That trend continues today, when he's far more likely to criticize Republicans for going after Obama's connections with corrupt Democrat Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich than to go after Obama and his connections with shady characters, corrupt politicians and the Chicago machine.
In a surprising rebuke to the warriors who fought for him through tough times, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday sided with President-elect Barack Obama and scolded the Republican National Committee for fanning the Illinois corruption scandal.It's absolutely infuriating that McCain continues to think that the Republicans are in the wrong whenever there is a scandal involving Democrats for simply pointing out the Democrats scandals.
On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked: “The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan, has been highly critical of the way President- elect Obama has dealt with this.
"He's had a statement every single day, saying that the Obama team should reveal all contacts they've had with Governor [Rod] Blagojevich. He says that Obama's promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested. Do you agree with that?”
McCain replied: “I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary. You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody — right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me.”
After all, the media has done an awful job of sorting through all of Obama's past dealings in Illinois politics and even now are busy trying to erect a barrier between Blagojevich and Obama, despite the fact that there's no way that the two camps didn't talk about what would happen to Obama's seat once he was elected President. If the GOP isn't out there highlighting the connections between Obama and Blagojevich and the possibility of further criminal conduct among Obama's staffers (hey, I'm talking about Axelrod and Emanuel who have made multiple contradictory statements regarding their conversations with the Blagojevich staff on Obama's seat situation), who will?
That isn't to say that Obama engaged in criminal acts relating to Blagojevich's attempt to sell Obama's seat to the highest bidder and profit personally from the transaction, but Obama did work with Blagojevich on his 2002 campaign for governor, and has been close to Blagojevich - who has been under a cloud of suspicion for corrupt activities ever since 2002.
No one who knows anything about Chicago and Illinois politics should be surprised by any of the revelations about Blagojevich, despite the stunning audacity of his demands for profit from Obama's seat. What is surprising is how Obama has seemingly risen above all the corruption and emerged without even a whiff of taint from decades of corrupt politicians surrounding him on all sides - at least that's how it is portrayed by a media that did all it could to push Obama to win in November.
Never mind that Tony Rezko's conviction still may provide some troubling questions for what Obama knew and did and how he came to own his Chicago home. Rezko is also a close personal friend of Blagojevich and helped Blagojevich win the election in 2002.
No comments:
Post a Comment