Obama's Health Care Lies

"I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or Senate. What I can tell you is that the vote that's taken in the House will be a vote for health care reform. And if people vote yes, whatever form that takes, that is going to be a vote for health care reform. And I don't think we should pretend otherwise. And if they don't, if they vote against it, then they're going to be voting against health care reform and they're going to be voting in favor of the status quo."

~ Barack, The Liar

The pretense comes from Obama and his minions in Congress. The truth is altogether different from what the president claims. The procedural rules that would circumvent the Constitution have Obama's stamp of approval on them. Moreover, if Obama and Pelosi have their way, the House won't vote on the bill at all. If the "Slaughter Solution" is approved, the senate version of the Democrat's healthscare bill would go to Obama for signature without a single vote taken in the House.

Notice how Obama tries to dodge the question as to whether crooked deals like the "Louisiana Purchase," the "Cornhusker Kickback" and the "Gator Aid" are part of the final bill.

Kudos to FNC's Bret Baier for not allowing Obama to filibuster answers.

Obamacare's "Final Solution": Slaughter the Constitution

Louise Slaughters the Constitution

House aid confirms Slaughter Solution never used before; Still, 'they are moving down that road'

By: Mark Tapsc

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have never before been asked to pass legislation by "deeming" it approved under a House rule instead of following the process required by the U.S. Constitution in which they actually vote on the proposal itself, according to a senior aide to House Republicans.

The procedure - dubbed by critics as the "Slaughter Solution" - is the brain-child of House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-NY, who, at the request of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, is trying to fashion a rule that would allow the House to move toward passage of a health care reform bill without a recorded vote on the Senate version.[More]

Meanwhile, the Constitution, that ever-evolving document in the socialist's feeble mind, states the following:

U.S Constitution, Article I, Section VII, Clause II. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively...

What the "Slaughter Solution" essentially means is an end run on the Constitution of the United States of America for the sake of Big Brotha's shameful legacy. The Chicago Way has infected Washington under the auspices of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Bush, McCain Warned Dems of Financial and Housing Crisis ... in 2005!

Watch liberal U.S. Rep Bwayney Fwank (D-MA) say that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were fundamentally sound financially and there was no need to regulate them. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued a statement in 2005 affirming that over the years Fannie and Freddie "have done a good job and are an intrinsic part of making America the best-housed people in the world."

These two fools ignored the warning signs and admonitions of the Bush administration in order to keep their Fannie/Freddie campaign piggy bank afloat and now America reaps the whirlwind.

Move over Bernie Madoff and make room for a couple more cell mates.

Obama Payola? Say It Ain't So!

Rush is Right!

The president is presiding over economic failure. The president is watching it, doing nothing about it. He's watching unemployment grow; he's watching the stock market plummet; he is watching people sign up for unemployment. The president of the United States is doing nothing to stop the downward spiral of this economy. He has no economic recovery plan.

The truth is, the president of the United States and Rahm Emanuel, who, remember, said, "Crisis is too great a thing to waste." What does that mean? They want you suffering, they want you miserable, they want it worse, they want you rejecting conservatism. They want you rejecting capitalism. They want you turning to them in fear and desperation and angst for an immediate fix to the problem. They want you thinking you have no ability to fix your own problems. They think you have and they want you to have no ability to take care of yourself.

So as the stock market now approaches minus 2,800 since Obama was elected, the statement today is to speed up the economic recovery, we're going to focus on health care. Ask yourself how that is going to get you your next job.

~~ Rush Limbaugh

Obama's Culture of Corruption

Democrats hit ethics pothole early in Obama administration
By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press
Feb. 19, 2009, 1:01PM

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration and the new Congress are rapidly giving Republicans the same “culture of corruption” issue that Democrats used so effectively against the GOP before coming to power.

Democrats’ ethical issues are popping up at a dizzying pace, after less than two months of party control of both the White House and Congress. Freshman Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill. is only the latest embarrassment.

The only consolation is timing: It’s nearly two years until the next congressional election, giving Democrats a chance to stop the bleeding in time.

Republicans know all about bad timing on ethics issues. Their scandals developed over a longer period. But they were hurt most by a scandal that broke shortly before
the 2006 election. It was revealed that then-Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., wrote suggestive notes to former teenage male pages, and several Republican lawmakers and officials failed to act when they learned of the situation.

The Democrats stepped up their campaign theme of a “culture of corruption,” and it resonated all the way to the voting precincts. Democrats then regained control of the
House.

Senate Democrats were blindsided by Burris, because they believed what he told them, that he was clean. Burris now acknowledges that he tried to raise money for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who authorities say sought to sell President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat.

“The story seems to be changing day by day,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday.

The political mess for the Democratic Party, however, isn’t Burris’ conduct alone; it’s the pattern that has developed so quickly over the past few months.

Rangel

— The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is the subject of a House ethics investigation. It’s partly focused on his fundraising practices for a college center in his name, his ownership financing of a resort property in the Dominican Republic and his financial disclosure reports.

Murtha

— Federal agents raided two Pennsylvania defense contractors that were given millions of dollars in federal funding by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Blago

— Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal charges, including allegations that he schemed to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder.

Daschle

— Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader from South Dakota, abandoned his bid to become health and human services secretary and the administration’s point man on reforming health care; and Nancy Killefer stepped down from a newly created position charged with eliminating inefficient government programs. Both Daschle and Killefer had tax problems, and Daschle also faced potential conflicts of interest related to working with health care interests.

Geithner

— Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was confirmed to his post after revealing he had tax troubles.

Richardson

— Obama’s initial choice for commerce secretary, Bill Richardson, stepped aside due to a grand jury investigation into a state contract awarded to his political donors.

Lynn

— While the Senate voted overwhelmingly to confirm William Lynn as deputy defense secretary, Obama had to waive his ethics regulations to place the former defense lobbyist in charge of day-to-day operations at the Pentagon.
[More]


How can anyone expect transparency, accountability and clean government from a politician who rose to power from the primordial cesspool of Illinois politics?

Show Bill the Money!

Bill Clinton made millions from foreign sources

January 27/12:10 PM US/Eastern
by Mathew Lee
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Financial documents filed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton show that her husband earned nearly $6 million in speaking fees last year, nearly all of it from foreign companies.

The documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press indicate that $5 million of the former president's reported $5.7 million in 2008 honoraria came from foreign sources. They included Kuwait's National Bank, a Hong Kong-based company, and other firms and groups in Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico and Portugal.

Nuff said!

Richardson Withdraws: More Corruption Investigations of an Obama Associate

Richardson withdraws bid to be commerce secretary
Jan 4 04:15 PM US/Eastern
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Sunday announced that he was withdrawing his nomination to be President-elect Barack Obama's commerce secretary amid a grand jury investigation into how some of his political donors won a lucrative state contract.

Richardson's withdrawal was the first disruption of Obama's Cabinet process and the second "pay-to-play" investigation that has touched Obama's transition to the presidency. The president-elect has remained above the fray in both the case of arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the New Mexico case.

A federal grand jury is investigating how a California company that contributed to Richardson's political activities won a New Mexico transportation contract worth more than $1 million. Richardson said in a statement issued by the Obama transition office that the investigation could take weeks or months but expressed confidence it will show he and his administration acted properly.

"I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process," Richardson said. "Given the gravity of the economic situation the nation is facing, I could not in good conscience ask the president-elect and his administration to delay for one day the important work that needs to be done."

................

CDR and its CEO, David Rubin have contributed at least $110,000 to three political committees formed by Richardson, according to an AP review of campaign finance records.

The largest donation, $75,000, was made by CDR in June 2004—a couple of months after the transportation financing arrangement won state approval—to a political committee that Richardson established before the Democratic National Convention that year.

In the Illinois case, Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell the Senate seat that Obama gave up to become president. Obama and two of his top aides have been interviewed by the U.S. attorney's office pursuing the case but have denied any knowledge of such a scheme and have not been accused by prosecutors of any wrongdoing.

Uh-oh. More corruption charges. More investigations. More "pay-to-play" a la Blagojevich. More "Obama drama" as per Drudge.

Blago's Revenge

“As governor I am required to make this appointment.”

-- Embattled Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich announcing his appointment of Roland W. Burris, a former state attorney general, to Barack Obama's empty senate seat.


December 31, 2008

Defiant Illinois Governor Names Pick for Obama Seat
By Monica Davey

CHICAGO — Defying Senate leaders in Washington and a galaxy of political leaders here, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois announced Tuesday that he would fill the Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama, which he has been accused of trying to sell.

Mr. Blagojevich said he would appoint Roland W. Burris, a former state attorney general who was the first African-American elected to statewide office in Illinois. The decision set off efforts to block the move by state legislators, the secretary of state, and, most significantly, Democratic leaders in the United States who said they would not seat anyone Mr. Blagojevich chose.

Still, even as the selection was clearly destined for battles on many fronts, Mr. Blagojevich sounded breezily confident as he introduced his appointee to reporters as the “next United States senator from Illinois.” Having been charged this month with conspiracy to commit fraud and bribery, he said the accusations against him should not taint Mr. Burris, whom he called “a good and honest man.”

Standing beside him, Mr. Burris, who, at 71, is seen by many here as an elder statesman in Democratic politics, seemed to brush aside gaping questions about how federal criminal charges against Mr. Blagojevich might tarnish his potential Senate tenure — and whether he would really ever make it to the Senate chamber in the first place.

“I’m honored that I have been appointed,” Mr. Burris said, “and we will deal with the next step in the process.”

Of the criminal case against Mr. Blagojevich, Mr. Burris said, “I have no relationship with that situation.”

Mr. Obama, on vacation in Hawaii and who, aides said, was surprised by the news of the appointment, issued a statement condemning the move.

“Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat,” Mr. Obama said. “I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it.”

The Senate Democratic caucus, which controls the chamber, issued a statement saying that no one appointed by the governor could be an effective representative, and that Mr. Burris would not be seated. It is not clear, however, whether the caucus can bar a qualified appointee, and the issue may be headed to court.

The choice of Mr. Burris immediately injected the issue of race into the appointment process, which may very well have been part of the governor’s calculation. Representative Bobby L. Rush, Democrat of Illinois, who was called to the lectern at the news conference by Mr. Burris, noted that there were no blacks in the Senate and said that he did not believe any senator “wants to go on record to deny one African-American from being seated in the U.S. Senate.”

Senate Democrats are in a panic regarding Blagojevichgate. Try as they might, they can't shake the Blagojevich-sized albatross that is tightly wound around the collective liberal neck.

Who in their right mind would accept an appointment of any kind from such a tainted political figure? Is Burris the winner of the Blagojevich senate seat raffle?

Mr. Burris, a soft-spoken, never flowery speechmaker, seemed an unlikely person to be in this moment. Having been elected as state comptroller nearly three decades ago and later as attorney general, he left public office after a series of bids for governor (including a primary race against Mr. Blagojevich in 2002, in which Mr. Obama had endorsed Mr. Burris). His political career seemed to be over, and he went to work as a consultant at a firm that was formed in 2002, Burris & Lebed Consulting, and also as a lawyer.

Though Mr. Burris and Mr. Blagojevich are politicians of vastly different styles, they have had a political relationship in recent years. After the 2002 primary for governor, Mr. Burris encouraged Mr. Obama to endorse Mr. Blagojevich, and Mr. Burris served at one point as the vice chairman of the governor’s transition team.

Mr. Burris and his consulting firm (which has held, he said, at least one state contract) have made contributions to Mr. Blagojevich’s campaign fund, too: more than $9,000 in cash and in-kind contributions from his consulting firm and at least $4,500 from Mr. Burris personally, state records show. In June of this year, the records show, Mr. Burris gave the campaign $1,000.

Notice the president-elect's name all over this story. No reaction from Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, yet.

Tick-Tock ... Tick-Tock ... Tick-Tock ...

Rod Blagojevich scandal a ticking bomb for Rahm Emanuel

Posted By: Toby Harnden at Dec 23, 2008 at 23:29:39

So the Obama team's internal report into its contacts with Governor Rod Blagojevich is out - held, conveniently enough, until late afternoon on the day before Christmas eve when Obama is in Hawaii and the normally very available Rahm Emanuel is en route to Africa.

The US attorney's interviews with Obama, Valerie Jarrett and Emanuel were completed on Saturday so the report could have been released then. Instead, Team Obama waited another three days, during time which they made a strategic Sunday leak to ABC News to draw the sting. Cute (perhaps a little too cute) media management.

Surprise surprise, the report - read it here - completely exonerates everyone in the Obama camp. And it's true that there is no suggestion in the report - and no one has plausibly claimed - that anyone close to or working for Obama was involved in the attempted sale of his former Senate seat.

But the report is extremely vague about the "one or two" conversations that Emanuel had with Blagojevich and the "about four" conversations he had with John Harris, the governor's chief of staff, who was also arrested at dawn on December 9^th and has since resigned.

The problem with this is that it's a drip, drip that doesn't make the issue go away. The conversations were presumably all recorded by the FBI so the details will come out.

Emanuel was initially pushing Obama's buddy Valerie Jarrett for the seat with Blagojevich himself before he learned that "the President-elect had ruled out communicating a preference for any one candidate".

It's not clear whether Emanuel was speaking for Obama, though presumably he was. Which leaves a feeling of cronyism - Jarrett has a very limited track record for a US Senator.

Emanuel then gave Harris four more whom Mr Obama "considered to be highly qualified" - Dan Hynes, Tammy Duckworth, Representative Jan Schakowsky and Representative Jesse Jackson Jnr. So Obama was not exctly taking a hands off approach to the Senate seat, as he said he would.

He was involved like any other politician. Which is fine, except that Obama presents himself as being unlike any other politician. [More]

Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, continues to hide from the media, even though he has been "exonerated" by the "Office of the President-Elect's" investigation of itself. Baracko Bama is already drenched in scandal and he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet. It's Clinton all over again.

ACORN, Soros Linked to Franken Vote Grab
Monday, December 22, 2008 9:22 PM
By: David A. Patten

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who orchestrated the recount that gave Democratic challenger Al Franken a lead some six weeks after incumbent GOP Sen. Norm Coleman appeared to win by 725 votes on Election Day, has extensive ties to both the ACORN organization now under federal investigation for vote fraud, and to MoveOn.org ultra-liberal kingmaker George Soros.

In 2006, ACORN endorsed Ritchie in his bid to become secretary of state, and Ritchie also received a campaign contribution that year from Soros.

Indeed, Ritchie has credited his own political career in large part to an obscure, Soros-funded group called the Secretary of State Project (SoS), whose express purpose is to seed state election bureaucracies nationwide with partisan activists -- Ritchie among them -- who are strategically positioned to influence the outcome of close recounts like the one now underway in Minnesota.

The SoS Web site lauds Ritchie as “arguably the most progressive secretary of state in America,” and states: “Thanks to SoS Project donors, Minnesota’s Mark Ritchie – a true champion for Democracy – was able to defeat a two-term incumbent Republican by less than 5 points. We helped close the gap and make the difference with cable television ads targeting women and seniors.”

Nor does Ritchie downplay the role of the Soros-funded nonprofit in his own election win.

“I want to thank the Secretary of State Project and its thousands of grassroots donors for helping push my campaign over the top,” he states on the partisan political site.

Soros is becoming the real power broker behind liberal Democrats. For all their whining about Karl Rove, "The Architect" never bought or fixed an election.

Fightin' Blago

“I will fight, I will fight, I will fight, till I take my very last breath. I have done nothing wrong.”

-- Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich during his "I am not a crook" press conference in downtown Chicago today.

Coincidentally, this is the 10th anniversary of the Monica Lewinsky scandal when Bill "I am not a crook" Clinton famously said,

Good Times

Liberal Democratic Corruption: Follow the Blagojevich Stench Wherever It May Lead, Even If It Reaches the "Office of the President-Elect"

“Scarborough Rips MSM: In Wasilla Instead of Investigating Obama-Blago Connection” - video available here.

Excerpts:

JOE SCARBOROUGH: How rich is it that we sit around and say “we don’t know, we have to wait until Obama tells us. We don’t know what these connections, we don’t know whether he really ran the 2002 [Blago] campaign or not”? Again, I will guarantee you, if Sarah Palin had run the most corrupt—if Sarah Palin had run Ted Stevens’s campaign in 2002, and somebody had bragged about it in the New Yorker, the press would have savaged her. But we sit here now, it’s almost Christmas, and we don’t know the truth about it. We don’t know the truth about any of this, because we haven’t done the investigative work . . . I’m convicting the press because they didn’t investigate this past summer, when they were sending all those people to Wasilla, a town of 9,000, they should have been going to Chicagoland.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I think that’s really fair.

SCARBOROUGH: The press never covered --

JOHN HARWOOD: To cover Blagojevich?

SCARBOROUGH: To look at the background of a candidate who had only been in national politics for one year before he decided to run for president of the United States, and was born from the most corrupt political city in America. Do you not think, do we not think, that warranted an investigation? Not to suggest he did anything wrong, but to see what his background was?

HARWOOD: Of course. There was coverage of his background—Ryan Lizza’s piece.

SCARBOROUGH: OK, then tell me this—yeah, Lizza’s the only one that wrote about it and he got kicked off the campaign plane. So here’s my question for you: if we know so much about this, answer this question. Did Barack Obama, was Barack Obama intimately involved in Blagojevich’s 2002 campaign?

Why are some in the MMM (Moribund Mainstream Media) so interested in the Obamafraud's past associations now that the Blagojevich scandal is in full throttle? Why are they all of a sudden surprised that they themselves failed to scrutinize their own liberal god when they had the chance? Will they do the right thing and ask the hard questions and follow the corruption wherever it may lead? Given their past record, I highly doubt it. As far as I am concerned, the MMM is an accessory to the Democratic Party corruption.

Openness and Transparency from the Office of the President-Elect: "Let Me Cut You Off" and "Don't Waste Your Question"

John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune gets schooled on what happens when a reporter veers off script and actually asks the Obamabuddha tough questions. The president-elect is obviously testy and irritated with the question and he was not about to let McCormick finish asking it, much less answer it truthfully. Predictable.

Blagojevichgate, the Obamathug's pre-inauguration scandal, will not rest.

Government Bailout: Cash Cow for Congressional Liberal Democrats

“[New York Senator Chuck Schumer] is serving the parochial interest of a very small group of financial people, bankers, investment bankers, fund managers, private equity firms, rather than serving the general public. It has hurt the American investor first and the average American taxpayer.”

-- John C. Bogle, the founder and former chairman of the Vanguard Group.

“If you get Chuck Schumer on your side, you are O.K."

-- Lee A. Pickard, a corporate lawyer whose business clients have lined Shumer's and other Senate Democrats' campaign pockets in order to beat back regulatory initiatives


December 14, 2008

A Chamption of Wall St. Reaps the Benefits
By Eric Lipton and Raymond Hernandez

“We are not going to rest until we change the rules, change the laws and make sure New York remains No. 1 for decades on into the future.”

— Senator Charles E. Schumer, referring to financial regulations, Jan. 22, 2007

WASHINGTON — As the financial crisis jolted the nation in September, Senator Charles E. Schumer was consumed. He traded telephone calls with bankers, then became one of the first officials to promote a Wall Street bailout. He spent hours in closed-door briefings and a weekend helping Congressional leaders nail down details of the $700 billion rescue package.

The next day, Mr. Schumer appeared at a breakfast fund-raiser in Midtown Manhattan for Senate Democrats. Addressing Henry R. Kravis, the buyout billionaire, and about 20 other finance industry executives, he warned that a bailout would be a hard sell on Capitol Hill. Then he offered some reassurance: The businessmen could count on the Democrats to help steer the nation through the financial turmoil.

“We are not going to be a bunch of crazy, anti-business liberals,” one executive said, summarizing Mr. Schumer’s remarks. “We are going to be effective, moderate advocates for sound economic policies, good responsible stewards you can trust.”

The message clearly resonated. The next week, executives at firms represented at the breakfast sent in more than $135,000 in campaign donations.

Senator Schumer plays an unrivaled role in Washington as beneficiary, advocate and overseer of an industry that is his hometown’s most important business.

An exceptional fund raiser — a “jackhammer,” someone who knows him says, for whom “ ‘no’ is the first step to ‘yes,’ ” — Mr. Schumer led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the last four years, raising a record $240 million while increasing donations from Wall Street by 50 percent. That money helped the Democrats gain power in Congress, elevated Mr. Schumer’s standing in his party and increased the industry’s clout in the capital.

And, if you are not disgusted yet, here's more ...

Mr. Schumer became a magnet for campaign donations from wealthy industry executives, including Jamie Dimon, now the chief executive of JP Morgan Chase; John J. Mack, the chief executive at Morgan Stanley; and Charles O. Prince III, the former chief executive of Citigroup. And he was not at all reluctant to ask them for more.

Donors describe the Schumer pitch as unusually aggressive: He calls repeatedly to suggest breakfast or dinner, coffee or cocktails. He enlists intermediaries to invite prospects to events and recruits several senators to tag along. And he presses for the maximum contribution — “I need you to max out,” he is known to say — then follows up by asking that a donor’s spouse and four or five friends write checks, too.

“He was probably the kid that sold the most candy in grade school,” said Julie Domenick, a Democratic lobbyist who has given to the senatorial campaign committee. “He is not shy.”

Mr. Schumer, in the interview, acknowledged his full-speed-ahead approach. “Any job I do, I work hard at and I try to succeed at,” he said.

As a result, he has collected over his career more in campaign contributions from the securities and investment industry than any of his peers in Congress, with the exception of Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzed federal data. (By 2005, Mr. Schumer had so much cash in reserve that he shut down his fund-raising efforts.)

Liberals have found a way to market themselves as pro-business while reaping millions of dollars in campaign contributions from business interests. Shame on businesspeople who grease the palms of disgusting politicians like Chuckie Schumer in order to secure taxpayer money to prop up their failing enterprises. Read the entire piece to find out how Schumer has worked to actually deregulate the financial industry.

This bailout scheme turned out to be nothing less than a shakedown operation on the American taxpayer courtesy of the Democratic Party. Schumer, Barack "The Fraud" Obama, Chris "Sweetheart Bank of America/Countrywide Mortgage Deal" Dodd and Barney "I Had No Idea My Lover Was Running a Male Prostitution Ring Out of Basement of My Town Home" Frank of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mack infamy, along with every other Congressional Democrat who has opposed regulation of businesses that contribute to their campaigns, are principally responsible for the economic mess in which we are - not "the invisible hand of the marketplace" as intellectually dishonest liberals claim.

Corruption: Obamastlye

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (above) and his chief of staff were arrested yesterday as a result of a federal corruption probe where Blagojevich is believed to have sought financial advantages in exchange for Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate Seat.

"I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening."

-- President-elect Barack Obama during yesterday's press conference when asked about what contacts he had had with Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich regarding his U.S Senate replacement

"I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."

-- Obama's senior campaign advisor David Axelrod on November 28, 2008, during an interview on Fox News Chicago. Axelrod now claims he "misspoke" during the interview and there were no contacts between Obama and Blagojevich regarding the issue of Obama's Senate replacement.

"If it isn't the most corrupt state in the United States, it's certainly one hell of a competitor."

-- FBI's Chicago office special agent Robert Grant on the Blagojevich probe

Blagojevich arrested; Fitzgerald calls it a 'political corruption crime spree'

By Jeff Coen, Rick Pearson and David Kidwell
Tribune staff reporters

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested Tuesday for what U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald called a "political corruption crime spree" that included attempts to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Blagojevich and Harris were named in a federal criminal complaint that alleged a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy aimed at providing financial benefits to the governor, his political fund and to his wife, First Lady Patricia Blagojevich.

Blagojevich was taken into federal custody by FBI agents at his North Side home Tuesday morning—one day shy of his 52nd birthday.

The arrests dealt a tumultuous blow to Illinois government, at once raising questions about the leadership of the state and the fate of the open Senate seat—which the governor alone has the power to fill under the state law.

The allegations against Blagojevich provide a sharp contrast to a Democratic governor who campaigned for office promising reforms in the wake of disgraced, scandal-tainted Republican chief executive George Ryan. The complaint against Blagojevich comes little more than two years after Ryan was sentenced to 61/2 years in prison on federal corruption charges.

Obama hasn't even been inaugurated yet and the scandals are already a part of his future administration. The president-elect was quick to distance himself from Blagojevich by claiming he had not contacts with the Illinois governor about his former U.S. Senate seat and chanting the usual mantra of not commenting on an ongoing investigation. Right.

Earlier this year, Obama's chief campaign strategist David "Dr. Frankenstein" Axelrod said that his boss and Illinois Governor Blagojevich had been talking about the senate seat replacement.

Yesterday Axelrod changed his story and claims that he "mispoke" regarding "direct" contacts between Obama and Blagojevich about the Illinois Senate vacancy. Uh-huh. Sure.

This thing with Blagojevich stinks and there is a waft of it around the "Office of the President-elect." Moribund mainstream media types are bending over backwards to exonerate Obama instead of "letting the facts come out." It's Clinton all over again, only Black this time.

We are sure to hear the predictable criticism of the "guilt by association" charges. But when someone consistently associates with the guilty (radical/racist preachers, indicted slumlords, unrepentant domestic terrorists, and corrupt governors), you've got to wonder about his claims of innocence.