Change.gov hiding questions on Blagojevich scandal
posted at 9:10 pm on December 10, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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How’s that Hope and ChangeTM working out at Change.gov, the transition website for President-Elect Barack Obama? They seem to have the change part down pat, at least. Ben Smith of Politico notes that the Obamaphiles have tubed comments relating to the scandal surrounding Rod Blagojevich, and that Team Obama seems happy to let them continue:
President-elect Barack Obama’s Transition today launched “Open for Questions,” a Digg-style feature allowing citizens to submit questions, and to vote on one another’s questions, bringing favored inquiries to the top of the list.
It was suggested when it launched that the tool would bring uncomfortable questions to the fore, but the results so far are the opposite: Obama’s supporters appear to be using — and abusing — a tool allowing them to “flag” questions as “inappropriate” to remove all questions mentioning Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich from the main pages of Obama’s website.
The Blagojevich questions — many of them polite and reasonable — can be found only by searching words in them, like “Blagojevich,” which produces 35 questions missing from the main page of the site.
Questions removed from the site:
- Given the current corruption charges involving Blagojevich, will ’serious’ campaign finance reform that takes money completely out of politics through publicly funded elections be a priority in the first term?
- In light of the recent corruption scandals (Blagojevich, Rangel, Jefferson, Stevens, etc) that have dominated the political scene,is there any ethics legislation being crafted to actually curb corruption and prevent another wave of nixonian cynicism?
- Is Barack Obama aware of any communications in the last six weeks between Rod Blagojevich or anyone representing Rod Blagojevich and any of Obama’s top aides?
On a campaign web site, a candidate and his staff would understandably rid themselves of anything embarrassing so that the candidate didn’t have to answer for it. Obama stopped being a candidate on November 4th, and became the President-Elect. We know this, because Obama has a government website and a big sign that says ‘OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT-ELECT’ with his faux seal at every press conference.
In other words, it’s time for accountability. If Obama doesn’t want to answer tough questions, he should stop trolling for them on official government websites. And since we’re all paying for it, nobody should be able to force those questions off of an official government website.
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That’s liberals for ya. HuffPo and Daily Kos are eye-openers.
ddrintn on December 10, 2008 at 11:50 PM
meanwhile on the Rachel Maddow show . . .
I flipped through channels and caught her commentary on the current Illinois scandal. It consisted of her complaining how absurd the focus is on such a meaningless crime when the Iraq War is the biggest crime of the past 10 years. That’s her take on the scandal? She gets props for her intelligence because . . .?
geckomon on December 10, 2008 at 11:55 PM
I have already got that position, silly.
DasObamaReich on December 11, 2008 at 12:00 AM
I wonder how often Tapper is going to be called on for a question at press conferences from now on?
INC on December 11, 2008 at 12:01 AM
She gets props because she has an Ivy League degree and all the other proper Liberal credentials
church on December 11, 2008 at 12:04 AM
Oh yeah, BDS is a proper Liberal credential (condition)!
geckomon on December 11, 2008 at 12:07 AM
Oh, I forgot she also has another attribute that is endearing to the Left, she’s gay and we all know there is nothing more noble in the world to a liberal than gays, blacks and the poor. IF you are a member of any of these three groups you cannot be stupid because you are a perpetual victim who has a better understanding of human nature due to the oppression you have suffered at the hands of the knuckle dragging, bible thumping, gun toters.
church on December 11, 2008 at 12:08 AM
Heh. We should make that into a drinking game. I bet that bottle of Jack Daniels would last all four years of The One’s term.
meltenn on December 11, 2008 at 12:16 AM
I think her argument is that a series of “non-truths”(lets not call them lies) that lead to a war (and mismanaged occupation) that has cost trillions, led to the death of tens of thousands and left even more wounded/psychologically scarred, is somewhat less important than a scam that would have netted Blago half a million dollars, or maybe more. Where Rachel is wrong, however, is to assume that we haven’t talked about the failures in Iraq ad nauseum in this country and most Americans are educated about the war at least pre-surge. Alot of us seem to think its “over” so we’re not paying as close attention as we once were. Regardless. Maddow isn’t WRONG about the way being way more important. And she’s not wrong to suggest that Blago is historically corrupt (which says more about U.S. political history than anything else). But she needs to chill. As of now, I think a healthy dose of hateration on Blago is critical. Hopefully an example will be made and Democrats in Illinois will have to self cannibalize and get rid of the corruption in their state. Hoping Daley gets taken down with this somehow.
DeathToMediaHacks on December 11, 2008 at 12:22 AM
Tapper’s been taking that 1st Amendment kind of seriously and stepping on some toes!
INC on December 11, 2008 at 12:26 AM
Next thing we know ABC’s going to be the Network non grata!
INC on December 11, 2008 at 12:27 AM
This can only be partly blamed on Obama’s crew, because the software is relatively untried stuff from Google. Google is famous for building software which can be “gamed”, because their stuff is in complete compliance with the software laws of unintended side effects associated with complex APIs.
The classic is google notes — who’dathunk that a datastore like that would be core to a whole search-results spamming industry, where google’s own resources are used to artificially promote certain sites to the top of google’s own search results? And google’s gmail has a remoting back end that’s used by the spammers — to the point that I’ve built rules into my own mailserver preventing delivery of non-gmail e-mail from google mailservers.
Youtube (another google division) has DMCA-wars, where people who don’t like somebody’s art file DMCA takedown notices against it.
So I can see how a google product like the one being used over at change.gov could be turned against itself.
Google is a nice liberal company, which believes greatly in the inherent goodness of man, just line the people who installed their software at change.gov. Like the president-elect, they are learning that, even in technology-land, evil abounds. Of course, given how Obama’s supporters tried to squelch opposing speech during the election, this continuing trend toward suppression of speech shouldn’t be surprising.
unclesmrgol on December 11, 2008 at 12:27 AM
“There are no coincidences, Delia. Only the illusion of coincidence.”
I like this “business as usual“. The longer he stays, and what does he have to lose at this point, the worse it will be for the One.
What a sweet beginning, before it’s even begun.
Entelechy on December 11, 2008 at 12:32 AM
ALL HAIL IOWAHAWK!
Buckaroo on December 11, 2008 at 12:45 AM
Oh, and what’s really interesting is that change.gov is NOT a government website. It is hosted at a single computer at IP address 69.25.74.162, which, via reverse DNS, translates to alias otrans.bluestatedigital.com, canonical ssl-vip2.bluestatedigital.com. The netblock is owned by Internap Network Services.
Another domain mapping to 69.25.74.162 is obamabidentransitionproject.org. This domain is registered at godaddy.com, with DNS services provided by same. Godaddy is run by a rather libertarian ex-Marine, so it’s interesting that the Obama organization used him to register their domain. The registration records are (sadly) obfuscated, so we can’t easily find out who is the administrator.
In addition, Blue State Digital claims they provided the online donation tools used by Obama’s team to get all those foreign donations.
unclesmrgol on December 11, 2008 at 12:47 AM
Stupid is as stupid does, Mr. President.
I’m finally officially ashamed that I ever voted for this guy.
DannoJyd on December 11, 2008 at 12:57 AM
” they provided the
online donation toolslaughable non-control controls used by Obama’s team to get all those foreign donations.”FIFY
:-)
Buckaroo on December 11, 2008 at 12:58 AM
“DannoJyd on December 11, 2008 at 12:57 AM”
hey dumbass, wtf were you thinking for the last 2 months?!?!?
/”your fault!” — my dad, to cars with the stupid o bumper stickers on them …
Buckaroo on December 11, 2008 at 1:00 AM
Thanks for that Buckaroo – Mr. Burge is beyond genius. I tore my insights laughing at the two enlarged pictures and the write-up. What a fantastic mind! He is the man for our times.
Entelechy on December 11, 2008 at 1:08 AM
Danno, you couldn’t have voted for O. Did you mix up threads?
Entelechy on December 11, 2008 at 1:10 AM
Don’t type when laughing too hard – s/b “I tore my insides”. It’s all Mr. Burge’s fault.
Entelechy on December 11, 2008 at 1:16 AM
There are only 6000 people logged in. Surely HA commentators can beat.
Phoenician on December 11, 2008 at 1:23 AM
Obama should make it a “pay to play website.” Of course, as a Chicago pol all money should go directly into his pocket. If a question raised a minimum amount it would have to stay up on the site. Naturally we couldn’t force him to address anything. But maybe half a mil could get you a look at the mysterious BC.
snaggletoothie on December 11, 2008 at 1:33 AM
He should have just sold the seat on eBay.
jim_collins on December 11, 2008 at 1:54 AM
Heh heh. That’s a good one.
LOL. Getting the tough questions up on the site is enough of an appearance that he’s answered them for the MSM to run with.
But, I’ll save you a spot next to me at the SCOTUS (you’ll excuse my tin-foil).
progressoverpeace on December 11, 2008 at 1:57 AM
“jim_collins on December 11, 2008 at 1:54 AM”
please look at the iowahawk link …
:-)
Buckaroo on December 11, 2008 at 2:10 AM
Thanks, Buckaroo. And I think Entelechy got it right the first time, I laughed so hard on the second image that I actually did tear my insights! The final bit with the Durban auction just killed me. I’m still laughing.
progressoverpeace on December 11, 2008 at 2:21 AM
the man is a national treasure — period
Buckaroo on December 11, 2008 at 2:24 AM
I just visited the site. It is dedicated to the worship of St. Obama. I think they’re is a real problem with government being involved in the establishment of a religion. This is over the line. And I don’t think that smile that is on his face so much of the time is a friendly smile. Watch out.
snaggletoothie on December 11, 2008 at 4:11 AM
What have I said? Those morons think he can do no wrong.
How will they cover up another 9/11 style attack? Destroy the news outlets in hopes that pictures, video, and the truth don’t come out?
madmonkphotog on December 11, 2008 at 4:55 AM
Went to the site and searched “Blagojevich”
Zero results.
Horrible.
Jim - PRS on December 11, 2008 at 5:07 AM
God, it’s like a cult.
Rollie on December 11, 2008 at 5:15 AM
Silly mistake. On the site they like to spell Blagojevich, “llskdjoij”. Search again. You’ll find it.
progressoverpeace on December 11, 2008 at 6:04 AM
are you sure it wasn’t journalists fielding sifting though the website?
rob verdi on December 11, 2008 at 6:14 AM
As faux as The Seal, the “Office of the President Elect”, and, come to think of it, the President Elect himself.
I hear he tried ;)
mr.blacksheep on December 11, 2008 at 6:52 AM
This is Chicago, Obama had to know what was going on.
Terrye on December 11, 2008 at 6:54 AM
Iowahawk has been scammed. That chair in the photo can’t be Obama’s real Senate seat. That chair looks like it’s actually been used, and we all know Obama never spent enough time in his Senate office to actually leave an indentation of his ass in the chair.
AZCoyote on December 11, 2008 at 7:00 AM
And I have no problem whatsoever if she decides to do so! *tsk tsk SNL*
ProudPalinFan on December 11, 2008 at 7:01 AM
Oh-kaayyy…If they have this huge surplus in campaign finances WHY IN THE WORLD ARE THEY ASKING FOR MO’ MONEY??
ProudPalinFan on December 11, 2008 at 7:06 AM
You rock, Ed.
Saltysam on December 11, 2008 at 7:17 AM
The Kenyan Communist is starting out well, with a half price sale of his Senate seat — How can you get full price after all this hoopla. Who knew The One lies, and is not very good at it.
Change America — Reject Obammunism, the whole plan is a lie.
tarpon on December 11, 2008 at 7:22 AM
For sheer volume of intolerance, take a peek at Democratic Underground. Just don’t do it anywhere near a window – I assure you, you’ll be tempted to toss your computer outside and hose it down.
uncivilized on December 11, 2008 at 7:24 AM
Well, church, they can’t blame Rush on this one alone since AP (Associated Press) ran an article citing O’s associations FROM THE START. Rush read them, I was in the kitchen in shock and awe, and laughed till I coughed at the sarcasm genius that Rush evokes from time to time.
ProudPalinFan on December 11, 2008 at 7:29 AM
Trolls looking to Dr Phil these days?
Saltysam on December 11, 2008 at 7:32 AM
Anybody here knows how to play “Vegas Poker Tournament?”
ProudPalinFan on December 11, 2008 at 7:40 AM
Originally change.gov stated at this at the bottom of the page:
Copyright 2008 by Obama-Biden transition project. A 501 C(4) Organization. All rights reserved.
The reference to the 501 C (4) has since been deleted. Why the change? It still has a copyright line. Do “official government websites” copyright their product? A cursory review of some of them tells me that the answer is: NO.
Buy Danish on December 11, 2008 at 7:42 AM
Two things before I leave:
1)Brit Hume yesterday compared different media outlets in the way they covered Chicago’s second best son. The worst: The Today Show, who did not even mention that he is a Democrat.
People, it’s worse than not saying Merry Christmas. *Shh! We’re not supposed to say that!*
2)After this, Obama has to carry a Buxton Leather Bag with a four-leaf clove, a horseshoe, a rabbit foot and a box of Lucky Charms cereal…
ProudPalinFan on December 11, 2008 at 7:46 AM
Truth to power Dude or Dudett. Truth to power. That’s the problem with you cons. You just can’t handle the truth and that’s the liberal power. Truth to a con is like garlic to a vamp. Not the twinkle kind of vamp the burn in the light kind.
jmarcure on December 11, 2008 at 7:46 AM
Sign being made for OBarry’s Oval Office door:
“The buck stops at the threshold.”
TugboatPhil on December 11, 2008 at 7:48 AM
The President doesn’t have the luxury of avoiding difficult questions.
This is clearly change you can bet on.
drjohn on December 11, 2008 at 8:02 AM
Given the way liberals are protrayed by the media, I was shocked at the base nature of lefty sites.
Then I started reading for information and…
If a liberal site mentions a fact, it is wrong. Or being used to support a conclusion which it does not support.
IlikedAUH2O on December 11, 2008 at 8:06 AM
And his site expunging questions?
Brothers and sisters, he has been dodging questions for two or three years and probably playing people His whole life.
He is after Blago.
Has He forgotten earmarks for his wife’s hospital? Or is that a lie? He promised to take federal financing then used 527’s as an excuse to go private. Then he allowed his own 527’s. And the best..He managed to get political donations from unknown sources.
IlikedAUH2O on December 11, 2008 at 8:14 AM
Obama has never wanted to answer tough questions. I can’t remember the last time he’s answered a difficult question.
Aronne on December 11, 2008 at 8:18 AM
Your first sign that change.gov is a government website.
.GOV!
faraway on December 11, 2008 at 8:21 AM
BlueStateDigital is probably run by Blago’s cousin
faraway on December 11, 2008 at 8:22 AM
The. Most. Corrupt. President(Elect). In. History.
faraway on December 11, 2008 at 8:23 AM
Exit question:
Can you impeach a President-Elect?
right2bright on December 11, 2008 at 8:51 AM
Silly people. 1984 has arrived and the ministry of propoganda is now doing us a huge public service by filitering out all those pointless words.
FalseProfit on December 11, 2008 at 8:58 AM
You can rule that ever holding dual citizenship obviates all claims to being a natural-born citizen :)
progressoverpeace on December 11, 2008 at 9:00 AM
113 questions regarding Blagojevich have been flagged, including this one from me…
“Since this is an official government site why are questions that are simply difficult, such as questions about the President Elects relationship and contact with Blagojevich being flagged as “inappropriate”? Isn’t that illegal?”
The question disappeared before my eyes in less than 3 seconds. Someone is monitoring this site very closely.
vegasguy on December 11, 2008 at 9:40 AM
I don’t post much but do follow the topics and answers on Hot Air, and with all this stuff coming down and there is no more room under the bus, an old and true saying comes to mind. “Show me your friends and I will tell you what you are” I can only hope and pray for this great country.
concernedsenior on December 11, 2008 at 9:51 AM
Controlling the Media in order to control the Masses. Socialism/Communism 101, Komrades!
Try as they might, I think that there are just too many hidden facts about the President-Elect for the loyal MSM to cover up all of them. The truth will come out.
Our Trolls don’t know what to say. Any argument about this situation is easily refutable by the history of the relationships involved. I won’t say their names but there are some I haven’t seen since this situation broke. The others are two busy arguing gay marriage.
Just an opinion…
kingsjester on December 11, 2008 at 9:57 AM
two=too
oops. too early
kingsjester on December 11, 2008 at 9:58 AM
“…vote on one another’s questions, bringing favored inquiries to the top of the list.”
How does one know there is really voting done by the general public visiting the site and not being done by Obama staff?
Obama is ushering in Big Brother government. He controls the discussion and disallows dissent and questioning. It will only get worse.
albill on December 11, 2008 at 9:59 AM
Not even the staff. Just robot web surfers that look for keywords and phrases to determine their “voting”. Plausible deniability – though the idiot messiah has never needed that before, I admit. But Blogo has caused a lot of changes in tactics for the moron-elect.
progressoverpeace on December 11, 2008 at 10:08 AM
DannoJyd at December 11 at 12:57 AM
technopeasant on December 11, 2008 at 10:12 AM
More equal than others
LimeyGeek on December 11, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Unrelated to this subject, but, why does the little man who refuses to wear a flag pin drape all his speaking platforms with numerous flags.
One flag per stage or platform is appropriate.
Is he preparing to put the flags of all nations on his inaugural platform?
Amazed on December 11, 2008 at 10:25 AM
CyberCopperfield at work–VERY well PAID work.
ProudPalinFan on December 11, 2008 at 10:50 AM
No can do. The bidding for that seat no matter what, would’ve not been as high-end as Sarah’s gov. private jet, and that would hurt O’s EGO (Edging.God.Out).
ProudPalinFan on December 11, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Welcome to the Obama generation. Freedom my friends, for everyone except people who question my authoratay……
JeffinOrlando on December 11, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Look guys.
This administration is about power abetted by propaganda…with the goal of implementing Socialism and a 2-class society with the Idiot and his pals on top, and the rest of us re-distributed to the lower class.
Like Germany in the 1930’s and Russia in the mid-decades of the 20th centrury, everything that is given to the public is propaganda. Period.
notagool on December 11, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Sorry, forgot to post this along with my comment.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Obama-Democratic-Integrity-44th-President-Photo-Pin-3_W0QQitemZ250341056922QQihZ015QQcategoryZ2036QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
JeffinOrlando on December 11, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Can you have the “Most Un-Ethical Administration Evah” before the inauguration even takes place?
ex-Democrat on December 11, 2008 at 11:21 AM
Great post.
Let’s roll.
ex-Democrat on December 11, 2008 at 11:23 AM
No it isn’t. A domain name is nothing more than a pointer. The pointer is provided by the US Government, but the site itself doesn’t have to be run by the Government — and in this case it’s hosted by Blue State Digital, a private service provider whose niche market is Democratic politicians.
If one takes a look at http://www.fbi.gov, one quickly finds that the site is located on a server run by Akamai Technologies.
If one takes a look at http://www.navy.mil, one finds that it is also located on a server run by Akamai Technologies.
uspto.gov — has its own private IP block owned by the Patent and Trademark Office.
whitehouse.gov — in a netblock owned by Sprint.
In a nutshell, we can’t tell in this era of outsourcing, but the fact that obamabidentransitionproject.org addresses the identical server sort of gives things away in my mind.
unclesmrgol on December 11, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Your question is still there… Currently it resides on the 4th page for the search “illegal” 2 votes for, 5 votes against.
Everyone’s questions are still there. People vote on what they like and don’t like. There are only so many ways to present all the questions, and only so many questions that can be on the front page.
If you don’t like it, get with the Freepers and Paulites to flood the site with good questions and positive votes for them.
Keith_Indy on December 11, 2008 at 11:44 AM
BTW the top vote getter has almost 3100 votes for it.
So get 5000 like minded people to vote on the questions you want answered, and it should float to the top.
Keith_Indy on December 11, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Yup. Yet another GoogleAPI type page, with all the problems with spamming the results that Google’s implementation brings to the mix…
unclesmrgol on December 11, 2008 at 11:48 AM
I think I could manage 5001 by myself. There are no registration checks…
unclesmrgol on December 11, 2008 at 11:49 AM
And http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com/ does the same thing.
It ain’t perfect, but it’s what’s been implemented.
Keith_Indy on December 11, 2008 at 11:50 AM
This won’t work. Pick a number, any number, and the automated bots will make sure that your number (if it includes references to anything The Black Caesar does not want addressed) falls below their number.
grdred944 on December 11, 2008 at 12:08 PM
Silly you.
WHO’s going to ask them (tough questions)?
“Ummm, Mr. President, how’s the puppy doing?”…..
Sir Napsalot on December 11, 2008 at 12:09 PM
You are making the assumption that it’s automated bots.
Keith_Indy on December 11, 2008 at 12:15 PM
The quesions will not stop there!
(Providing He keeps the process servers and investigators and possibly the SCOTUS at bay.)
From MSNBC: “Mr. President how do you manage to abide the mess left by the last administration and the continued presence of some Americans who only worship You a little?”
From the NYT: “Mr. President just let us know if we can help you get the patriotic message out that a 1,000% inflation, 40% unemployment, a surging crime rate and a dismembered military is good.”
IlikedAUH2O on December 11, 2008 at 12:17 PM
…”it’s time for accountability. If Obama doesn’t want to answer tough questions, he should stop trolling for them on official government websites. And since we’re all paying for it, nobody should be able to force those questions off of an official government website.”
Amen.
Christine on December 11, 2008 at 12:31 PM
Note to change.gov: See if you can get some of the ex-soviet airbrushers to join your staff. Photos are harder to doctor than webpages.
Vashta.Nerada on December 11, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Have you tried going to obamabidentransitionproject.org? To paraphrase Gertrude Stein – There is no there there.
Meanwhile, check this out:
Buy Danish on December 11, 2008 at 1:19 PM
I haven’t had a chance to read all the comments so I’m not sure if this has been said yet or not:
Just like with their internet donations, the Obama team HAS TURNED OF COMMENT REGISTRATION VERIFICATION.
You can put in as many names and email addresses as you like, you know, ACORN style, and have some fun.
GO!
NTWR on December 11, 2008 at 1:27 PM
I was looking to see if anyone else thought as I do-how did this Blagocrook pop up on the national scene? Being led away in handcuffs. We all knew of rumored corruption, but this puts a fine point on:
Blago associations with Obama being clearly cut in December before Obama takes office in January.
Blago being hanged out to air dance puts an end to one of the(alleged)most corrupt administrations. Any past ties to Daley, Rezko, Obama etc. are now old news. We’re ready to turn the page to the bright Obama-led blah blah blah.
I think that this Blago led away in handcuffs episode was arranged to clean Obama’s Illinois slate.
Doug on December 11, 2008 at 1:46 PM
Automated bots, liberals.
To-MAY-to, to-MAH-to.
malclave on December 11, 2008 at 2:17 PM
every time I see that picture with Jennifer Granholm in the background, I throw-up a little bit.
busparking on December 11, 2008 at 3:19 PM
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