links for 2008-12-12

With Mr. Blagojevich evidently hoping to trade favors with President-elect Obama, the service employees seemed like a sensible intermediary because it was widely seen as doing more to elect Mr. Obama than any other union. The service employees’ political action committee spent at least $26 million on Mr. Obama’s behalf in this year’s presidential campaign, making it by far the largest single PAC donor in the campaign.

The service employees union was by far the top overall donor to Mr. Blagojevich’s 2006 re-election campaign, with records showing it donated more than $900,000, or about 5 percent of his total campaign funds.
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What was the role of the SEIU inremediaries and Valerie Jarrett's subsequent pull-out for Senate seat contention.

If an attack on Israel is automatically followed by retaliation from America, what role do Israeli nukes play? From a certain point of view the proposal may actually increase the risk of nuclear war in the Middle East. A combination of tacitly accepting an nuclear-armed Iran and reposing deterrence in Washington could make the Ayatollahs more willing to run the risk. What are the odds that the West can bring itself to enter into a nuclear exchange with Iran if it could not muster the will to prevent Teheran’s acquisition of those weapons in the first place? The Ayatollahs may interpret this proposal as meaning that the West will be a party to any Israeli decision to retaliate for an nuclear attack on its soil, undertaking to attack in lieu or veto the retaliation. It adds one more step in the process of pulling the retaliatory trigger. That can only reduce the certainty of retribution in Teheran’s eyes.

From Reuters:

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama plans to offer Israel a strategic pact designed to fend off any nuclear attack on the Jewish state by Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.

Which all sounds very nice, but implicit in such a "pledge" is that the United States now accepts that Iran's going nuclear and there's nothing anyone can (or will) do about it. That's a significant shift.

As to whether such a pledge will deter Tehran, I mentioned in this NR column that Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of those famously "moderate" types compared to President Ahmadinejad, described Israel as "the most hideous occurrence in history" which the Muslim world "will vomit out from its midst" with "a single atomic bomb." That last bit is worth quoting more fully. Rafsanjani said:

A single atomic bomb has the power to completely destroy Israel, while an Israeli counter-strike can only cause partial damage to the Islamic world.

How foolish for Obama and his people to tee this up so that if it turns out — when it inevitably turns out — that either Obama or someone on his behalf communicated Obama's wishes about his replacement to Blago or some Blago aide, they will now look either like liars or amateurs.

The only thing for Obama to say was something like: "Of course I made my views about several fine candidates known to the governor — I owe the people I still represent nothing less than my best judgment about that. But of course I had no part in any deal, and I think that's pretty clear from the very lengthy complaint and the remarks made by the U.S. attorney. I'm obviously appalled by the governor's very strange views about how he should carry out his responsibilities, but I'm not at all confused about mine."
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Obviously, there is more to the story and Obama wanted Valerie Jarrett.

That would be Charles Krauthammer. When he proposed it, liberals declared this idea was evidence that Krauthammer is insane. When Hillary Clinton echoed the proposal, Keith Olbermann said it was "far further to the right than John McCain. This may be far further to the right than the Bush administration policy about the Middle East, which you didn't think was physically possible." Rachel Maddow said it was "hard to imagine a conception of American interests broad enough to make this a prudent promise to make to the world, particularly to this volatile part of the world."

If in fact Emanuel had conversations with Blago that were taped, the Obama team better get all the facts out. Fast. Otherwise, Emanuel and the Obama administration will be in for a tough ride.

So, is it over? (The honeymoon, of course.) Let’s just say the press is finding something more tantalizing than Obama-promotion: a fascinating scandal that potentially touches a key member of the new administration.
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Rahm will be OUT before he started and the Obama Administration will be in for a rocky start. But, whose fault is that for poor vetting prior to the election?

Mr. Emanuel was among the few people in Mr. Obama’s circle who occasionally spoke to Mr. Blagojevich. He declined to answer questions on Wednesday, waving off a reporter who approached him as he walked across Capitol Hill.

A Democrat familiar with Illinois politics and the Obama transition, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there probably were calls between the Blagojevich and Obama camps about the Senate seat. It was not clear if any calls were recorded by federal agents, who had tapped the governor’s phones.
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What does Fitz have on tape?

A footnote to the 76-page criminal complaint and affidavit charging Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) with soliciting bribes confirms what has long been rumored — that a former longtime friend and fundraiser for President-elect Barack Obama is talking to federal prosecutors in hopes of a reduced sentence.

Antoin "Tony" Rezko's offer to provide authorities with evidence of others' wrongdoing is "not complete," and prosecutors are working to corroborate the claims he has made so far, the footnote said.

Rezko, a 53-year-old developer, was convicted in June of 16 criminal counts, including fraud, money laundering and abetting bribery. He is in custody awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors depicted Rezko at trial as a fixer for Blagojevich and the man to see to secure a high-level appointment with the governor's administration. Rezko had been a longtime fundraiser for Blagojevich and other Illinois politicians, including Obama.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's administration will offer Israel a "nuclear umbrella" against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed American source said earlier this week. The source, who is close to the new administration, said the U.S. will declare that an attack on Israel by Tehran would result in a devastating U.S. nuclear response against Iran.

But America's nuclear guarantee to Israel could also be interpreted as a sign the U.S. believes Iran will eventually acquire nuclear arms.
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More MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction. NOt a wise move.