Peoria Pundit

And by “linked to,” I mean that the man Obama has picked to be his chief of staff gave to Blagojevich a short list of people he wouln’t object to being picked to be Obama’s replacement in the Senate. Of course, in the language of the lazy, sloppy-thinking mass media, “linked to” means the exact same thing as “guilty of.”

Rahm Emanuel doesn’t need me to defend him.  But I’d be shocked if if someone from the Obama camp wasn’t talking to Blagojevich about his appointment.

And according to The Hill, Rahm Emmanuel and Obama may come out of this looking like goody-goodies:

Many believe Emanuel makes his own appearance in the criminal complaint, showing up as an unnamed adviser to Obama. Blagojevich curses the unnamed adviser in conversations with aides because, he says, the adviser seems unwilling to meet the governor’s demands.

In other words, Obama was unwilling to help Blago line his pockets.

But it doesn’t matter. Obama and Amanuel are “linked to” Blagojevich. Ooga booga booga. Whatever.

And Rich MIller (hat tip) makes the following observation:

Unless Rahm was wheeling and dealing with Governor Blagojevich on that Senate seat, promising favors like jobs and campaign cash, then this has absolutely zero real impact on Emanuel or Obama, especially since the feds are saying he’s not a target.

And I remain continually astounded at how willfully ignorant many commenters seem to be about Illinois politics. I caught five minutes of Michael Savage last night. In addition to pronouncing “Blago” line “Blaggo,” he kept insisting that Obama was a member of the Chicago Machine. This is true, because he is from Chicago.

I’m not going to waste my time pointing to any one post. Well, maybe this one. Rich Miller’s site is just chock full of Blago coverage. Go. Read. Enjoy. This is online journalism at its best on a day that calls for the best.

Rich Miller of The Capitol Fax Blog doesn’t think highly of of the political and government acumen of whoever it is who wrote this editorial in the Peoria Journal Star:

* The Peoria Journal-Star editorializes about the need for constitutional amendments on property taxes, the number of local governments, TIF districts, ethics reforms, the unfunded pension liability, etc., etc., etc. and then has this to say…

We fully expect good government groups to lead the charge in drafting and generating support for these amendments, to prove as some promised just how easy it is to amend Illinois’ Constitution without having to resort to something so radical as another Con-Con.

While they’re busy writing up amendments and getting the signatures necessary to put such citizen initiatives on the ballot – please, let’s not rely on the Legislature to do that for us – here’s one issue they should put at the top of their list.

Um, PJ Star? Those dreamy amendments of yours cannot make it onto the ballot without first clearing the General Assembly. Here’s a handy link for future reference.

The same paper recently endorsed Sen. James Clayborne for Senate President apparently without realizing that Clayborne was privately backed by Gov Blagojevich. Oops.

The Journal Star used to have reporters in Springfield. Not so much anymore, thanks to GateHouse Media mandated staff reductions and buyouts. Not that actually having a reporter or two covering Springfield full time would have made much of a difference. I have found that the JSEB is often perfectly willing ignore the reporting that appears in news articles, as long as it promotes the agenda of whoever is writing the editorial that day.

Rich Miller says on his Capitol Fax Blog that the local media is accepting Aaron Schock at his word regarding his apparent violation of the law when he notarized backdated tax shelter documents for his father about eight years ago:

* It’s truly unfortunate that the local media doesn’t seem to be calling Schock out on this fabrication, allowing the arguments to be played as a he said, she said affair without providing factual context…

Is it a smear campaign – or a concerning lapse in judgment? It depends on which candidate for the 18th congressional district you believe.

* Secondly, Schock is hiding behind the ol’ “the Democrats are trying to smear me” and “negative politics is so horrible” gambit…

Schock says the story was fed to the Associated Press by the National Democratic Party and is nothing more than a smear campaign three weeks before the election.

Local reporters never called the national party or the Associated Press to verify the claim, however.

Miller also isn’t buying the claim that it was just a clerical error. Schock’s father’s testimony was that the backdating was done intentionally. Also, the only reason no one benefited was because the shelters themselves turned out to fradulent.

And the whole “youthful” indescretion” thing isn’t washing with me either. He was old enough to BE a notary public in the first place, which means somewhere along the line he willingly assumed the responsibiity to vouch for the honesty of the documents he was notarizing. He was also a member of the Peoria School District 150 Board at the time. Presumably, somewhere along the line, he told voters to trust him despite about his age.

Now that he got caught screwing up, he’s playing the “youthful indescretion” card like he was caught shoplifting or something.

My advice — and he’s taken my advice before — is to just say “I screwed up” and stop blaming others and stop making excuses. The underlying offense isn’t all that bad. And as both Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon learned, its not the crime it’s the coverup that willl bite you in the ass.

As noted in IlliniPundit and Capitol Fax Blog, the McCain campaign web site is posting talking points and is asking supporters to get the word out. Many are taking this as instructions to copy and paste the talking points into blogs, either as posts or comments.

This is nothing new, albeit a but more blunt than how it’s usually done. Rush Limbaugh has spent years teaching his listeners how to use humor and ridicule to result arguments from the left (a task that is sometimes not all that hard). Democrats do the same.

Both IP and CapFax are on a suggested list of blogs to target. Both ask readers to not do that, with Mr. Miller going as far as to threaten banning.

I’m half-tempted to issue the same warning. This sort of fake grass-roots stuff drives me nuts. I didn’t hesitate to toss letters to the editor that appeared in other publications.

But I have an endless supply of space on this blog, while empty space on an editorial page is limited. I’m not likely to delete as much as I am to ridicule.

So be warned.