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Do you think you could simultaneously A) attend a Christmas pageant for one of your children and B) answer a question if a reporter from a major Chicago newspaper asked one of you? If you're Rahm Emanuel, the answer is an enthusiastic "no" - but he might have more on his mind than your average pageant-goer at this time of year.
Emanuel was spotted at City Hall last night by a Sun-Times reporter, and when he was asked whether or not he was ever an "emissary" to Blagojevich, he responded,
“You’re wasting your time...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.”
But can't you do both, Mr. Emanuel? “I’m not as capable as you. I’m going to be a father. I’m allowed to be a father,” he said, as he pushed away the reporter's digital recorder. Won't somebody think of the children? Perhaps the lady President-Elect's COS doth protest too much. More Rahm-related reporting after the jump.
What else is going on in the world of Rahm Emanuel?
Is Emanuel in hiding? "I'm getting regular death threats...I'm pissed at the networks. You've intruded too much," Emanuel said to an ABC cameraman, who he'd invited into his house to use their bathroom. ABC News continues to report that Emanuel is not going to work at the offices of the President-Elect due to the crush of reporters asking him about his Blagojevich connections. That isn't as awesome as the one time Michael Jackson stopped at our house and asked to use the bathroom. Okay, it wasn't him. He was about to. But his sister did.
Did Emanuel provide Blagojevich with a list of "acceptable Senate candidates? According to Fox News Chicago, he did. A "reliable source familiar with the investigation" has said that Emanuel and Blagojevich had conversations about possible Senate-seat fillers, and those conversations may have been taped. Also, Blagojevich spoke about the "fifth CD thing" while talking about the Obama advisor in question - and Emanuel represents the Fifth Congressional District. However, no one is saying that any of those conversations had anything to do with pay-to-play or quid pro quo. (Which probably prompted the whole "motherfucker" thing.)
Is Howard Dean cheesed off about not getting the Chief Of Staff position over Emanuel? If things go bad for Rahm in the near future, he still might have a chance at it - but for now, he's sounding off on D.L. Hughely's "Breaking the News" on CNN.
It seemed like he was joking, but when you have to have a DNC spokesperson send out a followup statement confirming the fact that it was a joke, maybe you didn't pull off the humor effectively.
Photo by Nick Wass, AP
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I'm gonna disagree with you Karl, the guy is at a Christmas Pageant with his kids. He starts answering one reporters question, in seconds it's a news conference.
The guy gets to have a life outside of being CoS and the question has the "When did you stop beating your wife" patina anyway.
Pretty thin stuff here.
Oh good.
The copy-and-paste brigade has come to play.
"Perhaps the lady President-Elect's COS doth protest too much."
Give me a break.
Seriously, Ryskamp, get a blog (they're free an d easy to set up), post all of that stuff and just come her and provide a link. Much easier for everyone involved.
BTW. I'm sure Fitzgerald read that letter sent to him in his entirety and didn't, say, ball it up and toss it into the can across the room making a "swish" sound....
I honestly can't see the scenario where this whole mess works out badly for Rahm. He may very well have had discussions with Blagojevich as to which senate candidates Obama would prefer. In fact, I would have expected him to, because Obama is, in effect, the leader of the Democratic party and therefore has a vested interest in who takes the seat. I think the counts in the criminal complaint themselves, however, preclude the possibilty of Rahm trying to buy anything. He was just trying to work the standard political deal without any quid pro anything.
Here is a scenario I could buy, though: If Rahm was, in fact, the one who tipped off Fitzgerald on the senate sale as has been speculated, then wouldn't it make sense that he wouldn't want to talk about it? There would be a near 100% chance that he would be called to testify for the prosecution. Talking to the media about it while the investigation is ongoing would only hurt the prosecution, from a legal standpoint.
You know, I have a theory that there exists a distinct wordiness-to-crackpot relationship in Internet posts. To wit:
Clear verdict there.
I'll repeat an earlier comment. If Rahm tipped off the Feds, I'm sending him flowers. Hell, it's likely they gave Blago a list that said "hey, here's the people we like." That stuff is normal, and I do agree that not giving Blago anything BUT the list prompted the whole "motherfucker" thing.
As for the conspiracy theorist who want Obama either arrested, deported, or deposed in any multitude of ways........when are we going to get that character count limit along with the mechanism that only allows so many posts per minute? My scroll-ball finger is starting to hurt.
the next person who so much as thinks of copying-and-pasting something of that length in here gets baninated.
I'm not usually a rabble-rouser, I swear. But I like to test authority, so...
Shazam!RevSlappy - Fair enough. Heh.
No, I'm referring to the very lengthy letter of several dozen paragraphs that someone posted in here earlier. It's akin to when people copy and paste whole articles in these forums. Copy and paste only the excerpts pertinent to your point and if you're going beyond a few paragraphs, link or be more concise.
Basically, use better judgement.
But as that particular commenter has really been the only one abusing the c/p option, I don't really see an issue.
RevSlappy wins.