Rod Blagojevich; Barack Obama

Maybe it's the sheer joy of celebrating recovery summer along with The Anointed One and Plugs Biden.  Perhaps they're just Blagoed out. Whatever the reason, most of the mainstream media failed to report something intriguing said by the usually most quotable former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.  From an FBI tape recorded last November and appearing on Fox Chicago News's Web site, Blagojevich spoke of president-elect Barack Obama:

BLAGOJEVICH I thin-, you know, it's really, I get that I'm a big boy and I can handle that, but it's really f***ing galling, this guy is more Tony'd up than I am. And it's almost like they f***ing conspi-, made a concerted effort and they got the Chicago media to f***ing make me wear Rezko more. To f***ing dilute it from him.

Blago's disillusionment with Obama stemmed from a rebuff conveyed by a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) official used by the president-elect to let the Gov know of Obama's interest in Valerie Jarrett filling his Senate seat.

Looking for a column loaded with racism, hyperbole, praise for a man embroiled in scandal, and an obvious disregard for the integrity of a Senate seat?  Then you're in luck if you've read Ruben Navarrette's latest efforts.

Completely dropping the ball on why some people are apprehensive about any appointment that Rod Blagojevich could make for the vacant Senate seat, Ruben litters his article with some stunning phrases - statements which heap praise upon the disgraced Illinois Governor.  Such phrases as:

(Continued after the jump!)

Several mainstream media accounts suggest that about the only thing Barack Obama and Rod Blagojevich have in common is they both live in Illinois. Today at the Washington Post's Web site, for example, we learn that "Obama Worked to Distance Self From Blagojevich Early On." The article begins by noting that the Illinois governor, unlike other major state Democratic politicians, wasn't allowed to address this year's national convention. There was at least one good reason for that, although it wasn't covered by today's Washington Post. Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times explained it last August:

The Obama campaign on Tuesday afternoon released more speakers for the second night of the Democratic convention in Denver, a batch of Democratic governors. Missing from the list: the first governor to back Obama, his homestate Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich, who threw a heck of a party in Boston in 2004, has had no profile in the Obama campaign because of the scandals surrounding his administration, notably the Tony Rezko probe.

Because of Rezko, I never, ever expected Blagojevich to be tapped to speak.

You can just see the scene from the Wizard of Oz, where the wizard says ‘Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.'

When it comes to diverting attention from a scandal plagued home state, don't worry Senator Obama, USA Today has your back.

In a bizarre demonstration of spinning numbers with the sole purpose of getting people to look away from the recent Blagojevich scandal, John Fritze and others at USA Today took statistics from the Department of Justice and the U.S. Census Bureau, crunched them in the liberal media calculator, and decided they had proof that North Dakota is actually the most corrupt state in the nation. 

We've already seen how the media is covering up for Barack Obama to the extent of removing any information on the web that would show he met with Rod Blagojevich recently as chronicled by NewsBusters editor Tom Blumer. And now we have evidence that Jesse Jackson, Jr. "misspoke" when he claimed yesterday that the meeting he had with Monday Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was the first time the two had met in four years. It turns out that there is a video of a sobbing Jesse Jackson, Jr. embracing Blagojevich just last August at a breakfast of the Illinois delegation to the Democrat Nation Convention in Denver. Here is how the incredibly surreal hugfest was covered by the Chicago Tribune:

Let's hug it out

An emotional Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. touched off a surreal hugfest among bickering top Illinois Democrats meeting at a convention delegation breakfast, all in the name of party unity and Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential bid. Here's the tale of the tape:

Evidence in abundance of AP's new "style" of news coverage.

Not long ago, the Associated Press informed its writers that they should be more emotive in their writing. Instead of an old newsy just-the-facts style of reporting, then AP was looking to goose it up and add more opinion and emotion to its reporting of the "news." Well, with the story of the arrest of corruption plagued Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his connection to Illinois Senator and president in waiting Barack Obama, the emotive words flow fast and furious. This incident serves as an interesting example of the APs new more emotive style.

For instance, for the AP Sharon Cohen gives us a piece headlined "Illinois governor's arrest stuns politicos." This piece tries to force upon Blago's fellow Illinois politicians a sort of "shock" in response to Blago's arrest. But, while some politicians and FBI officials expressed disappointment and a sort of faux shock, no one in Illinois or Chicago politics is really shocked that Blago is finally under arrest. It has been building for several years at this point and for most folks in Illinois at all aware of the situation, it was a matter of when Blago was going to get picked up by the feds, not if. There really isn't much genuine shock and it is hyperbole to say there is. Truth be told, instead of real shock, it is more like weariness. (Even this AP piece featuring a series of quotes from Illinois politicians doesn't reveal any of them being "shocked.")

Reuters today went right to work on distancing Barack Obama from accused Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.  Its piece, "Obama seen untouched by Illinois governor charges," starts:

President-elect Barack Obama's decision to keep a distance from his state's governor, who was arrested on corruption charges on Tuesday, should enable him to escape becoming tainted by the scandal, analysts said.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich stands accused of trying to sell the president-elect's vacant U.S. Senate seat for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife, among other charges.

And who precisely are these analysts expecting Obama to avoid the connection?

Today's Chicago Sun-Times's editorial, titled "Gov. Blagojevich must go - right now," begins:

If Gov. Blagojevich does not resign immediately, impeach him.

This is the inescapable conclusion that comes after reading Tuesday’s 76-page criminal complaint against the governor alleging a runaway crime spree of political corruption.

Even if the governor were found not guilty of every accusation against him — and given the apparent weight of the evidence against him, we’re not taking any bets — the criminal charges would cripple his already limited ability to lead Illinois.

The newspaper's editorial conveniently overlooks that Milorad Blagojevich is a Democrat.  It also ignores that only two years ago the Chicago Sun-Times endorsed him.  Its October 20, 2006 editorial, "Blagojevich for governor," took passing note of ethical problems and decided they were of little consequence: