Happy 2009.
I've been thinking about the Blago case and I just can't come up with an answer to this question….
Why did prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald arrest Illinois Governor Blagojevich when he did?
If it is true that Fitzgerald, working on the Blago case for FIVE years, wasn't prepared, really, to arrest the governor and bring charges until the spring of 2009…..why did he pull the trigger, pre-emptively, arresting Governor F-Word months earlier than he had planned?
According to my reading on the subject, Fitz had heard, either through eavesdropping or from other sources, that Blago was actively selling the open senate seat vacated by president-elect Obama. Fitzgerald, as the story goes, didn't want Blago to consummate an alleged pay-to-play deal for that senate seat.
Why not? What was Fitzgerald thinking here? Fitz is supposed to be a very smart guy. Didn't he know that simply arresting Blago would not stop him from appointing the vacant senate seat, anyway? Did Fitz not know that impeachment by the Illinois legislature was the only way to remove the threat of this Blago appointment….and that that process would likely take months? Surely, the 'bulldog', Fitzgerald, knew these things.
Hypothetically then….let's say Blago had been allowed to follow through with his pay-to-play senate seat appointment. Wouldn't it be true, with the wiretaps and all, that Fitzgerald would have gained even more corruption evidence on Blago….AND the senate seat appointee, as well? What would have been wrong with that?
If it was prosecutor Fitzgerald's intention, in arresting Blago when he did, to prevent any "taint" from developing on the senate seat appointment……how has that intention worked out? Wasn't that Governor Blagojevich appointing Obama's replacement the other day? And, despite bloviating Democratic leaders, isn't it true that consensus opinion has now formed around the fact that Blago has every legal right to fill Obama's empty seat?
Additionally, absent some yet to emerge pay-to-play scam between Blago and Burris, isn't it true that Roland Burris hasn't done anything wrong? So, why would Burris' appointment be regarded as tainted? If a person has a criminal complaint brought against him, as Blago has, does that mean that EVERYTHING he does after that point in time is, by definition, illegal or tainted?
So, what was Patrick Fitzgerald thinking when he pre-emptively arrested Governor Blagojevich? What was Fitzgerald doing when he publicly read selective Blago wiretap dialogue potentially biasing Illinois jurors? Quite candidly……I don't get it.
It couldn't possibly be that Fitzgerald was doing anything political, right? Isn't Fitzgerald regarded, like the Divine General Petraeus, to be totally above reproach?
At the risk of sounding like, you know, a conspiracist…..do you think that Patrick Fitzgerald knew, before arresting Blago, that in so doing, he would be creating a Knee Pad Media swarm hell-bent on implicating President-Elect Obama, despite his own statement that Obama was not implicated? And isn't that what has happened? It's not like the Knee Padders haven't already had a lot of practice with their 'Obama is guilty by association' attempts.
I'm having difficulty in not comparing this alleged scandal with the Clintons' Whitewater alleged scandal. Although the Clintons lost money on a real estate deal, and were never found guilty of ANYTHING Whitewater related…..the perception of wrongdoing by the Clintons, because of Knee Pad Swarmers armed with only their Knee Pads, dogged Bill Clinton's entire presidency. While acknowledging that the Blago case is different, is it possible that…
Fitzgerald was siccing the dogs on Obama?
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
No Rev, what Fitzgerald was doing was making it impossible for Barack Obama to fire him. If Obama does then it looks political, especially since Fitzgerald convicted Barack's good buddy and fundraiser Tony Reczko. What Fitzgerald wants is to put the machine running Chicago, Cook County and Illinois out of business. Fitzgerald doesn't play politics. He convicted Scooter Libby in the Plame case and also has indicted Bill Cellini, a member of the RNC. Perhaps now the media is waking up to the fact that Obama has some unsavory characters in his past. Or perhaps you could explain to me how Michelle Obama got a nice promotion at the UC hospitals after Barack was able to steer grant money to them. Or the strange coincidence that had Baracka nd Michelle buying a house at $100,000 under the asking price the same day Tony Reczko's wife paid asking price for the vacant lot next door from the same owner. Or that Mrs. Reczko then sold a portion of that lot to the Obamas making the lot unbuildable.
The article leaking the wiretaps in the Trib.meant even the Gov. would probably back off from his lets make a deal scam.
What does this scandal prove
1. all Dems. are corrupt
2. Emanuel and Obama are engaged in a coverup
3. Any Dem that opposes the appointment is a racist
Absurd? maybe but never let a fact get in the way of attacking the other side(P.S. technically I am not on the side of Rep. party-only the lesser of two evil thing)
Easy Rev. Fitzgerald has already said Obama is not under investigation.
As for why Fitzgerald didn't wait longer to arrest Blagosumbitch, I think Bubba and angryc covered it nicely.
If Bubba is correct in saying that Fitzgerald, by pre-emptively arresting Blago, was making it impossible, politically, for Obama to fire him (Fitz)….then my suggestion that Fitzgerald was out to get Obama is correct. If a prosecutor arrests someone so that he, the prosecutor, won't get fired, then he is only a political hack.
Bubba's answer is not only a stretch but implies that Fitz is an active political animal, which is what I was suggesting.
angry suggests that the Tribune paper's leaking of Fitz's wiretaps was the reason the prosecutor pre-emptively arrested Blago. That answer presumes Blago didn't know he was already under investigation. I find that a stretch. This investigation has been going on for five years. Blago may be crude…but he ain't stupid, and he's connected.
Consider this….what if Blago KNEW he was being wiretapped….and he siad the stuff he said KNOWING he was being tapped? What if Blago was effing with Fitzgerald?
And to the King…..couldn't it be true that Fitz isn't investigating Obama because Obama is clean, but at the same time Fitz is roiling up a media storm, pre-emptively, that will hurt Obama, politically?
For the record….Obama paid market price for his Chicago house. Tony Rezko purchased the small lot adjacent to the Obama house and sold a narrow strip back to Obama because Obama wanted a wider yard. Again, no inside deal, only market pricing. Nothing illegal was done.
I think this is a conspiracy you can really sink your teeth into, Reverend. Get creative!
Anyone who accepts the main media's account of anything, at this point, is being foolish.
But we'll come back to this Blago stuff later.
And what about the power outage in Hawaii during Barack-O's vacation? Anyone gonna try to tell me that was an act of God? Give me a break! And why did it take so long for Barack-O's Secret Service (SS) contingent to get those generators out to Obama's place? What happened while the lights were out? You can bet your ass someone was planting bugs. It's common knowledge that the SS is controlled by the Republicans. I hope someone looks into this disturbing development.
One more point about this…
Fitzgerald wimped out in the case of outing Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. He knew that Cheney orchestrated the crime and the cover-up and the best he could come up with was his, "there's a cloud over the VP's office", statement. He allowed TurdBlossom to testify FIVE times before the grand jury…you know…because he "forgot" stuff.
Finally, no one has explained to me why it was proper for Fitzgerald and his FBI agent sidekick to read profanity-laced wiretap dialogue when announcing the Blago arrest. The "Lincoln would roll over" comment was equally out of line…as was "Illinois is the most corrupt state" bullcrap. All those comments prove that Fitzgerald is far from a non-biased professional.
And newslamp…..are we sure the electricity really went out in Hawaii? Hmmm?
A political hack would not indict and convict a Republican Govenor (George Ryan) or indict a state committee member (Bill Cellini). But please, don't let the facts get in the way of a good diatribe.
Rev–
Good point.
You disappoint me, newslamp.