Even though Obama sources denied direct conversations, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Emanuel pushed Blagojevich to appoint Obama insider Valerie Jarrett to Obama’s Senate seat.  Emanuel also requested Blagojevich make the appointment by a certain time, althought he report didn’t give the date.

Details on this story coming out in bits and pieces at a time doesn’t look very good for Obama’s team.  I know he’s using the excuse of “Fitzgerald made me do it,” but after denials and corrections and wait a minutes, this is starting to really look bad, even though I don’t believe that Emanuel promised anything to Blago for the appointment.

Update: Hot Air’s Ed surmises that Blagojevich’s side is leaking conversation information as a mob-style threat to Obama — take me down, and you’re going with me.

This is why Obama’s ”thoughtfulness” is going to get him in trouble.  He takes WAY too much time making decisions, and it’s starting to hurt him.  He should have known all of this about his people, and he should have put it out right away.  Now, even though he’s been asked to wait to publicize his internal report, connections between his people and Blagojevich keep being discovered.  No one is saying anyone has done anything wrong, but not publicizing all the connections sooner makes it look like he’s covering something up.

Obama should have come out right away and said, “Look, we didn’t do anything wrong.  However, Emanuel had contact with his office since the election about my Senate seat, and he has worked with him in the past.  Holder has worked with him in the past.  I have worked with him in the past.  However, we DID NOT, I repeat DID NOT, trade anything for preferential appointment.  Look at the transcripts!  He was not happy with me, to say the least, that I wouldn’t pay so he could play.  And that’s all I have to say about that (in a Forrest Gump voice).”  OK, I was just joking about that last part.  That’s transparency.

And thank goodness the MSM has started questioning him on this.  And he’s not happy about it.

Update: Michelle Malkin has more on the background.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s version of a conservative, railed on the MSMfor not investigating Obama’s background more thoroughly, especially the Blagojevichconnection in light of recent events.  He questioned the judgment of editors who sent legions of reporters to Alaska to investigate Palin without doing the same for Obama when he burst onto the scene.  During the segment, which was a discussion on an article from earlier in the year regarding the Emanuel / Blagojevich / Obama connection, Mike Barnacle had the laughable audacity to suggest that he knows that Obama’s role was overstated by Emanuel based on his “instinct.”  Scarborough threw up his hands in frustration over that comment.

I find this rather funny, considering the small amount of questioning Scarborough did during the campaign.  He did no more to question The One than others in the MSM did.  Granted, he did more than his primetime comrades, but he still went along much more than he should have.

I was watching “Special Report” last night, and Mort Kondracke kept insisting that Obama wasn’t involved in any way in Bagojevich’s attempt to sell Obama’s Senate seat.  He pointed out the point in the transcript where Bagojevich cursed the fact that he was only going to be appreciated instead of monetarily rewarded.  Someone on the panel, maybe even Kondracke, said that Rahm Emanuel might have helped bring him down.

That perked up my ears.  Everything I’ve heard about Emanuel points away from him helping to bring down a fellow Democrat, especially from Illinois, unless that person has more power than he does.  Was this some sort of offensive attack? 

I later caught the video of Obama answering a question about this matter.  He said he had never been in contact with the Gov. about the Senate seat.  He said “we haven’t” then corrected himself to say “I haven’t.”  That’s a lawyer that did that.  He was making sure his words couldn’t come back on him.  Could this mean that one of his people DID know what was going on?  After Axelrod’s incident of misspeaking a couple of weeks ago, I’m beginning to wonder. 

This is just my little theory.  The three things coming together (the Axelrod backtrack, Obama’s immediate correction, and Emanuel’s possible assistance with the Gov’s downfall) just made me wonder if something was going on that Obama was worried about. 

I know, I know.  If the Gov. has anything on Obama, he will trade it faster than you can say the Gov.’s name, so how would this help Obama to have the Gov. behind bars?  Well, I don’t know, but something just doesn’t feel right.  I’ll try to get “Hannity’s America” right on the association investigation.

Update and bump:  Ed over at Hot Air has his take on reports that Emanuel DID have multiple contacts with Blagojevich regarding the Senate seat.  I agree that it would be crazy to think that Obama’s team had NO CONTACT with the Governor’s office about the Senate seat.  I’m not saying they knew Blago was selling it, but I’m sure they talked to him about the team’s desires.

Update II:  Wow, what a pantywaist.  This guy’s nickname is “Rahmbo,” and he is whining that he can’t go anywhere without being asked if he had contact with with Gov. Blagojevich.  His boss hasn’t even been sworn in yet.  How’s he going to deal with the pressures of being Cheif of Staff if he can’t handle a few questions?

Update III: Looks like Emanuel is on tape talking with Blagojevich’s office.  This isn’t surprising, as noticed by a sharp Hot Air commenter who questioned how Blagojevich knew he would just have appreciation and no quid pro quo if he hadn’t had contact with Obama’s office.  This doesn’t mean Emanuel did anything wrong, but it does show that either Obama is starting out with trying to cover up a non-story (who wouldn’t want to suggest people to fill a position being vacated) or he just thought he’d get away with his lawyer-speak just like during the campaign. 

As I’ve written before, he’s now President-Elect.  The media have already done their job.  Now, they can actually question The One without worrying about ramifications on the election.  Let’s start the “Throw Rahmbo from the Bus” countdown, because Obama has continually denied his team has discussed the Senate seat with Gov. Blagojevich’s office.

It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up, stupid!  Ask Bill Clinton.  Ask Scooter Libby.  Ask Martha Stewart.  Hell, in this case, it’s not even a crime to just have contact with the Gov.  As much as I dislike that Obama is President-Elect, this country doesn’t need any scandal right now.  Just put it all out there and answer the questions, especially since all signs point to no wrong-doing on Obama’s team’s part!

Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) has been under investigation for a few years now.  McCain even put out an ad linking Obama to the governor’s accused corruption.  Thank goodness the FBI had the foresight to get wiretaps before Obama was elected as president, suspecting that the governor would try to trade Obama’s senate seat for some sort of favors. 

Michelle Malkin has all the juicy details.  Make sure you look at some of the other stories under “Related” at the link.  Hot Air lists some of the possibilities for the different candidate numbers, as mentioned on the tapes and also has a link to Fitzgerald’s presser.

Update: Blagojevich has been released on his own recognizance.

Update II: Team Obama can’t get its story straight.

Update III: The Illinois legislature is moving to take the Governor’s power of appointment for Obama’s seat away from him.  Right now, the only person who would actually accept an appointment from the Governor would be… the Gov. himself!  Who else would want to go to D. C. with the cloud of possibly having bought his new position over his head?  Oh, yeah, the guy vacating the seat would.  But few others would.

I’m a firm believer of the adage, “The media giveth and the media taketh away.”  Look at the countless celebrities that are built up only to be pounced upon at the slightest misstep.  And what about people like Joe the Plumber who was thrust into the spotlight after asking a simple question?  Or Ashley Smith, who was torn down after it was learned she gave her captor meth as well as prayer during her hostage ordeal to calm him down.  And we can’t soon forget the excitement of Sarah Palin’s pick as VP nominee followed by the assassination of her and her family’s character. 

This happens to most newly-minted media darlings.  Well, except one.  Barack Obama.  None of the MSM cared to look into his past very thoroughly.  But I think his fall from grace is coming.  First, he appointed numerous throwbacks to the Clinton era to his cabinet.  Then, he said the tax hike on the rich will probably be delayed.  Now, he says that he’s keeping Gatesas SecDef. 

The MSM LOVED Obama precisely for his anti-Iraq war stance.  Keeping ANY remnants from the perceived war-mongering Bush administration is bound to piss them off.  This on top of his going back on the “change” and “tax the rich” mantras with his pronouncements so far has gotten them whispering, “Maybe he isn’t The One.”  Just wait ’til he breaks the news on universal sick care.

I think once we get through this economic meltdown, which is being worsened by governmental actions, we’ll see a gradual flow of anti-Obama stories coming on the scene from the likes of MSNBC and the NY Times.  We’ll see someone dig up his Columbia thesis and grades, or maybe that anti-Israel tape will surface.  If he doesn’t do what he was selected elected to do, I see the MSM unleashing their wrath on him around midterm elections.

See, the reporters HAVE been doing their homework.  They just weren’t making it available until after Obama was elected.  An interview from 2004 with Obama has popped up very recently.  Part of the interview covered Obama’s church habits, and he admitted to attending church every week, a claim which differs from what he said on the trail when Rev. Wright became a liability.

And so it begins.

Before the election, I wrote a post arguing Obama will not be able to stand up to Pelosi and Reid because he’s pretty much a political neophyte in D.C.  However, the people around him aren’t, and the machine they are putting into place is massive.  Erick over at Redstate argues that if Obama is having trouble with Congress, he’ll just shoot out an email to his Manchurian electorate to get them to contact their Senators and Representatives to vote “Obama’s way.”

Just think about how powerful that is.  Chances are they have physical addresses to match the email addresses.  If Obama is having problems with a Republican Congressman from a slightly red district on a vote, he can target those constituents and get them to flood their Congressman with emails and phone calls to try to change his / her mind. 

He also has all those phone numbers he collected when the world was waiting for the text message with his VP announcement.  Text alerts could go out just before votes for a last-minute bombardment of Congress.

Think about election day 2010.  Voter turnout usually falls dramatically from the Presidential election.  If he targeted districts that were barely lost to Republicans, he can get his Manchurian electorate to once again turn out and vote for the Democrat and once again gain seats. 

I hope the RNC is watching and learning.  They have email addresses, too, and they can get more from the McCain campaign.  They can use them for more than just continually begging for money.  In fact, if they keep doing that, many people will just drop themselves off the list.  We’ve got smart, technologically inclined Republicans.  We can do better than the Obamachine.

Obama’s choice to replace him as Senator was on “Meet the Press” this weekend.  She let it slip that Obama is “ready to rule” on day one.  She is one of The One’s confidantes, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that term is privately bandied about.  Brokaw didn’t even bother to question it.

Maybe we should start calling ourselves the royal opposition now.

Update: Hot Air has more on Ms. Jarrett.

This is what happens when you elect a Harvard lawyer instead of a man tested by war as President.  Wanna make a bet all of them get released on bail pending trail because some judge feels sorry for them due to their long-term imprisonment without a trial?  I bet they ALL show back up for their court dates. Hopefully, we’ll have courts that will have the balls to block these pending releases like this one did.

Bonus: Read through the first link.  Notice the “give an Obama administration the benefit of the doubt” statement near the end?  Sound familiar?  This cult-like atmosphere is getting a little scary.

Update: Heh, I guess the inner lawyer might be giving way to the inner politician.  It’s a whole lot different when you actually have to make a decision, huh, Mr. President-Elect Obama?