{"id":582,"date":"2008-12-18T13:10:20","date_gmt":"2008-12-18T20:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/18\/evidence-should-precede-accusations\/"},"modified":"2008-12-18T13:10:22","modified_gmt":"2008-12-18T20:10:22","slug":"evidence-should-precede-accusations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/18\/evidence-should-precede-accusations\/","title":{"rendered":"Evidence should precede accusations"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve said already that:<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s OK with me if all Rahm Emmanuel did is twist Illinois Gov. Blagojevich’s arm to Appoint Obama Loyalists. That’s to be expected, and is neither illegal nor immoral. It is, after all, a political appointment, and normal political considerations apply.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sadly, the Republican Party decided to run this ad:<\/p>\n

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Generally, I agree with Newt Gingrich<\/a> that this ad is misplaced, and ill-timed.  There is a difference between trying to influence the appointment (normal politics) and trying to buy it from Blagojevich (illegal).  All we know, so far, is that Blogojevich probably tried to sell the appointment to the Senate to replace President-elect Obama.  Anyone who reads this blog for long knows I’m no fan of Obama, but I prefer actual evidence before making accusations of criminal behavior.<\/p>\n

The Republican ad doesn’t exactly allege criminality, and appears to blur the line (a bright one, I think) between trying to exert influence and doing something immoral or illegal.<\/p>\n

The NRC would be far better off spending its time planning for the next election cycle, and not simply firing blind in hopes that there is a “there” there.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if it turns out that Obama or his associates either tried to buy the appointment in some way, or failed to report Blagojevich’s attempt to sell it to them, that’s a whole different story.  But there has to be evidence of that, first, and I haven’t heard of any yet.  At some point, it may become clear that Obama has been stonewalling, or had knowledge of something inappropriate coming from one of his associates (like Rahm Emmanuel), but we aren’t there yet, if we will ever be.<\/p>\n

When the tapes are released (and they SHOULD BE released), we’ll know a lot more.<\/p>\n

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