I really do not know much about Jessie Jr. but there is no doubt that the Senate lacks people of color.

Jessie has come to Appalachia for years in support of higher wages, equity in education etc. Just after the 2000 election fiasco I made it over to one of the Supreme Court hearings in D.C. I made it to D.C. at 3 a.m and thought I would be one of the first in line all ready at least a hundred folks there. Got my place in line and then traded time with another person saving our spot in line so that we could take turns roaming. Around 7a.m Jessie showed up in front of the Supreme Court (by that time there may have been several thousand people out front) and got out of a black SUV and with a few body guard types started roaming around a bit. The Republican crowd surrounded him and I followed, listened and watched. Heard comments that I was shocked by the N word was thrown out and I started to lose it. Jessie just kept his cool kept his eyes moving above the crowd (he is darn tall) and kept moving.

Made it into the Supreme Court Hearing for close to an hour that is another story.

Jessie has seen and heard it all..he is dedicated to social justice for all.

And while I don’t think he SHOWS us what he’s got on the Senate seat, I have a feeling there’s a reason why he focused on the Obama stuff and the SEIU stuff, and that he has more confidence that he can pull that together than the JJJ stuff (which is why the JJJ stuff is tacked on there at the end).

blago was fucked the minute this was announced

like the Senate would accept an appointee with blago’s stink on him

I’ll go a little further:

The impression left by the Affidavit’s quoting Blago is that Team Blago is talking about having received more than an overture, indeed a proffer from Team Senate Candidate #5…or Team JJJ.

[More directly than I’d suggested earlier, to some degree in fun, as to JJJ meaning to say today he was ‘out of the Loop’, I think his comment at the non-press presser that he hadn’t spoken with Blago for 4 years was aimed at trying to respond to the suggestion that JJJ himself had any such personal contact.]

But depending on the actual quote IN CONTEXT and WITH FULL INFLECTION, it’s possible to see how Blago’s words may not mean such a proffer was made, directly by or indirectly on behalf of JJJ, but rather Blago might have been voicing the projections of his over-heated, under-muscled brain.

As in: ‘Among every other obvious possible candidate, the one I would figure most likely to be drooling over this would be JJJ – so I figure he’s gonna make his move. And when he does, what it really means is: I may sound cool and all, but really, I’m drooling. But I’m so smart, and he’s so dumb not to realize it, he’ll figure me to fall for that cool, doin’-in-for-the-people act, and all the time I’ll KNOW he’s really salivating to beat all’.

It’s like those conversations in Godfather 1: ‘When Sallotso phones, he’ll ask for a meet; but what he’s really after’…; and ‘Just you wait: Tataglia’s gonna ask for a meet, and you gotta realize he’s just acting as the go between’: self-centered, half-witted, disconnected, megalomania mixed with the paranoia that comes of knowing you’ve been under threat of a violent hit [in Blago’s case, under threat of arrest and search warrant in investigations going back months, maybe years].

But that doesn’t mean the investigation is about a Senate seat sale – and indeed you yourself have observed that the Affidavit shows the Senate seat sale scam never even occurred to Blago’s fevered brain until quite a while into an ongoing investigation – one that there’s also no necessity to accept was focused on even the subject matter of the Complaint, ie the Cubs shakedown.

Moreover, having dealt with conspiracy charges on both sides of the table, I can tell you that I’m really having trouble determining from the Affidavit whether Blago ever got beyond the ‘musing out loud with henchmen’ stage and onto the first important corroboration of the existence of a criminal conspiracy: an act to further the aim of the conspiracy [known to the pros as an “act in furtherance”, as in Where the hell is the…?]

Also, I noted in JJJ’s non-press presser that he referred to having started to talk to the Feds the DAY BEFORE. Now, that isn’t nearly as definitive as saying ‘As soon as I left the Gov’s mansion and the press scrum and got onto my cell phone, I found out from my people Fitz was urgently requesting the pleasure of my company’ – but neither is it so far from the same thing in effect that it might not be the case.

It’s not unheard of for investigations to jump the shark in circumstances a hell of a lot less pressurized than those like these that involve a president elect, so I won’t exclude the possibility that Fitz may have decided to act in terms of timing on a hunch – his own or a collective one – or a possibly flawed surmise, even out of an abundance of caution [nor am I inclined to criticize this particular ejaculation merely for its being premature, given what all is out there basking in sunshine] – and Fitz’ career suggests he’s hard to shock -

all I’m saying is that

[1] it’s not at all clear that Fitz had all the ingredients to put this particular Senate seat sale cake up for sale when he decided to put it on display, and

[2] without more, it’s not at all clear that a provable crime was committed in relation to the Senate seat sale.

‘Hey – we could al’as, you know, rob a bank er sumthin”
‘You moron; whaddyou know about robbin’ no banks’
‘Hey, I kin read – I read aboudit inna Elmore Leonard book one time’
‘Okay perfessor knowitall, then tell us: how woodchew go ’bout this bank deal then’
‘Well, foist you gotta find a bank wit’ some money in it’
‘Hol’ it, hol it right there: whereat dyou figger such a bank might be for instance’

It’s not as if Team Blago’s internal consultations don’t bring to mind the kind of bent nose losers Damon Runyan wrote of.

Let me see if I understand. You’re saying that only the first two pages were necessary, but the 76 pages were gravy, not legally necessary for yesterday’s business (except insofar as if you’re going to arrest a sitting governor, you better make you CAN make a case, even if you don’t have to make it yet).

If that’s what you’re saying, I’d agree, and suggest he’s trying to do two things: get people to come forward, and provide a roadmap to impeachment.