>>>LOL.
>>>
>>>Well, OF COURSE he's lying by assumption of the logic I already posted. I just don't understand why. He had nothing to lose by admitting that he and/or his staff was working with Blag on the transition of the Senate seat if they weren't complicit in the scandal. I truly believe that Obama would not have played along in this scandal and Blag's cursing him out in the tapes seems to back that up.
>>>
>>>The thing that bothers me is that assuming I'm right about Obama not playing games with Blag (good for him), why the knee-jerk reaction of a bald-face lie? Is this how he's going to react to any controversy going forward - lie to us and hope it sticks? If I were an Obama supporter listening to months of how open and honest he was going to be I'd be seriously perturbed.
>>
>>
>>Here's what Obama said: ""I have never spoken to the governor on this subject. I am confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat."
>>
>>Where's the lie? He didn't say that no one on his staff had talked to the governor. He said he hadn't and that he was sure his staff wouldn't have been part of a deal.
>>
>
>Agreed. There is nothing wrong with a governor who is going to name a replacement Senator to get the thoughts of the departing Senator, even if it's just a polite gesture. In this case it's on the wiretaps reported by Patrick Fitzgerald last week that Blagojevich expressed disgust with Obama for not offering anything but "appreciation" for choosing one of his recommendations.
>
>I don't know how well known Blago was nationally a week ago. He is a very well known quantity here, i.e. as crooked as the day is long. Obama is way too smart to get anywhere near him. The same thing was suggested by Jan Schakovsky (sp.?), a U.S. Rep. from Evanston who was one of the names the Obama staff gave the governor's office. She said she had called Rahm Emanuel, who she served in Congress with, and got a sense of wariness about getting involved with Blagojevich.

I certainly knew who Blagojevich was and that he was widely assumed to be a crook. I thought it's in the job description for governor of Illinois. <g>

Tamar