"To describe this reporting as baseless speculation is an understatement."
==================

To describe it as AP reporting, though, is entirely accurate.

Professional Journalism™ -- gotta love it!

Obvusly Fitzgerrald is conspireing with the Obama team after being promased the AG job. Anyone who cant see this NEADS TO OPEN THEY'RE EYES!

Campbell Brown was just on CNN rather piously going on how the Washington press corps HAS to keep grilling the Obama transition team to get "the truth" and that Obama shouldn't hide behind Fitzgerald's request not to say anything for a week.

Uh, Campbell, where was the "Washington press corps" for the last eight years? Not exactly digging to get anywhere close to the Bush maladministration's actions....

and that Obama shouldn't hide behind Fitzgerald's request not to say anything for a week.

Which ends the day after tomorrow, for pity sakes.

If one doesnt read the paper they are uninformed and if one does read the paper they are misinformed -Mark Twain

all we get is appreciation, right?" "Right," Emanuel responded.

Of course, we don't know what "appreciation" means. It could mean a cool million. Or a cabinet position. We simply don't know. Obama needs to respond to these concerns.

The AP doesn't point to any wrongdoing, of course, but it suggests some unknown evidence might, at some point, emerge to make Emanuel look bad.

Well, I won't point to any "wrongdoing," of course, but I'd like to suggest that some unknown evidence might, at some point, emerge to identify the Associated Press as the entity responsible for shredding Dick Cheney's records and "losing" GWB's WH emails

The AP's slide into right wing madness is tragic. They've joined the Limbaugh/Hannity delusional reality, where if it might be good for the repubs, it must catagorically be true.

They say the 'Clinton rules' are back in play, but if AP in an indicator, the rules are even more imbalanced. They aren't waiting for an allegation to breathlessly report 24/7. They are inventing the allegations on their own.

AP - Always Pointless reporting! Or Absolutely Partisan stories! Have fun with your own.

At least the AP Washington DC bureau deserves much of our scorn. Name names and kick butt! -Kevo

AP - Awfully Pointless

As serious as Blagojevich's problems are, it sounds like the Obama/transition team angle is a dud. There's just nothing there.

As if this matters to the villagers or the wingnuts.

"Bottom line: these sources say that Obama's report, which is expected to be released this week, will confirm what Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and President-Elect Obama have said -- and what Governor Blagojevich clearly believed: that Obama officials were not open to any kind of deal for the Obama Senate seat."

Obama should cite "executive privilege" and declare that he will not release his internal report because it is vital that the president-elect's conversations with his staff be kept confidential.

Twenty-four hours later he can tell the press, "Hey, I was just fuckin' with ya."

Think of how many open seats there will be in the House and Senate after Republicans burst blood vessels or their heads explode!

Not much there, but the 'guilt by (corrupt Illinois)location card' will no doubt be played up to the hilt in the coming months. Just what Obama needs. Gee, thanks Blago.

Can someone please tell me when Fox News bought out the AP? I seem to have missed the memo.

Does anyone believe that Emmanuel was unaware that Blogo was being wiretapped? Or that he assumed as much whenever he dealt with either him or his representatives? The same holds true with Jesse Jr. Only those politicians who are hopeless idiots played ball with the governor in the expectation that he that he could deliver with no one the wiser. And those idiots are about to take the big fall alongside him, once Blogo gets around to cutting his deal with Fitz.

After swallowing whole "Saddam has WMD's," umpteen variations of "No one could have anticipated..." and the invocation of Executive Privilege for nearly every Bushie save for Barney, the White House dog, our MSM is now demanding the whole story of a non-story. They should all be made to wear clown makeup while on camera.

As serious as Blagojevich's problems are, it sounds like the Obama/transition team angle is a dud. There's just nothing there.

Is that the spirit that won Jeff Gerth his Pulitzer? Can you imagine Judy "Queen of all Iraq" Miller giving up so easily? Did James Stewart call it quits just because there was no actual Whitewater scandal with the Clintons?

An attitude like this, and you've got no future in journalism, Steve.

Obvusly Fitzgerrald is conspireing with the Obama team after being promased the AG job. Anyone who cant see this NEADS TO OPEN THEY'RE EYES! -- shortstop, @12:41

If you hadn't misspelt "team" (it's "teem", silly!) you'd have had me fooled all the way until the signature.

Question No. 1 — Why are "sources" talking (I assume Mr. Angelic Funk's sources are inside the Obama camp), or rather, why are they leaking? Didn't Fitz say he wanted a "cone of silence" and didn't The One agree? (I've already thought of have a dozen others while waiting for my multiple-links comment to be approved.)

Answer: Angelic is a friendly source, and the leak is plowing ground for the release of the official Obama review/report.

That report will be released on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday, to be promptly buried by Christmas fuzzy feel-good stories.

Steve, are you getting punked, or have you signed up willingly for this ride? I've asked before rhetorically at my blog.

If it’s a “dud,� Steve, why didn't Obama say so right away

Now, hold on. While I doubt Emanuel said much to incriminate himself except among the church ladies, why are famously skeptical journalists accepting the Obama report as accurate? If you asked George Bush to write a report on whether or not his friends Dicky and Donny did anything wrong, he'd find they were innocent puppies, too. I'm waiting (and I know it will be a long wait) for the audio tape.

The Constant Weader at www.RealityChex.com

Willie Brown says Blago ain’t going anywhere.

The former San Francisco mayor says Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich called him recently. And says Fitz has a very weak hand.

I’ve said for a week now, ever since Fitz’s “cone of silence� request, that I think he’s bluffing In a game of seven-card stud with fairly weak hole cars.

Brown also says Blago turned to Madigan as his choice after Jarrett was pulled off the table precisely because Obama had no leverage over her.

Yet more on why Steve and other MSLBs are barking up the wrong trees here.

A totally related unanswered question. It’s Dec. 21. I’m not looking for Solsticery or for a very early shadowy appearance of Punxsutawney Phil; rather, where is the now-overdue Cousin Itt Palin?

SocraticGadfly: I've asked before rhetorically at my blog.

Oh, no one saw that, so good thing you repeated it here.

If you hadn't misspelt "team" (it's "teem", silly!) you'd have had me fooled all the way until the signature.

I did my best, m'dear, but yeah, it sucked. Wish I knew who'd recently done the "there is norway Minisoda will put up with a stollen election" post recently. Priceless. I miss egbert's dynamite malapropisms.

steve: As serious as Blagojevich's problems are, it sounds like the Obama/transition team angle is a dud. There's just nothing there.

and you think that will stop us...

don't you know obama is a muslim who isn't an american citizen....

I don’t think pushing Jarrett’s name is a “pro forma� call; read here for more on how MSLBs (mainstream liberal blogs) probably aren’t getting this right.

Read THAT, Shortstop.

Folks like you are just as bad as the MSM you clalm is wrong.

Drink another glass of Kool-Aid and ignore the bitter almond taste at the bottom, while you're at ti.

We keep seeing your mouth move, Fly, and yet nothing ever comes out except a high-pitched, toneless shriek. Weird.

Rahm should resign. Mostly because he bugs me.

Is everyone here a homer?

Shortstop, I would spell it out for you in one-syllable words, but "fuckwad" and "dickhead" are two syllables.

As for "high-pitched shrieks," what you hear inside your half-empty cranium is your problem not mine.

The question to Steve was rhetorical here, too. It's clear on this question he's about 2/3 in the bag and 1/3 unwilling to think outside the MSLB box.

Flubber, I'M not a homer. Shortstop, though, like Steve is. If you want independent minded, skeptical, left-liberal political analysis, go to a blog like mine.

Shortstop, I figured out what that toneless shriek is that you keep hearing.

It's the sound of you laughing alone at your feeble attempts at humor. Might want to have that looked at.

latest rumor: Cheney is the new CEO of AP.

And the best part: it took you 15 minutes to think of that, Fly. You sat there from 12:56 to 1:11 with your little brow furrowed really, really hard, and that was what you came up with in the end. Priceless.