Why Wasn’t the Guy Whose Daddy Wanted to “Cut His Nuts Off” Acceptable to Obama?
There was a significant detail in the Trib’s Rahm-talking-to-Blago story. The story lists who Obama considered acceptable candidates to replace him in the Senate.
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.
Note who is missing from this list?
Obama national campaign co-chair, Jesse Jackson Jr.
There are a lot of reasons why Obama may not have favored JJJ replacing him in the Senate–including JJJ’s own statements that broke Obama’s "no drama Obama" campaign rule.
A contributing factor, though, may be that JJJ’s father was publicly taped threatening to cut Obama’s nuts off.
I raise this not to talk about the President-elect’s nuts, but to point to an underlying (and potentially explicit) tension in Blago’s efforts to sell Obama’s senate seat. JJJ’s fundraiser Raghuveer Nayak may have approached Blago about the seat on October 31. Then, just one day later, Rahm apparently called John Harris and told him that Obama did not want JJJ to replace him in the Senate.
Recall, too, the reference to Obama that JJJ made in his press conference on the Senate seat.
But watching the president-elect carry himself in such an extraordinary way across this country to build bridges that had never been built in this country, even I had become inspired.
And so somewhere along the way, over the last two and a half years, I got the idea that if a skinny kid with a funny name could be president of the United States, that a short kid with a somewhat controversial but certainly a high profile name could be a senator from Illinois.
JJJ delivered that "even I" with pointed emphasis, almost bitterness.
All of this may have added to the attraction–to Blago–of picking JJJ. After Obama’s team rejected his demands, after all, he then turned to a candidate that neither of them seems to have favored for the position (which, of course, certainly makes the alleged $1.5 million price tag on the seat more damning). Also, this may be one of the reasons Jesse Sr. may have gotten involved in negotiations over the seat; if his incendiary comments screwed up his son’s chances to get the seat, he may have wanted to make up for that.
One weedy detail: Note that the first contact between Rahm and Harris was to the latter’s cell phone, not a land line. That may mean that particular call was not picked up by the taps, unless Harris was sitting in one of Blago’s offices that were bugged, and that this detail comes from information offered to Fitz’s team. Which supports the possibility that some of these leaks are an attempt on Rahm’s part to pre-empt the public release of this information.
Why does EW have to be so interesting on my first day as a home improvement apprentice.
sheesh. as if to remind me that the short term goal easy satisfaction tasks can hold a [plumber’s] candle to the intellectual dark side (morally dark, bien sur.)
Harris has resigned. Blago is acting denialish. Who is going to sing first is pretty clear, especially since neither are smart enough to know the solution to the prisoner’s dilemma.
Off to screens, wood stains, and fixing cabinets screw holes with tooth picks and Gorilla glue. Good day to all especially resigned sad Patriots fans.
carpenter’s glue works a lot better
and for big screw holes, try wooden golf tees
good luck
an say hi to frankenoid for us
that’s can‘t hold a [plumber’s] candle
I kinda got the idea that Obama didn’t want to be too close to JJS in the first place, even before the president elect’s family jewels were put in hazzard
it’s a part of that “change” thingy that Obama is always talking about
cept putting Hillary at State, and bringing all the Clinton baggage along for the ride kinda screws up my theory
could be that Obama only wants to present certain types of target to the repuglitards
the gop sure ain’t gonna score any more brownie points for attacking Hillary
Agree.
Though I wonder whether he anticipated this kind of corruption?
Just to be clear, I’ve never cared much for JJS & don’t know or care much about JJJ but I can’t understand how JJS gets on these pundit shows except for the possibility that he’s going to put his foot in again to everyones mirth. Give JJS enough air time & he’ll deliver something that can be used against him. But if I’ve heard correctly, it was JJS being bought off in the ‘68 (?) primaries with re-structuring the Democratic primary process that in some part allowed BO to beat out HC. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.
jh3
Yeah, I’m sure that live mike on Fox was no accident.
Excellent question.
IMHO, Jesse Sr. and Al Sharpton get most of the air time they want, because both were such poor representatives of the plight of the descendants of the slaves. It’s related to why Joe Frazier and Dr. King got so much media exposure. Nobody wanted to give that exposure to Malcolm X or Muhammed Ali.
Earlier, white supremacists couldn’t persuade WEB Dubois to stop agitating against Jim Crow laws preventing ex-slaves from voting; in return for negro colleges such as Grambling …. . Dubois knew education wasn’t worth much without civil rights. He had to flee America to escape lynching or assasination, and the white supremacists got Booker T. Washington to accept their “deal.”
Are we any closer to knowing whether Obama’s team alerted the authorities? They did have an obligation to do so, given what was going on, correct? I think their emphasis on the fact no deals were made suggests they didn’t report this, which seems like a big deal to me.
Soooo….the only way that JJJ was going to get that senate seat was to play Blagoball. It’s still not clear to me that JJJ did anything wrong, but I do think he was ready and willing to play.
This makes it all the more interesting that Fitz moved when he did. Either he already has JJJ nailed on tape or something so big was going down that he was willing to let JJJ off the hook.
My three pre-caffine theories:
1) Fitz moved to prempt the the announcement that JJJ got the senate seat as a deal had been made.
2) Fitz moved because of the Tribune bankruptcy not including the Cubs, as a deal had been made.
3) Something that hasn’t come out yet.JJS lawyered up, why? Rahm clearly dropped a dime on Blago, but that conversation hasn’t been released. Hmmmm…
Boxturtle (Bmaz cheering for Rove?!? It’s a sign of the apocolypse)
Well, I’ve been running on the presumption that Fitz had to move when it became clear (however it did) that his team were watching a crime in progress (whatever that was). At some point, they become witnesses as well as investigators, yes? They must have the same responsibility as other citizens have when that happens.
Agreed. Especially when the crime to which you refer involved compromising the integrity of the Senate.
Skdadl is a Canuck. We are under no illusions up here about the integrity of our Senate. You should be under none regarding yours, either.
Unless “the integrity of the Senate” is a joke, and I missed it.
It kind of is isn’t it? Heh.
I cheered Rove back when I heard that he had barbecued Quayle …
It’s not at all clear to me that Rahm dropped the dime.
If not Rahm, then who? I agree there is no hard evidence that Rahm called Fitz.
Rahm was the key contact between Obama and the man who would appoint to Obama’s seat. If Blago wanted something for the seat, Rahm is whom would have been asked. Perhaps through assistants.
From the intercepts, it’s clear that someone on the Obama team declined to play Blagoball. That’s the person who likely dropped the dime, as that’s the only person with first hand information.
Rahm knew that Blago was being tapped. If there had been a questionable conversation, Rahm would go into CYA and Protect Obama mode even if his response was an immediate “Get ******” and a hangup.
Boxturtle (Amusing visions of Calvinball dance in my head…)
My take on JJS vis a vis BO is that he is both jealous/envious as hell, but at the same time proud of the fact that a black man finally made it.
My take on BO vis a vis JJS is that he doesn’t want to get too close. Plus any remark on a guy’s family jewels certainly isn’t going to make any friends for the remarker (SP) or his associates.
EW: Why do your titles ask questions that answer themselves?
Seriously, the weedy crap is too much. Go back to one of my earlier comments and remember, as to the phone calls, pretty much all we know about what Fitz has is what Fitz has told us. He has surely not disclosed whether he had Blago’s cell tapped – but I’d be surprised if Mr. Thorough had missed that one.
As to the speculating on why bring the case into the open now, I’d say it’s the same as a cop seeing two guys walk into the liquor store after tucking their guns into their waistband. It’s a crime happening before your eyes, and if you act now, you can prevent worse (actual sale of the seat) from happening.
LMAO.
Seriously scribe, you need to buy a copy of Anatomy of Deceit.
I wish I had a nickel for everytime I read that ew was too weedy. Yeah, sure it’s complex, the problem is she’s rarely wrong.
OT, if you don’t like ew’s titles, then you need to contribute more. I kick in ten bucks a month to fdl. How much are you contributing?
I have a few thoughts on that question.
There is no clear remedy to resolve the disposition of an appointed US Senator as part of an illegal quid pro quo arrangement. Fitz may have decided to move before he would have preferred in order to avoid the messy question of how the appointment, as part of an illegal act, would be resolved. In other words, arrest before it becomes a national problem.
At the presser Fitz’s said (and I’ll paraphrase) I lie awake at night worrying about whether [Tribune] editorial staff would lose their jobs. Admittedly, it doesn’t seem like ample justification for accelerating intervention when more evidence, damning evidence, could be collected by waiting but it is a point to consider because Fitz offered it.
Finally, didn’t some of the taped evidence indicate Blago was newly aware that surveillance had been stepped up? If so, why give him time to start covering his tracks?
I can’t count the number of times the cops have permitted a crime to proceed (or even participated) in order to get to a bigger fish higher up the chain.
JJJ would be a big fish. The head of the Tribune would be a big fish. Either Fitz already has those two, knew he wasn’t going to get those two, or something bigger than getting one or both of them came along.
Boxturtle (I think Fitx was playing Fizzbin with Blago)
TOT (tangentially on topic): At TPM Cafe John Dean has some good advice up, based on his own painful personal experience during Watergate, about How the Prez-Elect team ought to handle the Blogo-gate affair.
BoxTurtle, I agree Obama wouldn’t play ball. But why do you think anyone dropped the dime, as opposed to Fitz getting what he got through wiretaps and then questioning people. I don’t doubt people talked after Fitz approached them. But do we know the Obama team approached Fitz first? And if they didn’t, shouldn’t they have?
I, too, am under no such illusions. Nor do I believe Fitzgerald is. However I do think he sees himself as a Sisyphus who has the responsibility to at least keep the rock from rolling further downhill and, when the opportunity arises, perhaps nudge it a few inches toward the far away summit.
>If not Rahm, who?
What’s prompting this speculation that Rahm or anyone tipped off the US Attorney?
There is no evidence of any tip at all. The timeline is very clear. Wyma gives them sufficient evidence to convince a judge they need bugs. They put in the bug. All this comes tumbling out.
There was no tip to the USAtty. Rahm didn’t tell anyone. Rahm’s career has required him at the least to turn a blind eye to the extra-legal assistance that comes his way. (Sorich, Katalinic). He can’t afford to be a puritan on this stuff. It cuts off too many lines of support. Everyone understands that Rahm wants his seat back in 2 years. He can’t win if he turns on the people who got him the seat last time. His backers were the Mell, Banks and Daley interests. None of them will be friendly to someone who is too chatty with the US Attorney.
Who did Blago favor, I mean apart from the person who could give him $1.5 in cash or equivalent?
I don’t think this is a catch the little guy and squeeze him scenario. I think think is a ’stop the crime spree’ before it poisons the senate scenario.
It could easily be J2Sr who was the problem, but in fairness J3 did dig a bit of a hole with his own mouth. Unless the incoming Secretary of State has far more of a sense of humor than I do, the whole suggesting she was more emotionally invested in her mascara than in teh people who died in New Orleans thing was probably more than she’s willing to write off.
I don’t know if J3 was freelancing during the primaries, but he was maybe just a little too anxious to climb over an awful lot of genuine civil rights heroes (one of whom he owes his career to) to make me particularly comfortable about his moving into the upper house. What’s between him and his father is between them, but John Lewis deserved better.