him
By John Amato Tuesday Dec 09, 2008 4:30pm
President elect-Barack Obama responded today about the scandal that is swirling around Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Obama: Like the rest of the people of Illinois, I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the US attorney's office today, but as this is a on going investigation involving the Governor I don't' think it's appropriate for me to comment on the issue at this time.
{snip}
I'll answer this one question. I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I we were not aware of what was happening. As I said it is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment.
It wouldn't be a surprise to find out that a member of Obama's team had met with Blags anyway. That's normal politics, but Obama does have to get ahead of the story or the traditional media will try to tear him apart. Aided of course by the right wing lunatic fringe. We just witnessed eight years of the culture of corruption with Bush, but the right wingers will hijack our terminology and the media will be willing allies. What we have seen so far is that Blags even cursed out Obama.
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."
It's natural that Obama and many of his staff have crossed paths with the players in this scandal. But according to Lynn Sweet of the Tribune, who has followed Obama for some time and is not a sycophant, says the campaign put a mile between itself and Blagojevich, not even allowing him to speak at the Democratic convention. They are not close.
Get ready for the right wing freak show that is about to begin. They are going to go hog-wild.
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David Axelrod said Obama did have that conversation with him.
Since David Axelrod is one of his most trusted advisors...I think it's safe to assume this might be Obama's first "Oh $%^#!" moment. Probably not a good way to start this...especially since is this the first day of what seems to be a much bigger scandal for Illinois Dems.
so how long will it take Rush and Hannity to blame this on Barack too? Like when they tried to make this the Obama Recession... even though it STARTED A YEAR AGO! What a couple of stinky Republican TURDS.
In this other "matter..." I REALLY hope that the Democrats in Ill. line up to pull the switch on this IDIOT who thought he could TRADE GOODS and SERVICES for a Senate seat... and do it on THE PHONE FROM HIS OFFICE! What a DOORKNOB.
i saw some video from the recent governors meeting… caught a glimpse of blago just before obama came into the picture and barely acknowledged him as he was greeting all the govs…
it was obvious blago tried to insert himself for best exposure, and as obvious that obama was wishing he hadn’t…
seems obama has distanced himself for quite some time, but especially since the rezko trial, and many were trying to tie blago and obama with that mess...
Update- Illinois Rep. Tim Hare (D) says the allegations are serious enough that Blagojevich should resign if they are true:
Today is a sad day for the state of Illinois. It is important that we let the justice system run its course and remember that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But if these allegations are even remotely true, they would represent a shameful breach of the public trust and be cause for the Governor’s immediate resignation.
Update- Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) has called for a special election: "The General Assembly should enact a law as quickly as possible calling for a special election to fill the Senate vacancy of Barack Obama. No appointment by this Governor could produce a credible replacement," he said.
Update- Lt. Gov. Quinn says Blagojevich should step down.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/09/blagojevi...
Let's just be thankful that they arrested him before he could do any more damage. We don't want people like him in office. Michael Boh has a great piece on this issue at Papamoka
http://papastraighttalk.blogspot.com/2008/12/...
and Obama is NOT and has never been part of the machine. No wonder Blago was pissed at him for not 'playing the game.'
Those who want to tie Barack in with the IL crooks, saying that he did nothing to try and stop them, there truly is no way one person could do so and besides that's special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's job.
On behalf of the taxpayers of Illinois, many thanks to Mr. Fitzgerald.
I agree 100%, I'm not a Il tax payer but I think it's great that Fitzgerald is able to prosecute someone who won't be smoke-screened by this criminal executive branch. Like they did for Libby.
Isn't it funny all the stupid ass Repugs who talked shit about Patrick are now singing him praises. typical.
I said this in a lower thread, and I'll say it again. Patrick Fitzgerald for Attorney General at the DOJ!
Ok!
+1 with a vengeance!
a confirmation vote of 90+ -0.
All he had to do was prosecute only Democrats. Then, no smoke screen. In fact, that was the problem Rove had with those U.S. attorneys, like Iglesias, which led to their firing. In fact, Rove considered firing Fitzgerald for exactly this reason. Oh, I mean Gonzales considered it. No, I mean Sampson. No, ... damn, I have cover-up in my eyes, I can't see who did it.
Just watch the Repugs jump all over this, they don't want to hear it when someone says one of their leaders is a criminal, but they can't wait for a criminal from the other side!
Me? I hate all criminals, I don't care what party their in, we just need to weed them out so we can prosper as a nation.
But those uber-patriotic Republicans wouldn't know anything about that now would they?
The initial right-wing reaction to the Blago mess should be a certain wake-up call for the "can't we all just get along?" trio. Either they immediately launch full scale investigations of the Bush crimes during the past eight years, or else they might find themselves turning on the spit.
This might be obvious to the point of stupid, but did this idiot Blags just toss a Democratic Senate seat into the wind to land who-knows-where? Can this effect the number of D seats in the Senate?
What I mean is that if this foolio Blags were going to, presumably, appoint a Dem to the vacated seat, doesn't a special election open the door for a repug to cheat, lie, steal and take the seat?
Geez oh man, if so...what a headache.
If Blago is impeached or steps down, his Loot takes over; a dem with a good rep. I don't know what would happen if Durbin gets a special election (not stated in the Il constitution). It is up in the air for now...give it a couple of days and it will flush out.
That would explain why no-one on this board, besides myself, has panicked at all. Thanks, MsJoanne!
Now I can just sit hear and focus all my attention on the sheer stupidity of this man. The brashness and clumsiness of his alleged crimes are just staggering.
I am saddened to have to admit that this prick is my governor.
My friend's mom (heavily into politics and fucked over by some Chicago politics herself when she was preparing her run for alderwoman) worked for Blago big time when he first ran...which seems so long ago.
Few in IL think much of Blago. His approval rating was something like 5% before today (which usually falls within the margin of error to give him a zero approval rate). Blago makes Bush look popular by comparison.
I am not sweating anything right now. I just want this asshole to go away (go away to somewhere like Statesville prison) for a long, long, long time.
Looks like the Bagster got his Fitzmas goose a little early!
Hannity is going after him so hard that Karl Rove is the voice of reason. He just called out William Ayers in the discussion, but he wants to be "fair."
Both of them complained when Obama said words to the effect that "it would not be appropriate to comment on this ongoing investigation," saying that George Bush and his officials repeatedly made similar statements during the past 8 years. However, when Bush and his officials said this over and over, it was regarding investigations involving their own administration. That's a HUGE difference.
Obama went on to say something, which is something anyone from Bushylvania never did. Olbermann said as much in the following clip.
It was more the phrase they were deriding.
that kind of moral relativism, which we're seeing more and more on the cable news networks, is wrong and dangerous. I think there's a story here today that Campbell Brown on CNN compared Bush's wrecking of the environment and endangering animal species and our health on his way out of office with Bill Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich when he left office.
I don't think it apropos of anything for a big politician like Obama (or Biden, or Pelosi or Reid, for that matter) to comment on an ongoing case, especially one which just surfaced today.
I think it highly inappropriate, actually.
The last thing Obama needs to do is stick his foot in his mouth about something which may wind up being retracted or changed (by Fitz or whomever) down the road.
UPDATE: I completely agree with you on the moral relativism thing. Sorry for any previous confusion.
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman."
{ Please enlighten us as to what this comment means. SiteMonitor}
missing your point.
I'm just reminded of other denials. They rarely work out well for those involved.
since Blago was being wiretapped for a couple of months now, it will come out should it be a lie.
Since Obama has yet to strike me as a stupid person, and since he knows that there was an extensive wiretap thing going on, I find it a little difficult to believe he would be stupid and lie, but we shall see.
is the operative term. Republican prosecutor Fitzgerald, appointed by Bush, says that Obama wasn't involved. The transcripts released by Fitzgerald of the tape of Blago say that Obama was not involved, that all he would offer was "appreciation" in return for a Senate pick of his choice. But I guess you're operating under a different standard.
oh shit, a man denying he had an affair! how unusual!
"I cannot pronounce his name, I just call him the idiot. This guy gives crooks a bad name."
Let's compare the conduct of Obama and his team in their dealings with a corrupt governor to the conduct of the Bush White House team in their dealings with Jack Abramoff, or Dusty Foggo, or any one of a bottomless pit filled with ethically vacant greed merchants willing to fix any Republican arrangement they could imagine.
Change, indeed.
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
From my observations is that Obama managed to stay above the fray of corrupted IL politics, pervasive on a number of governmental levels.
The thing is that those who try to challenge the corruption hardly ever win; Obama is the exception. But then Obama is exceptional IMO.
I can't remember ever seeing or even hearing of Obama and Blagojevich being together on anything during the campaign. I don't think Obama ever really even mentioned his name. Obama is not a stupid man. He knew that Blagojevich was under investigation for the last three years and one of the last people to be connected with. That's most likely why Blago doesn't like him and all the better for Obama. Blago is a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur. I'm a resident of Illinois and see his bullshit in the papers everyday. I'm glad Fitz put the hammer down, about time. As far as Obama's statement, what more could he say? If he had gone into a long speech about how he has no connection to him, it would have just made things worse for him. I felt sorry for Al Gore, that was supposed to be his time about the environment, but of course the media would not have any of it.
The wingnuts will bring this guy up for the next four years, it's a xmas present for them. Why the ##@@@ is he a democrat.It's nothing worse to have to keep denying for the rest of your term. Obama:" I did not have personal relations with that man."
show me one other idiot that obama hangs with...or even speaks with
one thing to be a crook...quite another to be a stupid crook
At "around" the fifty (50) second time stamp of the clip, he says...
I had no conversation(s) whatso "screech stop" blend in, with him or his office? You decide.? I know others have caught it I'm sure.
"Whatsoever" would have been sufficient. Why did he feel it necessary to change mid-sentence too "with him & his office"? I'm just curious, what prompted the expression.
They ought to throw Blagojevich in prison and melt down the key. Any Democrat, anywhere in the country, who is corrupt should be shown zero mercy. Let the Republicans be the ones who are known for corruption. Blagojevich did harm to every Democratic politician in the country. He deserves no consideration or leniency.
I'm including corporatist Democrats who sell out in the group of those who should be fed to the sharks.
How about ANY and ALL corrupt politician be shown zero mercy?
Why focus solely on the dems?
What do you suppose Obama meant by being "sobered" by this news?
Generally it means that someone has been brought to their senses about something.
I wonder what Obama is referring to.
If someone called me a motherfucker and I'd done nothing to deserve the title, I'd be pretty sobered too. Maybe he thought the guy was a crook but not that big of an asshole that he would do something like try to sell the senate seat. Or maybe it was one of those stock replies to a situation. I wouldn't read more into it.
OK.
I was just asking what Obama found "sobering" about the arrest of this guy.
"Crook but not asshole". Good. "Didn't realize that the guy thought he was an M.F..." Yes.
Makes sense. Stock reply - makes even more sense.
The mere asking of the question seemed to have popped Mr. Left's cork.
...connection in this bullshit with of course, zero facts.
I'm a life long resident of this state and it is a sober day for all of us here. I guess using your brilliant insight, that implicates me too.
What did you find "sobering" about it?
Here's the latest Yahoo headline:
It has begun.
They claim Blog started this mess in 2002 and it has only taken 6 years to bring charges against him after he began an attack on Bank of America?
Attorney General Spitzer went after Banks and their lending schemes in an attempt to protect low wage earners in New York and was sued by the Bush Politicized Justice Department. Once he became more powerful as Governor he had to go!
The whole thing sounds Fishy to me.
Limp-Dick Blimpaugh and other wing-nutO hate monguerers are jacking off with excitement over nothing about nothing about Obama.
well, I'm a big obama supporter and I don't want him to have anything to do with this....but I think the "I had no contact" comment was intentional. He didn't personally talk to the guy about it, but I'm betting Obama knew what was going on. Somebody in his advisory circle was approached by blago and said 'no'...you KNOW that got back to Obama...if it didn't, he needs to be wicked pissed at whomever that advisor was..
good that he didn't want to 'play ball'...but his statement here is probably BS.
I would have loved for that Rahm rumor about going to the feds to be true...
Obama is a fraud and a liar.
Obama has no idea Blagojackoffovich's behavior patterns
Obama has no idea of Rev Wright's attitudes and behavior patterns
Obama has no idea of Rezco's attitudes and behavior patterns...
and this fraud is a judge of character?
Suckers.
Care to offer some credible evidence to support your claim? Don't have anything but an unsupportable opinion? Who's the fraud here?
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