Blago, Etc.

Blago will be allowed to appoint the Senate seat after all. Just don't pick anybody on the so-called "list."

Karl Rove is protesting too much, methinks:

Rove, a former top White House adviser to President Bush, said on Fox News, "[Obama] should have, right from the beginning, been more forthcoming."

Rove, a Fox News analyst, added, "He should have come right out at the beginning and acknowledged to the American people exactly what we already know, which is that somebody on his staff, somebody on his team, talked to somebody in Blagojevich's office. That's not the impression they left with the American people. They should have, right from the beginning, said, 'Here's what we did and here's who did it.'"

Pressed by liberal Alan Colmes of the "Hannity and Colmes" show if Rove thinks Obama is hiding something, Rove responded, "I just think he’s mishandled this."

Yeah, right. It's all going according to plan, and he knows it.

You think so?

When Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney in Chicago, announced the arrest of the Illinois governor, Rod R. Blagojevich, Mr. Fitzgerald said he had acted to halt a political crime spree that included what he called an “appalling” effort to sell off the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

But now some lawyers are beginning to suggest that the juiciest part of the case against Mr. Blagojevich, the part involving the Senate seat, may be less than airtight. There is no evidence, at least none that has been disclosed, that the governor actually received anything of value — and the Senate appointment has yet to be made.

Of course it's not airtight. This whole thing was a scam to steal two Illinois seats ala what happened in Alabama with Don Siegelman. The timing gave the whole thing away.

It's too bad far too many Obama critics who are so-called Democrats can't see the obvious. The timing of the affidavit and arrest gave it away.

And then there's this:

In moving to arrest Mr. Blagojevich on Dec. 9, Mr. Fitzgerald acted without having presented his case before a grand jury. He is now likely to use such a panel to obtain additional witness testimony exploring whether anyone, including anyone in the Obama camp, had specific discussions with the governor’s office about filling the vacancy.

Mr. Fitzgerald’s decision to bypass a grand jury initially could signal a belief on his part that he did not yet have a fully prosecutable case on his hand, though it appears to have been prompted at least in part by the publication in The Chicago Tribune on Dec. 5 of an article that tipped off Mr. Blagojevich that investigators were listening in on his conversations.

Mr. Fitzgerald has also said he had been worried that if he did not intervene, Mr. Blagojevich might go ahead with some of his schemes, including appointing a successor to Mr. Obama.

Appointing a successor to a vacant Senate seat, which is what a state governor DOES, is called a "scheme." Can it be MORE obvious what the intent of the arrest and affidavit was?

This is pure politics. Obama better get rid of Fitzgerald and all of the other U.S. attorneys appointed by Bush or he is going to regret it big time.