The Hot Seat has been very busy this week hasn’t it?

Posted on December 13, 2008 by Uppity Woman

It’s been a dizzying week just trying to figure out which Chicago Thug is sitting in the Musical Hot Seat hasn’t it? It’s just been a parade of butts sitting on that seat.

Bless RBO, here’s the week in Review. “Hot Seat Edition”.

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RBO News & Views — The Hot Seat Edition

December 12, 2008 by Procrustes

“Obama is a Chicago political guy” — Watch!

 

 Yup! That’s what John Kass, RBO’s favorite Chicago columnist says — and he knows his Chicago political guys really well. (h/t Gateway Pundit)

“Obama is a creature of Chicago Politics. The machine runs Chicago… There seems to be a willful attempt by some outside Chicago to sort of not consider that Obama is a Chicago political guy.” 

b-emanuel-apCountdown ’til Rahm is Under the Bus? MacRanger got ahead of us on this one:

“President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, refused to take questions from reporters this morning about whether he was the Obama “advisor” named in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich. [...] 

Emanuel was uncharacteristically absent from Obama’s news conference this morning. He was spotted two hours later in the lobby of Chicago’s City Hall. He was there to listen to his two children performing in a concert with their school, Anshe Emet.

Mac gives it a week. Anyone want to make a prediction?

b-change-you-can-xeroxBlagObama Quote of the Day: Dan Riehl of Riehl World View observes:

According to “reliable” sources close to the investigation, Rahm Emanuel had “multiple” conversations with Blagojevich regarding Obama’s replacement and it’s thought at least some of them were taped. 

That doesn’t mean he was engaged in any wrong doing. But not even POTUS and already one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing? How many times might we be hearing that over the next four years?

James DeLeo, John DiFranzo, Rahm Emanuel (l to r)
deleo-james-john-difranzo-rahm-emanuelKass: The Guy Behind the Guy: Columnist John Kass, and one guy very wise to the Chicago wise guys, writes:

When it comes to being the guy behind the guy, there is no one more conspicuous than Rahm Emanuel. 

As chief of staff for President-elect Barack Obama, he’s usually at Obama’s news conferences, standing off to the side, glowering like some fiercely loyal mini-me.

But Emanuel wasn’t there Thursday when Obama faced reporters to answer questions about federal charges against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Dead Meat), accused of trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder.

“I have never spoken to the governor on this subject,” Obama said. “I am confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat.”

Wow. No staffers tried to make a deal for his Senate seat?

“I’ve asked my team to gather the facts of any contacts with the governor’s office about this vacant seat, so that we can share them with you over the next few days,” Obama said.

He could have just asked Emanuel, but he wasn’t there, and reporters kept wondering, “Where’s Rahm? Where’s Rahm?” What they should have been asking is, “Where’s Jimmy?”

As in state Sen. James DeLeo (D-How You Doin?) (right above)

DeLeo is an extremely powerful politician. You know this because he’s hardly ever quoted in newspaper stories.

Emanuel and DeLeo have a relationship. Emanuel is the congressman from the 5th Congressional District, where DeLeo is the Democratic state central committeeman. What hasn’t been reported on much is that Emanuel has not yet resigned from the House. And if you want to play politics in Jimmy’s sandbox, you need his OK.

DeLeo is also considered by some to be the real governor of Illinois. Blagojevich is the nutty guy who makes the speeches and gets the federal slap. They’re so close that if Jimmy suddenly stopped walking, Rod would chip his teeth on the back of Jimmy’s head.

It’s reasonable to assume that if there’s one fellow Rod would talk to about the Senate seat, it’s Jimmy. And given their relationship, Jimmy could talk to Rahm. I’m not suggesting money was offered. There is nothing illegal about politicians horse-trading to fill seats. Only when such deals are monetized—as the governor is alleged to have done—is it illegal.

I’m just talking about putting political pieces on the board the Chicago Way. A vacant Senate seat and a soon-to-be vacant House seat in Illinois would be a package deal. Consider this mathematical equation: Jimmy/Rod + Jimmy/Rahm = Happy Rod, Jimmy and Rahm. Get it?

Be sure to read the rest.

1-1-1-bullshit2Headline: Press Scrambling to Cover Obama’s Rear End. Enough said. Move along. There’s nothing to see here. Really. Honest to Obama.

Headline: What’s at stake: Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire connects a dot or two between the Blago indictment and Pres-Select Obama. Blago wants money to expand the Illinois Tollway. Obama wants to hand out gazillions “to invest in infrastructure on a scale not seen since the 1950s, when the US highway system was established.” Enough said. Move along. There’s nothing to see here. Honest to Obama.

schakowsky-debs-dinner-may-2004Schakowski Hat in “Senate Race”: At Wednesday night’s Midwest Academy Awards Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky (right, Debs Dinner, May 2004) “threw her hat in the ring, announcing that she was ‘passing around a clipboard’ for people to sign up to be on an organizing committee for her ‘Senate race, and a basket for donations will follow right behind.’ The audience cheered.”

Schakowski’s name was rumored as Obama’s replacement as long ago as April. You can read more about Schakowski here and here.

BlagoGate Headlines

Other Headlines

Check back often for updates and new brief articles.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Governor Blagojevich, My Kinda Town, Chicago, Rahm Emanuel

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16 Responses

  1. grayslady, on December 13th, 2008 at 9:56 AM Said:

    As an Illinois resident, and a former constituent of Jan Schakowsky, I would be thrilled to see Jan take Obama’s Senate seat. Jan’s husband is a jerk, but I don’t hold that against her anymore than I hold Bill Clinton’s actions with Monica against Hillary.

    I was very disappointed by Jan’s support of Obama, but it seemed that every Democratic pol in IL, including Dick Durbin (who, unlike Obama, has been an excellent senator), avidly supported Obama. Where Obama has only pretended to care about the Iraq war and universal health care, Jan actually voted against the Iraq war resolution and has long been a champion for universal health care. She has also been one of the strongest proponents in Congress for women’s rights, for care for the mentally ill, for workers’ rights, and for legislation to help seniors. In other words, she’s one of the few members of Congress fighting for the voters rather than the monied special interests.

    In my perfect scenario, Jan would become our new U.S. Senator and Jeff Schoenberg (IL State Senator who currently represents the same geographical area as Jan’s congressional district) would move up to her seat in Congress. Probably won’t happen, but a girl can dream.

  2. Uppity Woman, on December 13th, 2008 at 9:59 AM Said:

    She sound like a good choice, so you might as well forget about it.

  3. grayslady, on December 13th, 2008 at 10:13 AM Said:

    Uppity, you’ve got that right.

  4. Star, on December 13th, 2008 at 10:56 AM Said:

    I liked the part where that Atty General woman is the daughter of a Big Cheese and was one of the people who wanted the seat and now wants to be governor.

  5. yttik, on December 13th, 2008 at 11:00 AM Said:

    “But not even POTUS and already one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing?”

    Well heck, his ears didn’t know what his butt was doing in Rev Wright’s church for 20 yrs.

  6. You can't touch this, on December 13th, 2008 at 11:20 AM Said:

    Love this quote from one who lives in the Windy City and knows!

    “We have a sick political culture, and that’s the environment Barack Obama came from,”

    - Jay Stewart, executive director of the Chicago Better Government Association

    from “Obama Was Mute on Illinois Corruption”

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122895356506696347.html

  7. You can't touch this, on December 13th, 2008 at 11:21 AM Said:

    Is this thing working right?

  8. Star, on December 13th, 2008 at 11:30 AM Said:

    Someone at Newsbusters said…

    Did someone send Rahm a fish?

    I horked out laughing.

  9. Uppity Woman, on December 13th, 2008 at 11:31 AM Said:

    Yes You Can’t, it’s working. The thing is, if this is your first post here, you have to wait till we pull you out of moderation. It keeps the squirrels away. I hope you understand and Sorry for the inconvenience. Your posts should move right along from now on.

  10. Uppity Woman, on December 13th, 2008 at 11:32 AM Said:

    HAHAHA on the fish.

  11. thetownecrier, on December 13th, 2008 at 11:58 AM Said:

    This should be part of the post.

    http://tinyurl.com/5t9w8s

    Can one of the artists come up with a rotating photopaste of rotating mug shots on this chair?

  12. Kevin, on December 13th, 2008 at 1:56 PM Said:

    So how long until they blame Hillary for all their ills?

  13. Star, on December 13th, 2008 at 3:27 PM Said:

    So how long until they blame Hillary for all their ills?

    If she had just BEAT us, we wouldn’t have had these problems.

  14. Star, on December 14th, 2008 at 10:40 AM Said:

    Where Obama has only pretended to care about the Iraq war

    Gen Odierno says, oops, staying longer. Sunday’s little sugarplum, as Tweets would say.

  15. Uppity Woman, on December 14th, 2008 at 10:54 AM Said:

    Yup Star. I bet some Cheeto Heads are exploding. And he’s not going to close down the Terrorist Tank either, now that he’s figured out that he can’t just turn people who want to blow us up loose and they don’t fit anywhere in our system.

    This is going to get very interesting. I notice in his weekly address he also talked about mortgage re-adjustments………..for people who are “Prepared for the responsibility of a home”. In other words, if you can’t pay this mortgage, you can’t have a home. Also known as Reality.

    Then there’s FISA, then there’s that tax increase he’s not going to implement, then there’s ………and well…………….the man isn’t going to keep a single promise he pimped in order to get elected. They’ve all been pwnd.

  16. Grail Guardian, on December 14th, 2008 at 11:20 AM Said:

    Yeah, but unfortunately we all get the thrill of going under with them. Joy! Are we allowed to beat on Otards in the unemployment lines?

Comments are closed.