Things haven't been looking good for John McCain in the last few days -- his contribution to the ongoing bailout scenario seems to have been a wash at best and for reasons that aren't clear to this observer, the developing consensus seems to be that Barack Obama won the first debate, even though he did at least two things that would have blown up in his face if he were a Republican. Life isn't fair sometimes.
But it's possible that the latest deux ex machina has arrived. Something weird happened last night in the SNL skit on the debate. The name of Tony Rezko was pulled from the memory hole. And now, it appears that Tony Rezko has decided that he doesn't really like prison so much and may be about to start testifying. The danger for Obama may not be direct -- although Rezko certainly extended an out-0f-the-ordinary favor to Obama in helping him to finance his home in Chicago, the real heat will be on Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is up to his eyeballs in rich Rezko-y goodness. But an indictment of an Illinois governor because of his ties to the same guy that Obama got his house from would certainly open Obama up to a bunch of questions he'd rather not answer.
As the Chicago Tribune notes, Rezko is due to be sentenced in October. If he starts to sing sooner than that, the repercussions will extend well beyong the borders of Illinois. And they should.
7 comments:
Mark,
We'll see what happens, but I don't think this is going to have a very profound affect on Obama's campaign. It's pretty much been played out in Chicago, and there wasn't much to it.
As I said before, Obama's transgressions in re Rezko are on about the same level as McCain's with the Keating 5: Bad judgement, but nothing illegal.
Rich
It's been played out without Rezko's testimony, though....sorry, I think that there is some "there" there, as even Obama has admitted that he was an "idiot" to work with Rezko. Chicago area natives like myself have always known in our heart of hearts that there was something corrupt about that city's Democrats....I grew up with jokes about Daley ballot box stuffing and all.
I think you have the better argument, BB. But I'm not counting on "Fitzmas." We have bigger issues now anyway.
Barack Obama and the Democrats want the White House back in the worst way. And they may get it.
Hey, there's an "anonymous" person on this blog too who blanks out the very telling fact that Keating only passed around the goodies to 4 of the Keating 5 and none of those four were named McCain.
Obama's transgressions with Rezko's money and "gifts" are on about the same level as taking a bribe. Bad judgement and very illegal. However, like Obama's bombthrowing radical leftist friends Ayers and Dohrn, Obama got the protection of Big Media and will probably escape justice.
Folks,
The Obama's and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property in Hyde Park. The seller sold the mansion to Obama for 1.6 mil. $300,000 below the asking price, while Rita Rezko wife paid full price, $625,000, for the adjacent vacant lot. A 13% reduction on the price of a luxury home that had been on the market over a year. Not exactly unheard of. Six months after that, the Obama's paid Rita Rezko $104,500 for a small strip of her land to enlarge their yard. Mrs. Rezko made money on the deal. Several months later, Mrs. Rezko sold the remaning lot, again, at a decent profit. So, where's the crime?
There has been no evidence that Obama did anything illegal to further either of these exchanges, so barring some shoe dropping, what has Obama done that is illegal?
It may have been dumb of Obama to work a deal with Rezko's wife, given her husband's well known reputation as a political fixer in Chicago, but no one has found any evidence of a quid pro quo, and Mrs. Rezko turned a profit on the deal, which is the goal of most real estate agent.
Just like it was dumb of Cindy McCain to invest in a real estate venture with Charles Keating, and for John and Cindy McCain to accept free vacations, the frequent use of Charles Keating's jet, and the use of Keating's vacation homes while John was using his status as a US Senator to lean on S&L regulators on Keating's behalf.
If you have evidence of Obama's having done something illegal, I agree that he should be held accountable. But right now, there is nothing 'there'. I understand your wanting something to be there. But right now, your stuck with the audacity of hope.
Regards,
Rich
Your stuck with the audacity of hope....
More like the audacity of dope.
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