Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Okay, so now we have further confirmation that Obama lied to us all last week when he said “I had no contact with the Governor what, uh, or his office, uh, and, so we were not..uh, uh, I was not aware of what was happening.” First of all, it’s just not credible that Rahm Emanuel would be speaking so regularly to Blagojevich about something so important, and not be telling Obama about it. Secondly, he basically admits, accidentally, that he was very much aware of what was going on, when he changes from “we were not aware” to “I was not aware”. He makes the change because he knows all about Rahm’s conversations, and can’t get away with “we were not aware” once America finds out about them. But it’s pointless, and it just makes things worse, because America isn’t as stupid as this ass-clown of a former Senator thinks it is. We know damn good and well that if Rahm knew, then you knew. Really, Barry, how fucking stupid can you be?

Excerpted from The Chicago Tribune:

Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick to be White House chief of staff, had conversations with Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration about who would replace Obama in the U.S. Senate, the Tribune has learned.

The revelation does not suggest Obama’s new gatekeeper was involved in any talk of dealmaking involving the seat. But it does help fill in the gaps surrounding a question that Obama was unable or unwilling to answer this week: Did anyone on his staff have contact with Blagojevich about his choice for the Senate seat?

Okay, stop right there. “Unable” to answer? How could Obama possibly have been not able to answer that question? He gave the list of acceptable candidates to Rahm to give to Blagojevich. Which shouldn’t even have to be cited as evidence, because it is absolutely beyond the realm of plausibility that Obama would have no knowledge of Rahm Emanuel’s work on his behalf with the Illinois Govenor. The notion is absurd, and anyone who would argue for it, is crazier than Blagojevich has been declared by the media to be.

This is called the Tribune covering Obama’s ass. Pointing out the obvious, that Obama was unwilling to tell us who the adviser was (and he’s still not come clean), would just make the President-Elect look worse than the Tribune, and the rest of the media, wants him to. More:

Obama said Thursday he had never spoken to Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy and was “confident that no representatives” of his had engaged in any dealmaking over the seat with the governor or his team. He also pledged Thursday that in the “next few days” he would explain what contacts his staff may have had with the governor’s office about the Senate vacancy.

Emanuel, who has long been close to both Blagojevich and Obama, has refused to respond to questions about any involvement he may have had with the Blagojevich camp over the Senate pick. A spokeswoman for Emanuel also declined to comment Friday.

If Emanuel has “long been close to both” Blago and Barry, then why has Emanuel never come forward about Blagojevich’s corrupt business practices? Could he possibly not have known about Blagojevich’s corruption? Or was he willing to just let it slide, all these many years? Has he ever profited from Blagojevich’s corruption, or any corruption, in Illinois? Is that why he remained silent? Is this the man who should be Chief of Staff of the White House? Wasn’t this supposed to be the dawn of the age of “a new type of politics? Hope, change, anybody?

And I put the same questions forth with regard to Obama Christ, Superstar. Just substitute President where it says Chief of Staff of the White House. More:

One source confirmed that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps.

Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor’s administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.

Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be “acceptable” to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats.

Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said.

In an interview, Schakowsky said she spoke to Emanuel on Thursday and he seemed unfazed by the controversy.

Schakowsky also spoke of a conversation she had with Emanuel shortly after he was named chief of staff. She said she called Emanuel him “to get some intelligence” on whether Obama might approve of her selection as senator.

“He indicated that the president-elect would be fine with certain people and I was one of them,” Schakowsky said.

Schakowsky said it was natural for Obama to take an interest in the selection process for his Senate seat. “It makes perfect sense for the president-elect or his people to have some interaction about filling the seat he was vacating,” she said.

Though now working full-time on Obama’s transition, Emanuel has yet to resign his congressional seat. Illinois law has a different process for filling vacant House seats than Senate seats. When Emanuel resigns, a special election will be held for his replacement.

One alleged scheme outlined in the charges against Blagojevich involves the special election for Emanuel’s seat. The government affidavit said Blagojevich and others were recorded talking about an unnamed “president-elect adviser” concerned about the election for Emanuel’s congressional seat who might help the governor land a new job at a non-profit organization.

Now there’s quite the interesting point, right there at the end. It says there was a Presidential Adviser who was concerned about the outcome of the election to fill Emanuel’s congressional seat, and that Blagojevich and his team were talking about this adviser. The only way Blago and co. would know about this adviser and his concerns were if someone from Obama’s team told them. Clearly, that is almost certainly Emanuel. He told them he was concerned about the outcome of his own replacement election. So what exactly were Emanuel’s “concerns” and did Emanuel say what he’d like to be done to alleviate them? Did he ask for something, did he offer something?

It’s a brand new day in America, alright.