The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Was Rahm Emanuel "Advisor B" from the Blaggojevich Wiretaps?
If you have just been elected President, with full time assistance from a news media that went to ridiculous lengths to downplay your connections with a sleazy, corrupt political machine, it might be easy to think they would continue to give you a "pass" if more of those connections were to suddenly materialize.
If the central message of your campaign was to change and "clean up" the corruption in Washington, stop influence peddling by special interests, etc., you might (for example) hope that the media would "overlook" evidence to the contrary.
If the man you just picked to be your White House Chief of Staff is caught red-handed in wiretapped conversations co-conspiring with the (now indicted) Governor of Illinois to sell your own US Senate seat to the highest bidder--perhaps one of the most blatantly corrupt abuses of power an elected official can undertake--well, let us just say that it is not exactly the greatest way to start a "clean up" of Washington corruption.
(As of now we do not know for sure that Rahm Emanuel was the infamous "Advisor B"... but given his evasive--if not openly hostile--behavior to the media over the last few days it is safe to say that he is prominently on the list; and then there is this little ditty that came over the wires today. And, given Patrick Fitzgerald's legendary tenacity and skills at turning witnesses for "bigger fish", this may not be the end of it...)
Meanwhile Barack Obama is already starting to go to Nixonian lengths to deny everything--and he hasn't even been inaugurated yet. Here is a great summary of what we know so far. Stay tuned...
UPDATE: Iowahawk: Senate seat for sale on eBay!
If the central message of your campaign was to change and "clean up" the corruption in Washington, stop influence peddling by special interests, etc., you might (for example) hope that the media would "overlook" evidence to the contrary.
If the man you just picked to be your White House Chief of Staff is caught red-handed in wiretapped conversations co-conspiring with the (now indicted) Governor of Illinois to sell your own US Senate seat to the highest bidder--perhaps one of the most blatantly corrupt abuses of power an elected official can undertake--well, let us just say that it is not exactly the greatest way to start a "clean up" of Washington corruption.
(As of now we do not know for sure that Rahm Emanuel was the infamous "Advisor B"... but given his evasive--if not openly hostile--behavior to the media over the last few days it is safe to say that he is prominently on the list; and then there is this little ditty that came over the wires today. And, given Patrick Fitzgerald's legendary tenacity and skills at turning witnesses for "bigger fish", this may not be the end of it...)
Meanwhile Barack Obama is already starting to go to Nixonian lengths to deny everything--and he hasn't even been inaugurated yet. Here is a great summary of what we know so far. Stay tuned...
UPDATE: Iowahawk: Senate seat for sale on eBay!
