Do We Really Need A Blagogate?

The right wing crowd holds out hope for President-Elect Obama to get the hook on inauguration day. The same whack-jobs that brought you fake birth certificates from the grassy knoll are now calling for full investigation into any communications between anyone associated with the President-Elect and Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois. Do they have any idea how much time it would require of the Obama Transition Team to truthfully answer that question? Of course there were communications. It was Obama’s seat for Pete’s sake. Republicans need to listen to their former nominee, Senator John McCain, when he tells them the Obama people need to be doing something else. People inciting this move toward a Blagogate must also understand they may not get answers to these questions until the trial of U. S. versus Rod R. Blagojevich. In the end, pursuing Blagogate might help set free one of the biggest crooks to ever enter politics and prove to leave the United States vulnerable to a rapidly deteriorating security and economic situation.

Politics seems to be the only thing on the mind of right wing radio and some of the mainstream press. It’s a sort of country last mentality that puts political brinksmanship above all else. Laura Ingraham and even PBS’s Gwen Ifill seem to want a scandal to develop. Ifill asks “what does we mean, what is involvement” of David Axelrod, one of the President-Elect’s closest advisors. Apparently, his statement, “we were not involved,” was not good enough. Laura Ingraham, a right-wing talk radio host, posts on her website:

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’m not going to say a word to you. I’m going to do this with my children. Don’t do that. I’m a father. I have two kids. I’m not going to do it.”  

-Rahm Emanuel, ducking reporters’ Seat-gate questions outside his children’s music performance.

Is she mad because he wants to spend some time with his kids? Last I checked, that would qualify as an example of family values.  I’m sure he has worked 24/7 since Obama named him chief of staff. Her website says she is a lawyer. Doesn’t she understand how the Obama Transition Team could torpedo the case against Blagojevich by publicly telling what they knew? Maybe smearing and hobbling the Obama administration trumps seeing Blagojevich go free.

One man who absolutely does not want Blagojevich going free is the U. S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is the Republican Bush Appointee who made the decision to indict Blagojevich before he could fraudulently appoint someone to Obama’s senate seat. By all accounts, his case is dicey. By moving so soon for indictments, he may not have the smoking gun evidence he needs to put a real political crook in jail. Instead of keeping quiet, his potential witnesses are being asked to lay out his case for Blagojevich’s defense lawyers. Congressman Jessie Jackson, Jr., David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel and others could all be needed to give testimony in court. Fitzgerald obviously does not believe his witnesses are involved. His public statement tells us they are completely innocent. Can’t the purveyors of Blagogate take Patrick Fitzgerald’s word for it?

One person who seems to have taken Fitzgerald’s at his word is Senator John McCain. McCain appeared on This Week with George Stephanopoulos today for his first interview since the Presidential election. Politics seem to be the last thing on John McCain’s mind. His “country first” mentality leads him down a different path than the right-wingers in his party. Instead of hobbling the new administration, he seems to believe the world is a very dangerous place and Obama’s team need more focus than ever.

Again, I’m not playing Paul Revere, OK? But I am saying that there are enormous challenges throughout the world. We have the situation in Afghanistan. The situation in Iraq is still dangerous. There are efforts by Al Qaida to continue to cause difficulties and launch attacks in different areas of the world. So — the Israeli situation is certainly unsettled, as they go through a new election period of uncertainty. So there is — there’s incredible national security challenges, which mandates — doesn’t argue for but mandates that we all work together as much as possible.

To John McCain, working together doesn’t seem to include blagogate. McCain may feel Blagogate is not only wrong but, dangerous too.