After the jump read all 5 pages of the Craig Report.
DECEMBER 23–President-elect Barack Obama and two of his top advisers were interviewed last week by federal prosecutors probing Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s alleged bid to sell Obama’s vacated Senate seat, according to a report issued today by an Obama lawyer. The lawyer, Gregory Craig, concluded that Obama and his aides engaged in no improper conduct in connection with the Senate opening. A copy of the Craig report can be found below. As part of his review of transition team “contacts” with Blagojevich, Craig reported that only incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had spoke with the Illinois pol. Emanuel, Craig disclosed, had “one or two telephone calls” with Blagojevich in early-November. Emanuel reportedly gave Blagojevich a “heads up” that he was accepting Obama’s offer of the chief of staff job (and, as a result, would be resigning his congressional seat). Emanuel also “had a brief discussion with the Governor about the Senate seat and the merits of various people whom the Governor might consider.” Craig also noted that Emanuel had “about four telephone conversations with John Harris, Chief of Staff to the Governor, on the subject of the Senate seat. In these conversations, Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Harris discussed the merits of potential candidates and the strategic benefit that each candidate would bring to the Senate seat.” In addition to the president-elect, Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama confidante, were interviewed in the past few days by investigators with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, which, on December 9, announced criminal charges against Blagojevich and Harris. (Read all 5 pages after the jump.)
John McCain’s campaign launched a new television ad tonight calling Barack Obama a lesbian and revealing for the first time that Obama was behind the murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey who was made famous by her Christmas time murder and the subsequent media coverage.
Apparently Sarah Palin found the Obama connection to the murder during her many months of monitoring activity in Russia through her kitchen window.
Doubt that David Letterman will get many last minute cancellations after the payback that Letterman is serving up to John McCain. Letterman was brutal to Sarah Palin through the entire show. It didn’t let up. NBC anchor Brian Williams was one of Letterman’s guests. During their conversation Letterman went from mocking Palin to expressing serious concerns about Palin’s qualifications and McCain’s judgement in naming her.
Here is a little taste. Will you watch and laugh? You betcha! :
When she got off of the plane in St Louis, Sarah Palin was wearing a bandage on her right hand.
A spokeswoman for the Alaska governor has said that Palin injured her hand slightly when she fell while jogging Monday at McCain’s ranch. My Lord! She is George Bush!
Palin was at the ranch for much of the week prepping for tonight’s debate.
Here is the photo:
In other related news Abraham Lincoln showed up for tonight’s debate at Washington University to offer his support to Obama.
This is a long post. I hope that you will read it. I’ve finally come to terms with who John McCain is and who John McCain has always been. And tell me, who are today’s men of integrity in the leadership of the Republican party? Other than Senator Chuck Hagel from Nebraska, I honestly can’t think of one.
So actually, it’s not just the Christian right catching on, I’m beginning to catch on too. I have been shaking my head thinking that this isn’t the John McCain I had admired for years. Well, maybe John McCain was never the man made by the media. Reality has slapped me in the face seeing how easily we (including me) can be manipulated into accepting the media’s version of a politician’s history.
John McCain first came to Congress in 1982, not long after my father died. My father was a hardcore Republican, retired from the Army after 32 years and one of the best fathers ever. He was honest, hard-working, believed in the American system, made us watch all presidential annoucements (sit still, be quiet, and listen “the president is on”), helped out the neighbors, took time for his kids and he loved my mother dearly. So I always thought that John McCain was like my dad. Although I’m a hardcore Democrat – I always thought that if only a guy like McCain would head the Republican ticket . . . maybe . . . ?
My dad loved Barry Goldwater. Another man that I imagined to be like my father. You see my father – although a good man was also a bigot. He had no time for silly topics like homosexuals or civil rights. People basically needed to fall in line according to his way of thinking. However, good Republican men like Barry Goldwater provided objective evidence that a good man like my father would also change his bigoted opinions as he gained more facts. Unfortunately my father died in 1981. He never said that it was “OK” that I’m a lesbian but before his death I could feel and see the flicker of understanding that was starting to grow.
The photo is is of Sen. Barry Goldwater, on the right, as he poses with his running mate William Miller at the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco. I was 5 years old. Miller was one of the prosecuters at the Nuremberg trials. Miller is the only practicing Catholic to have been nominated for national office by the Republican Party. Mabye McCain picked Sarah Palin because she was baptized a Catholic? And we thought it was her gender.
By the mid-1980’s Republican men like Barry Goldwater were getting fed up with the increasing influence of the crazed far-right Christians on the Republican party. You see my father didn’t have much use for them either.
I’ve been a little shaken by the extreme nature of John McCain’s campaign. Obviously the man is desperate to be president and that’s why he endangered the country by picking Sarah Palin as his running mate; but in my experience men like Barry Goldwater and my father would have never lowered themselves to this level.
However, when reading a post that I wrote back on September 16 and reading the Times gambling investigation I realized that John McCain was NEVER like Barry Goldwater or my father.
John McCain has always been a cocky, shoot from the hip, gambling, womanizing, self-centered, power-hungry Republican.
Today the papers are full of the stories about John McCain’s history of gambling (up to 14 hours a day at times) and his history of working with the casino lobbyists. Here are a couple of quotes from one of the articles:
“We’ve known for a while of John McCain’s childhood connection to the region, where he lived for a short period when his father was serving a stint here as a Navy submarine commander. But it wasn’t until the results of a New York Times investigation were published earlier this week that we learned the extent of McCain’s involvement with another mainstay of eastern Connecticut culture, our casinos.”
“Of course more troubling than the disclosures in The Times story this week of McCain’s gambling in a Connecticut casino was the suggestion that he used his position as chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee to help lobbyists working to stop a third tribal casino in Connecticut.”
Now the big question is will McCain’s gambling ties hurt him with the Christian right-wingers. In fact, check out this article from a CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) blog which describes the new Democratic National Committee’s ad featuring McCain’s gambling. It’s written by David Brody of The Brody File. Here is how the article ends:
“The DNC knows that McCain’s so called penchant for gambling can hurt him among some social conservatives. It may not play well with other strongly religious voters as well. Indeed, the last thing McCain needs is another problem with the Evangelical base. In this case, the gambling issue could most likely trump the lobbyist issue. I mean it’s not like he’s playing the lottery or bingo or a quick 25 cents slot machine. This is high stakes gambling we’re talking about. Then you throw in the lobbyist angle and you have a dangerous credibility issue. Will voters buy it and will it stick? Does this bother you?”
Here is the DNC video. A link was provided in the Christian Broadcast Network blog entry:
What follows is my post from September 16, 2008. Let’s just hope that the Christian Right is also waking up to the man we’ve all called an American hero.
_____________________________
“Suppose Barack Obama had dumped a crippled wife and married a beer heiress one month after the divorce. Don’t you think he wouldn’t have been tripped up by such a scandalous past? The Republicans would have had a field day mocking his character. But John McCain’s tawdry personal history is rarely mentioned.”
Actually, from the dates that I’ve seen, McCain obtained a marriage license to marry Cindy before the divorce was final . . . heaven forbid we talk about that with the family values crowd.
Friends of the McCains such as Nancy and Ronald Reagan were not happy with what John McCain did to his first wife. Cleary the Reagans had good reason to feel this way.
She was lovely, intelligent and charming, 17 years my junior but poised and confident. I monopolized her attention the entire time, taking care to prevent anyone else from intruding on our conversation. When it came time to leave the party, I persuaded her to join me for drinks at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. By the evening’s end, I was in love.”
But he WAS MARRIED with small children at home at the time of this romantic encounter. Shorter version of story: I was a dirty old man (as I still am) husband and father. One night I got really horny when I saw this girl almost young enough to be my daughter. So I immediately asked her to go to a hotel with me. I thought it was the usual one night stand but when I found out she was rich I decided to dump my wife and kids.
I also don’t get why no one speaks of Cindy McCain’s history as a drug addict stealing from a medical charity. The woman is RICH and well-connected. She didn’t have to steal. The fact that she’s a recovering addict really is no big deal – I mean Sarah Palin’s teenage son is apparently a recovering addict – in the scheme of things.
BUT CINDY MCCAIN IS A RICH THIEF STEALING FROM A CHARITY.
My in-laws go on and on with their FOX News induced claim that Michelle Obama doesn’t love America.
Yet, we know very little about the made-up tranny mess Cindy McCain and her history of drug addiction and stealing from A MEDICAL CHARITY! In fact, I’m not sure that the in-laws even know about Cindy McCain’s past.
Guess it all comes down to this . . . if you’re the party of family values you can head your ticket with a guy who left his crippled wife for a trophy millionare tranny mess (also a thieving drug addict) and then top off your ticket with the mother of not only a pregnant teenage daughter but of a recovering addict teenage son . . . and your family values crowd won’t even notice . . .
Hey, but if you’re a politician who supports a family like mine (2 moms and a boy) . . . the “family values” folks won’t be able to vote for you.
All I can say is that McCain and Palin are the best advertisement yet for some form of government other than representational democracy.
Are Civics/Government classes mandatory in any state’s public educational system?
Mrs. John McCain. Hard working mother dumped for rich girl 17 years younger than John McCain.
2 Lesbos Goin At It 