Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Shakedown!
[Editor's Note: This post was ready for publication 'bout 11:45 last night. Blogger was unavailable at the time, and I fell asleep waiting for it to be, well, available. Here 'tis, some 13 hours later.]
The Rev'rend Jesse Jackson's son, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., was identified today as the "Senate Candidate No. 5" mentioned in a federal affidavit alleging that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's been trying to sell President-elect B. Hussein Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. The affidavit states that Senate Candidate No. 5 was willing to pony up a half-million or a million bucks for the seat.
Earlier today, Rep. Jackson said he "reject[s] ... pay-to-play politics." He also denied that he ever offered to "pay" Gov. Blagojevich for Obama's Senate seat. Jackson may indeed be completely innocent. We'll learn more as Patrick Fitzgerald pursues and prosecutes his case against Blagojevich and his accomplice(s). That said ...
Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that Jesse Jackson, Jr., never once told - or even hinted - that he'd be willing to write a check to Blagojevich so's he could take Obama's place in the Senate. Why, then, would Blago suggest - in a half-dozen wiretapped phone calls - that Junior Jackson was ready to "pay-to-play"? Well ...
It probably has something to do with the fact that Jesse Jackson, Sr. is a known shakedown artist who -- despite his civil rights credentials as an associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. -- is as crooked as the day is long. Think I'm being unfair?
Once upon a time, Big Jesse spent a lot of his time preaching how familial commitments must be kept, and how it's important to tell the truth. Then it was revealed that the elder Jackson had squired a love child ... and he'd paid his baby mama big money to keep quiet.
I certainly hope that Jesse Jr. is telling the truth when he says he didn't offer a bribe to improve his political lot in life. I fear, however, that he's fallen under the spell of his family's pay-'em-off, take-it-all mentality. And I will NOT be shocked if it's revealed that Senate Candidate No. 5 wanted to pay big money to play the biggest game in D.C. town. Indeed.
The Rev'rend Jesse Jackson's son, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., was identified today as the "Senate Candidate No. 5" mentioned in a federal affidavit alleging that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's been trying to sell President-elect B. Hussein Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. The affidavit states that Senate Candidate No. 5 was willing to pony up a half-million or a million bucks for the seat.
Earlier today, Rep. Jackson said he "reject[s] ... pay-to-play politics." He also denied that he ever offered to "pay" Gov. Blagojevich for Obama's Senate seat. Jackson may indeed be completely innocent. We'll learn more as Patrick Fitzgerald pursues and prosecutes his case against Blagojevich and his accomplice(s). That said ...
Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that Jesse Jackson, Jr., never once told - or even hinted - that he'd be willing to write a check to Blagojevich so's he could take Obama's place in the Senate. Why, then, would Blago suggest - in a half-dozen wiretapped phone calls - that Junior Jackson was ready to "pay-to-play"? Well ...
It probably has something to do with the fact that Jesse Jackson, Sr. is a known shakedown artist who -- despite his civil rights credentials as an associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. -- is as crooked as the day is long. Think I'm being unfair?
Once upon a time, Big Jesse spent a lot of his time preaching how familial commitments must be kept, and how it's important to tell the truth. Then it was revealed that the elder Jackson had squired a love child ... and he'd paid his baby mama big money to keep quiet.
I certainly hope that Jesse Jr. is telling the truth when he says he didn't offer a bribe to improve his political lot in life. I fear, however, that he's fallen under the spell of his family's pay-'em-off, take-it-all mentality. And I will NOT be shocked if it's revealed that Senate Candidate No. 5 wanted to pay big money to play the biggest game in D.C. town. Indeed.
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Wednesday, December 10, 2008 
