Hot Air provides this analysis:

Politico headlines this article with “Obama’s five rules of scandal response,” but at least at first Kenneth Vogel and Carrie Budoff Brown exhibit a healthy skepticism of Team Obama’s self-exoneration……

So your in the yes Obama/Team Obama did something wrong, illegal but it’s not that big of a deal?

From a CNN poll the other day.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new national poll indicates Americans are in their contacts with embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich

12% Say, Obama aides did something illegal

36% Say, aides didn’t act illegally but did do something unethical

43% Say, no Obama aides did anything seriously wrong. (Note: seriously wrong, that means yes they did wrong but it not important.)

Uhm that’s 91%, leaving only 9% who either had no opinion or thought Obama/Team Obama did nothing wrong in any way, shape or form.

That’s not good for Obama.

It’s real simple Tom.

When did Obama/Team Obama KNOW that Blago was trying to sell the senate seat

AND

When did they give this info to the Feds?

How many weeks has this gone on?

It’s such a simple question; it could not interfere with any on going investigation,

Yet it is the ONE question we need to know in order to make a judgment about Obama and his team.

And that is the question Obama is dodging, why? It doesn’t look good.

Krauthammer’s main point last night was that the story was dead because the public has no appetite for it (because people do not want to see any incoming administration weakened during tough times).

I agree with Barnes. It’s not dead yet.

Y-not on December 24, 2008 at 5:27 PM

Yeah, but it was OK to attach Prez Bush every which way from Sunday since 911…

As far as I’m concerned, the country was horribly weakened when 52%, made up of bigots, starry eyed idealists, leftists, communists, radicals and bomb thrower lovers voted in a guy with no experience, questionable associations and ties to the chicago thug machine…

Now, the media thinks we should put the blinders on and let their glamour boy show his man boobs on the beach.

Krauthammer, while I don’t agree with much of what he says, values his credibility and see the reality of the situation.

Krauthammer’s main point last night was that the story was dead because the public has no appetite for it (because people do not want to see any incoming administration weakened during tough times).

I agree with Barnes. It’s not dead yet.

Now, it could be the case they bring other charges in the future, but based on what is known at this point, it doesn’t seem that Obama or anyone in his administration has done anything wrong.

Tom_Shipley on December 24, 2008 at 9:24 AM

I would call lying as Team Obama’s first response to the story “wrong”.

uh, gee tough question.

it depends on what “their jobs” is.

uh, if I had to guess, uh, I would guess that they see their job as protecting the Saviour of Mankind.

but I could be wrong.

and a giant asteroid could hit earth tomorrow.

I had no contact with the governor or his office and, so we were not – I was not aware of what was happening.

The first (but by no means only) thing to notice about that statement from Obama on Dec. 9, the same day as Blagojevich’s arrest and Fitzgerald’s news conference, is that it’s a nonsequitur. One need not have “contact” (in the direct, person-to-person sense) to know “what was happening.” “I was not aware of what was happening” will have to stand alone as a true or false assertion, not as a logical consequence of “I had no contact….” Even the hastily substituted “I” for “we” won’t correct that flaw. Would “I have never set foot in the Watergate Hotel, so I had no knowledge of a burglary there,” have washed for Nixon?

Stripped of the meaningless (diversionary?) “I had no contact,” to accept that Obama was “not aware of what was happening,” given what we now know about the “approved list” and Emanuel’s numerous contacts with Blagojevich and Harris, would require plausible deniability efforts of heroic proportions on Emanuel’s part. Some might cynically say, a willing suspension of disbelief.

Irrespective of Emanuel’s interactions with Blagojevich, Harris and others on the sell side, I would argue that it remains far from clear not only what Obama knew and when he knew it, but what he did (by instructing, nodding to Emanuel) about it.

A Senate seat, HIS Senate seat, was on the auction block, his emissary Emanuel was getting stiffed in the flurry of a federal “crime spree” and Obama is oblivious through it all? Resigned long after the fact, once let in on the messy details, to concede: tough luck, it’s a governor’s prerogative, maybe next time? I guess I could believe that, but it would be inappropriate.

Blago couldn’t appoint someone to the seat… but he could use his influence to help get someone in (like Beau Biden’s seat-warmer) who didn’t have much more political ambition and could be trusted to give the seat up when Emanuel……

Rahm Emanuel is guilty of Misprision, a felony punishable by a significant fine and jail time. He knew that Blagojevich was soliciting a bribe and he did not report it as he is required to do as an official of the government (member of the House of Representatives). It is in the class of crimes that Scooter Libby was prosecuted for.

I am a little curious, when do the congressional investigations begin on this?

Technically, Emanuel is still a Congressman. I do not believe he has resigned yet.

Krauthammer, while I don’t agree with much of what he says, values his credibility and see the reality of the situation.

I was shocked last night during Britt Hume’s show when Krauthammer emphatically stated this story is dead and there’s nothing further to a Blago-Obama connection. Finally Fred Barnes differed with Krauthammer and argued that we had really only heard the Obama team’s side. Scary when you watch Fox these days and they look like they’ve all drank the same Kool-Aid.

Merry Christmas to all here at Hot Air. Have a safe one.

Rov

But yes, I do have evidence that Emanuel did not know Blagojevich was selling the seat. ABC reported that he had the following exchange with John Harris:

“All we get for this is appreciation, right?” Emanuel responds: “Right.” As Ed himself pointed out, this seems to be the basis for Blagojevich cursing out Team Obama for only giving him their appreciation for the Senate seat.

If that’s all there was to show Team Obama that Blago was selling the seat, then they did nothing legally or morally wrong. There was no indication that Emanuel would not get his choice for only giving appreciation. There was no request for anything in return for appointing (presumedly) Jarret to the seat.

So yes, that is evidence. Solid evidence. Not speculation. Not this BS you guys are throwing around. As I said before, we’ll see how this plays out once more of what Fitzgerald has is revealed, but as of now, there’s no evidence of legal or ethical wrongdoing by Obama or his staff.

JingoDad,

Why do you think I live in Boston. And where did I get the information? Ever heard of google? And I while I do work for someone, I don’t work for anyone who pays me to post on hotair (or anything remotely related to posting on hotair). I have zero contacts with Obama or any other politician or political group for that matter. I’m simply acting on my own.

Emanuel’s deputies will include Pete Rouse, currently Obama’s Senate chief of staff. Rouse is known among Democrats as “the keeper of the list” — key jobs and who might get them.

I wonder if Mr. Rouse spoke with anyone in Blago’s office. I’ll have to do some Googling on Mr. Rouse…

The sections on both Jarrett and Doc Whitaker are unusually precise and closely defined…
snaggletoothie on December 24, 2008 at 9:41 AM

Not in Greg Craig’s PDF report, they aren’t. For instance, Craig states that Blago’s Deputy Governor, Louanner Peters, called Whitakers office and left a message “between November 6, 7 or 8″. We learn that Whitaker returned the call but we are not told on what day that happened; We are told that Rahm had “one or two” calls to Blago “between November 6 and November 8″.

For some reason no one seems to know exactly what day(s) these calls occurred. I find this very odd suspicious.

But Jarrett for Senate is like Caroline for Senate without Caroline’s qualifications. Jarrett isn’t someone that would be considered but for her relationship with Obama.
MayBee on December 24, 2008 at 11:21 AM

I actually disagree with you there. Unlike Princess Caroline, Jarrett has actually worked in political offices (such as as Mayor Daley’s chief of staff), ran businesses, and so forth.

What I don’t buy is that Rahm “the freelancer” Emanuel was so out of the loop that he didn’t know that Barry didn’t want her for the Senate seat. Jarrett was officially offered the W.H. job on November 9th. Surely Obama had had discussions with his new Chief of Staff prior to that offer. You know, sometime between November 6, 7 or 8 :) Indeed, Craig states that as late as November 7 when she met with Balanoff, she was a candidate for the Senate Seat.

The federal statute on Misprision is a felony statute.

No, it’s not. It’s actually called Misprison of a Felony and is a misdemeanor. It’s usually only enforced if the person has knowledge of a felony and takes steps to conceal it.
* * *

Tom_Shipley on December 24, 2008 at 10:32 AM

Well Tom, it’s actually called misspelling of m-i-s-p-r-i-s-i-o-n (jerryofva was correct) and as I read 18 USC, is a Class E felony (2-0 for jerryofva).

Here’s the classification section:

18 USC § 3559. Sentencing classification of offenses

(a) Classification.— An offense that is not specifically classified by a letter grade in the section defining it, is classified if the maximum term of imprisonment authorized is—
* * *
(5) less than five years but more than one year, as a Class E felony;

* * *

And here’s the :substantive section

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 1 > § 4

§ 4. Misprision of felony

Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

Do you have evidence that Emanuel knew Blagojevich was “selling” the senate seat?

Tom_Shipley on December 24, 2008 at 10:41 AM

For six years the left has presented this meme, with no evidence:

“Bush lied, people died.”

How much did you personally do to dispel this canard?

Hence forth the new chant shall be:

“Obama lied, the Republic died.”

As always, payback is a bitch. The left brought this upon themselves. Live with it.

But Jarrett for Senate is like Caroline for Senate without Caroline’s qualifications. Jarrett isn’t someone that would be considered but for her relationship with Obama.
Rahm was under the impression that Obama wanted her to be Senator. Blagojevich was under the impression that Obama wanted her to be Senator. Balanoff was under the impression that she wanted to be Senator.
Yet this was all supposed have happened without Obama actually wanting her to be Senator, and without Obama knowing these people were talking to Blagojevich about her being Senator.

How in the world did she get Balanoff to start carrying messages back and forth to Blagojevich on her behalf, and why didn’t she talk to Obama about it?
The report doesn’t explain at all why the SEIU guy was involved in this for Jarrett.

And as many have already observed, even a great deal of evidence will not get a Democrat on the hot seat as long as the media can prevent it – see the NYT’s recent smear on the current administration and the housing crisis which was unable to name a single Democrat as being involved.

What the Democrats have done, starting with Watergate, and accelerated by their outrage that Clinton was not given the pass that all Democrats feel entitled to, is to establish a false narrative in which Democrats are entitled to hyper-partisanship and dirty tricks, while their opponents must be provably squeaky clean.

Under Obama, they are taking the next step – evolving into an actual criminal enterprise, with competing crime families, not just using criminal organizations like ACORN to do their dirty work for them.