December 10, 2008

12/10: The Blagojevich Fallout

Conservative bloggers are buzzing about the various connections between disgraced IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Pres.-elect Barack Obama. They believe that the Blagojevich scandal will force journalists to finally investigate Obama's background in Chicago politics, which they felt did not receive adequate scrutiny during the presidential race. Ed Morrissey predicts: "This scandal will do what the national media refused to do during the campaign: tie Obama directly to this kind of corrupt political maneuvering and force some answers as to why Obama managed to rise so fast in that environment." Righty bloggers believe that this scandal has the potential to do significant political damage to Obama. One particularly excited blogger is even raising the specter of impeachment.

Liberal bloggers expected GOPers to "try to manufacture links between the incoming [Obama] administration and Blagojevich", so they're not surprised that it's already happening. They don't expect this effort to succeed, however, because (a.) Obama is "so obviously uninvolved" in Blagojevich's alleged wrongdoing, and (b.) "there's just too much news and too many problems for a phony scandal to have any legs". Lefty bloggers are pointing to the fact that Blagojevich cursed Obama out in his taped phone conversations as evidence that Obama and Blagojevich are not close.

OBAMA: Six Degrees Of Blagojevich

Conservative bloggers continue to link Obama to Blagojevich (and Chicago machine politics more generally):

• Michelle Malkin: "[Atty Patrick] Fitzgerald says President-elect Obama was not implicated in the plethora of charges against Democrats Blago and [CoS John] Harris. The national media went out of their way to absolve him, too. But declaring Team Obama's hands clean -- especially with Blago crony and indicted Obama donor Tony Rezko in the middle of it all -- is premature."
• Power Line's John Hinderaker: "Obama's proximity to the scandal highlights a basic fact about his career: Obama's political career began, and was lived until very recently, in the very dirty pond of Chicago politics. It is quite remarkable that Obama has been able to emerge not only intact but ostensibly pristine from that political swamp. In part, this is because his history and associations have been too little scrutinized. [...] Obama has been a loyal soldier in the Democrats' corrupt Cook County machine. Obama's first statewide campaign was as an adviser to Blagojevich. He endorsed Blagojevich for re-election and offered to campaign for him. In August 2006, the Associated Press quoted Obama saying, 'We've got a governor in Rod Blagojevich who has delivered consistently on behalf of the people of Illinois.' No doubt Obama would now say that the Rod Blagojevich who tried to sell his vacant Senate seat 'isn't the Rod Blagojevich I knew.' Maybe it's time to take notice of the fact that Barack Obama is either 1) an astonishingly poor judge of character, or 2) a politician who swims comfortably and successfully in what must be America's most corrupt pond. This is, apparently, the 'change' that millions of Americans voted for."
• AmSpec Blog's Philip Klein: "The Blagojevich connection is merely the latest in a long line of troubling associations for Obama. The most charitable assessment of the pattern is that Obama is content looking the other way in the face of wrongdoing to gain political advantage at the time. This is the case with the financing he received from Tony Rezko, his membership in Jeremiah Wright's church, and his relationship with Blagojevich. While the issues didn't cost him the election, the question that remains is whether the judgment he's displayed in his associations in the past, will be a prologue to how he conducts himself as president. Can somebody emerge from a corrupt political world, navigating it adroitly, without internalizing some of its tactics?"

OBAMA II: Finally, He's Going To Get Some Scrutiny!

Conservative bloggers believe that the Blagojevich scandal will force journalists to investigate Obama's background in Chicago politics, which they felt did not receive adequate scrutiny during the presidential race:

• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "This scandal will do what the national media refused to do during the campaign: tie Obama directly to this kind of corrupt political maneuvering and force some answers as to why Obama managed to rise so fast in that environment."
• Townhall's Hugh Hewitt: "The number of long-time Chicagoland figures in and around the president-elect's inner circle is so large as to make a Blago-connection to at least some of them inevitable. [...] Obvious questions that will have to be answered by the president-elect in detail: When did you first meet with B? How often and how closely have you worked with him? Did you know his chief-of-staff? If any member of your Administration is implicated in any of these scandals, will you dismiss them immediately? The MSM issued a huge pass to candidate Obama during the election when it came to Rezko et al. They cannot keep that up through an entire presidency."
• AmSpec Blog's David Weigel: "This is why the people filing junk lawsuits about Obama's ties to Kenya need to simmer down -- there are real crimes occuring in Illinois government, and Obama was allied with the criminals. The Blagojevich investigation has, so far, implicated Obama in none of the illegal activity engaged in by the governor, his aides, and fellow travellers like Rezko. But we need full investigations."

AmSpec Blog's Jeffrey Lord wonders if impeachment is in Obama's future: "This is staggering news for Obama and company. [...] The obvious question is the old Howard Baker line from Watergate: What did the President (elect) and the Senate Majority Whip know -- and when did they know it? The troubling part of this is that the country has deeply serious problems obvious to all. Is this the tip of an iceberg that is about to unleash the hounds to such an extent that it adds unimagined turmoil to a situation chaotic enough as is? Impeach Obama -- already? Or have we elected the Virgin King? Is [VP-elect] Joe Biden already remembering Vice President Jerry Ford's words to wife Betty [Ford] as she went on and on about the decorations of the newly acquired VP's residence where the Fords were scheduled to move from their longtime home in Alexandria? 'Honey, we're never going to move in.' Buckle in!"

OBAMA III: Something Smells Fishy...

Conservative bloggers are buzzing about the fact that Obama adviser David Axelrod said during a November interview that Obama had "talked to [Blagojevich]" about filling the vacant IL Senate seat, which contradicts Obama's claim that he "had no contact with [Blagojevich] or his office." An Obama aide later said that Axelrod misspoke when he made his November remarks, but conservative bloggers are suspicious:

• Philip Klein: "Two possibilities: Axelrod was lying yesterday to cover for Obama, or, a few weeks ago, when he said 'I know he's talked to the governor,' he actually had no clue what he was he was saying."
• RedState's Pejman Yousefzadeh: "To be sure, today, Patrick Fitzgerald stated that Obama was not implicated in any way in the investigation. We have no reason to believe otherwise, but how is it that a smart man like David Axelrod 'misspoke' on the issue of whether Obama met with Blagojevich to talk about successors to Obama's Senate seat? Either the meeting occurred or it didn't; how is it that Axelrod imagined it? And why was the 'misstatement' not corrected until Blagojevich was arrested and the President-elect's news cycle started looking...well...iffy?"
• NRO's Jim Geraghty: "Axelrod is saying he misspoke, although it's curious as to how he would get the notion that Obama and Blagojevich spoke, and why he would go around saying they had spoken without knowing so. Ben Smith cannot get an answer to another simple question: When was the last time the two men spoke?"

OBAMA IV: Making The Right Enemies

Liberal bloggers think Blagojevich did Obama a favor by cursing him out in his taped phone conversations:

• TalkLeft's Jeralyn Merritt: "Obama should be happy Blagojevich trashed him in the tapes. As Fitz said, there's no information Obama was aware any of these attempts were taking place, and the tapes make it pretty clear Blagojevich didn't think Obama's people would 'pay to play.'"
• Ezra Klein: "As [Jason] Zengerle says, if Obama had made a slightly different decision and decided to play ball with Blagojevich, engage in some minor quid pro quo and help Blagojevich's wife onto some meaningless corporate board, 'the feds would have had the president-elect dead to rights.' His presidency would've been effectively over before it had ever begun. As it is, he's got Blagojevich on tape saying, 'Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.' That's a helluva endorsement. Obama owes this guy a Christmas card."

Daily Kos' Jed Lewison: "In the coming days, as Republicans try to manufacture links between the incoming administration and Blagojevich, it will be important to remember this fact: Not only was there was no link between Blagojevich's corruption and the Obama team, but Blagojevich cursed out Obama for not being willing to play ball."

Meanwhile, Balloon Juice's John Cole criticizes the RNC for trying to tie Obama to Blagojevich: "Apparently the RNC missed Blagojevich hating on Obama in the indictment. At any rate, today's poll says 80% of the country approves of how Obama has been handling himself with the transition. Good luck with the smear. Morons."

OBAMA V: Get Ready For More Guilt-By-Association!

digby expects GOPers to try to link Obama to Blagojevich: "The minute I heard about Fitzgerald's press conference, I knew this would follow shortly: 'Questions Arise About the Obama/Blagojevich Relationship'. That's Jake Tapper, not making any charges but bringing up all kinds of cross currents in Illinois politics to suggest that there are 'questions.' And all over TV they are talking about 'corrupt Chicago politics,' which is being splashed onto Obama. 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, [the] campaign put a mile between itself and Blagojevich, not even allowing him to speak at the Democratic convention. They are not close. [...] I don't know if this will go anywhere. At this point, I think there's just too much news and too many problems for a phony scandal to have any legs. But, as I wrote almost a year ago, these Chicago shennanigans have elements of a perfect right wing smear by association if they have the energy to launch one and the press decides it's sexy enough."

Other lefty bloggers don't think the effort to tie Obama to Blagojevich will succeed:

• Lewison: "Even as Democrats across the board are calling for Blagojevich to resign or to be impeached, even as most Americans want to see Blagojevich behind bars so we can adddress this nation's great and pressing challenges, Republicans want to drag this out -- purely for partisan gain. In other times, this kind of a gambit might just work. But not now. Not in the middle of the [George W.] Bush Recession. Just like John McCain crashed and burned, so to will Republicans who head down this path. There is no surer route to political irrelevancy for their Party than to obsessively try to fan the flames of political outrage at the same time that there is so much important work to be done."
• Mother Jones' Kevin Drum: "I think Obama will be so open about this, and so obviously uninvolved, that it won't cause him any pain whatsoever. It's an Illinois story, not an Obama story."

TAPPED's Adam Serwer thinks Obama should call on Blagojevich to resign: "Whatever Obama's relationship has been with Blagojevich in the past, it seems really unwise for Obama to offer meager Bush-like statements about 'ongoing investigations' when it's quite clear from the report that Blagojevich engaged in some pretty disreputable behavior, and as of now Blagojevich simply lacks the legitimate moral authority to be the chief executive of the state of Illinois. The complaint suggests Obama refused to curry favor with Blagojevich, so it doesn't make sense for Obama not to call for his resignation. Under what circumstances can Blagojevich remain the governor of Illinois?"

MEDIA CRITICISM: Supporting Ethics Reform Means You're Corrupt?

Liberal bloggers are blasting today's New York Times article by Mike McIntire and Jeff Zeleny, which alleges that Obama's recent decision "to urge passage of a state ethics bill" "was a reminder that despite his historic ascendancy to the White House, he has never quite escaped the murky and insular world of Illinois politics":

• TPM's Josh Marshall: "Shorter New York Times: By lobbying for ethics reform, Obama showed he could not escape the murky world of corrupt Chicago pols."
• Firedoglake's Attaturk: "You can tell a Democrat is coming to power, because the New York Times is revisiting the era when money-losing land deals were a tell-tale sign of corruption. [...] Making an effort at reform in your home state equals corruption?"
• AMERICAblog's John Aravosis: "One of the weirdest stories ever from the New York Times. Will Bunch dissects it, but in a nutshell, it's apparently Obama's fault that the Illinois governor is corrupt. Why? Because Obama supported an ethics law that the Illinois governor was trying to get around, so Obama forced the Illinois governor to disobey the law, or some such idiocy. Kind of like saying it's the police's fault that people commit crimes, because if there were no laws, then there'd be no crime because everything would be legal. Simply, amazingly, astonishingly, bizarre of Times to write this piece."

BLAGOJEVICH: This Is Why We Need Special Elections

Liberal bloggers support IL Sen. Dick Durbin's call for a special election to fill Obama's old Senate seat:

• TAPPED's Sam Boyd: "Dick Durbin is right that the state legislature should immediately pass a bill abolishing the governor's right to appoint a new Senator and replacing it with a special-election process. It works for House seats everywhere and Senate seats in some other states. It would prevent Blagojevich-style shenanigans (and more prosaic political horse-trading) and simply be a more democratic and transparent process—something Illinois very much needs."
• Open Left's Chris Bowers: "There should be a special election to fill Obama's seat. One of the main reasons is, obviously, that no appointment could be made without a cloud of corruption surrounding it now. But really, there should be a special election to fill all vacant Senate seats, not just this one. While there will be an undeniable whiff of corruption surrounding anyone Blagojevich picks at this point, there is an undeniable whiff of aristocracy surrounding our method to replace vacant Senate seats in general. Democracies elect people and vote on stuff. Monarchies and oligarchies appoint people and make decisions in small groups of elites. (And then they often make aristocratic appointments like Caroline Kennedy.)"

Conservative blogger Matt Lewis agrees with Bowers: "Might want to re-think the notion that Governors should be empowered to appoint U.S. Senators."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Who Loses?

Commentary's Jennifer Rubin:

"Aside from the criminal defendants and the Illinois Democratic Party, who are the big losers in Blago-gate? Really anyone who wants to get away with something or get something they don't really deserve. I'd put in that category: Al Franken, [NY Rep.] Charlie Rangel, Caroline Kennedy and [ex-Deputy AG] Eric Holder. No one now has the stomach for even a hint [of] slick dealing or nefarious politics -- at least for awhile. Those listed above, and others, may be handicapped in achieving their political aspirations.

Is Majority Leader Harry Reid going to hang up the Senate to overturn an election and seat Franken? Nope. Is Charlie Rangel going to be able to cling to the chairmanship of Ways and Means as the scandals dribble out, one by one? Not if [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi has her way. Unqualified Caroline Kennedy wants to use the Kennedy name to leapfrog over a dozen more qualified candidates? Not unless [NY] Gov. [David] Paterson wants grief. And will Democrats boldly step forward to defend Holder's behavior in the Marc Rich pardon as 'business as usual'? Not so much."

LEST WE FORGET: Blagojevich Offers Senate Seat To Arresting Officer

The Huffington Post's Andy Borowitz:

"In what is being called one of the most daring escape attempts in the history of law enforcement, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich today offered the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama to the FBI agent who took him into Federal custody this morning.

According to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the astonishing escape attempt occurred moments after Mr. Blagojevich was handcuffed by the agent, who was wearing a wire and captured the entire expletive-laden offer on tape.

'"You can be the [bleeping] junior Senator from [bleeping] Illinois if you let me out of these [bleeping] handcuffs,"' Mr. Fitzgerald read from a transcript. '"And if that mother-[bleeper] Barack Obama tries to [bleep] with me, I'll [bleep] him up."'"

Posted by Ian Faerstein at December 10, 2008 01:30 PM