GOP jumps to tie Obama to Blagojevich - Bellantoni - Washington Times

GOP jumps to tie Obama to Blagojevich

By Christina Bellantoni on Dec. 9, 2008 into Bellantoni

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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, [Obama] 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)

A few facts:

Blagojevich said recently he wanted to name a replacement for Obama by Christmas. I'll bet $100 that's not happening.

His successor is Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat.

— Christina Bellantoni, White House correspondent,
The Washington Times

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There are 19 Comments

KYJurisDoctor

I guess you can say that the Blagojevich's "chicken" has "come home to roost". Just like in a lot of states, voters in Illinois are getting EXACTLY what they deserve or want. Maybe, now they can be serious about who they vote into office, and rather than coveting corruption, voters can pay attention to seekers of elective office who SHUN corruption! OsiSpeaks.com

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sikologik

This is all George W. Bush's fault!

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Chicagoman

The 'mandatory invite list' to the Blagojevich trial, will read like a photo copy of the Obama inaugural guest list. He even thought he might one day run for president. But, then again, why not? Ready thyself world, the real party is just about to begin.

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mad_russian

How do you suppose the coverage of this event would be different if the governor had been black? It would have been spun as a personal tragedy, of some scrappy ghetto kid who courageously fought his way to the pinnacle of the white political machine only to fall victim to its temptations and corrupt influences. But since the Illinois governor is a Slav, newspapers are happy to pull out all the stops in condemning him. Obama and Blagojevich are birds of a feather, and that's the real story. Obama will do on a national scale what Blagojevich has done in Illinois.

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mad_russian

Obama and Blagojevich are birds of a feather (only different plumage), and that's the real story.

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ziggy_stardust

Please Rezco...shut up. I didn't even get my "spread the wealth" check yet. Baryy is in for a rough ride. Welcome to the big time. Maybe Obama can hire Clinton's hit squad to keep him insulated from all his past associations and corruption. It worked for Vice Foster, Ron Brown and about 50 others that tried to cross Bill and Hill. We are no better than some third world banana republic. Bush must have lied about something to have caused this.

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one4gipper

Obama and Blagojevich have at least three common assiciates, i.e. Antonin Rezko, Stuart Levine, and Ali Ata. The slime is already starting to ooze from our new president.

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palmetto

READ THIS ARTICLE TO GET A CLUE WHAT WE ARE IN FOR! http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/12/obamas-kenya-ghosts/ HYMAN: Obama's Kenya ghosts Mark Hyman Sunday, October 12, 2008

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earlweaver

This is great news!!!!....For the Republican Party!!!!! Oh BTW...The President of the United States is Republican George W. Bush...George W. Bush... Mention him every once in while, like you-all used to... OK...continue talking amongst yourselves...

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pragmaticProgressive

Isn't the GOP (and its chicken-little enablers who I see are here in full force) going to feel a little stupid once its common knowledge that Rahm Emanuel and Obama are the ones who blew the whistle on Blagojevich? Oh dear, it will look terrible when everyone knows it was the president-elect who refused to bribe this guy.

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imadoc

The level of discourse in these comments is hilarious. Did any of you goobers even READ the complaint? Like the part where the Obama folks refused to play ball with the dear Illinois governor? As far as how the governor would have been treated had he been African-American, one can only look at the fate of the former mayor of Detroit. Jeez

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republicandon

4 years of change we can believe in..lol...hillarious.

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mad_russian

imadoc: How's your verbal intelligence? Seems low to me. I said treated by the press, not by the courts. There are a few honest judges and prosecutors left, but they are a vanishing breed. Soon the courts will be pay-or-play, too, once this nation becomes a complete Diversocracy. Jeez, yourself.

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tanarg

That's odd, pragmaticProgressive, because Obama reportedly said today he has had no contact with the governor or his office and was not aware of what was happening.

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imadoc

mad russian: How wonderfully unrsponsive your comeback was! How marvelously vacuous your analysis! In what way are Obama and Blago 'of a feather' other than they are from Chicago? I guess if you want to see a taint on Obama from Blago's problems, you could. Of course, that would move you into the delusional category.

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