And certainlhy no need to point out JJJ never mentioned his far more famous and notorious father JJS – not at all; not even once; not even in passing.

Or to raise again which Sarah has brought to our attention here, that:

long ago ago said father formed a working relationship with a then obscure and undistinguished US congressman -

who just happens now to be the very same Governor MacBlago -

in the throes of which the two acted jointly on a project of hostage negotiation and international derring-do in a land far away,

the success of which I’m inclined to believe had more to do with said then-world famous father than said obscure undistinguished congressional rep,

and while no doubt it worked to the benefit of each,

it appears to have worked so much more to the benefit of MacBlago:

being he was so obscure and all,
and being it all took place in Serbia and all,
and being like he was like maybe the second Serbian-American in US national political history and all,

none of which it seems JJJ’s father ever resented or anything;

which of course may speak to the bigness of the man -
or of the political marker involved -
or maybe both.

But gosh, the first and last kind of fly in the face of the same guy’s off-air confession THIS YEAR to wanting to emasculate a certain presidential nominee – don’t ya think?].

And certainly no need to raise the identify of he who in all the world would be most likely to best remember BOTH that incident
AND that somehow MacBlago was able to overcome his essential obscurity and narrow base to such a degree that within 4 years he was voted in as the first Democratic governor of Illinois in 3 frickin’ DECADES
AND that over two gubernatorial elections came to command something approaching NINETY PER CENT of the African-American vote, to the point he actually referred to himself as the state’s “first black governor”… WOW!

And it would be needlessly provocative to raise that if the answer to that question is not MacBlago, I in particular would be prepared to bet a whole heck of a lot that the person in the best position in the world to REMIND McBlago of all of it would be JJJ’s said dear old dad.

[And no, kdh22, I do NOT think you’re nuts for suggesting that’s something’s going on when JJJ says NOTHING about his father, but chooses instead to tell public about a phone call received that morning from his SISTER, as to how “proud” she is of him.

Lot’s to be proud of with such a brother, I’m sure - but clearly the implication was that someone as close to him AS HIS FATHER has reason to feel PRIDE in what JJJ has done in this little drama.]

And of course there’s no need to enter into a gainsaying competition [Dad got himself a lawyer! - So what? Lotsa folks do that! - Are you frickin’ KIDDIN’ me?].

Just leave the the cattle to low.

Rev. Jesse Jackson says he played no role and was not “an emissary” in alleged efforts to make a deal with Governor Rod Blagojevich for the appointment of his son, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) to the U.S. Senate.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news…..-Says.html

>”The unfortunate part about this is you never know what people are doing when they’re not in your presence, and you can’t control what people do when they’re not in your presence. Someone may be thinking that they’re helping you when they’re actually hurting you.”

And while we’re on the topic, I seem not to have noticed that NBC Chicago has quietly become the best source of written news about the city. I’ve ignored the local teevee stations forever, assuming they mostly had their video stuff. But NBC has about as many written pieces on this as the Trib, and they’ve got a much better instinct for what’s news. The Sandi Jackson thing is about the first news today.

I agree with you that at this point, there is no evidence. And that getting a lawyer merely means you don’t want to get in trouble, not that you think you should be in any.

The one thing that is somewhat alarming to me is Jim Montgomery, a very good lawyer, formerly Harold Washington’s lawyer, saying “Jesse Jr. hasnt done any wrongdoing.” As I said in an earlier thread, he is going out of his way to parse his Jackson’s here. I find it a strained phrase, not only for the way he names Congressman Jackson, but also for the clumsy redundancy of ‘done any wrongdoing’, which is the sort of thing you say when midway through a sentence you get nervous about what you’ve just said.

Or, it may mean absolutely nothing at all. We’re all engaged in Kremlinology here, partly because we’re very interested, and partly, at least for me, because there is a subtext that some things get prosecuted and others don’t, and yet I’d like to know more about them anyway.

I’m watching Jesse Jr. on WGN right now, and he makes an emotional close in front of his house, but again, a very personal one. He doesn’t say that no one among his associates has made these approaches. He says he’s confident people will come to see he has done no wrong. But the criminal complaint is all about people acting on his behalf, not him.

It contrasts very strongly with Barack, who is on now, saying he’s “very confident that noone” around him has been involved.

I believe Jesse Jr., watching him. But I think he’s speaking very exactitude. He believes someone in his circle made these approaches, without his knowledge. Few staffers would feel the confidence to do that. His father might. Or might not …

Again, this doesn’t even add up to circumstantial evidence. It just adds up to a personal suspicion

I’d also add that the standards for judging someone in your own mind and in conversation with friends (or on a blog) are quite different from the standards for trying them before a jury. It’s fair to talk this out here. And it’s very fair for you to keep pointing out the weakness of the ‘evidence.’

Notice that Rahm, who is on right now, simply isn’t answering questions. That contrasts with both Jesse and Barack. It’s interesting. It doesn’t mean anything yet. But it’s interesting.

I think we’re going to learn a lot more. Some of it quite soon.

Pretend for the moment that he knew–or was told by the FBI–that someone HAD offered something on his behalf. That denial would still be totally valid: if he didn’t know, he’s got no criminal liability, even if (as is the most damaging I think may have happened wrt him) he talked a lot about “service to Blago” in exchange for the appointment on Monday.

What JJJ did was basically NOT contest that someone HAD said something–but disavow himself of those statements. That’s not to say statements happened (which is where we were before any of his associates got into this). BUt it’s to say that he doesn’t knwo and wants to make clear he is only speaking for himself–he is saying he has no criminal liability, but certainly NOT vouching for his associates.

And his denials were not strictly limited to himself. He said

“I did not initiate or authorize anyone at anytime to promise anything to Governor Blagojevich on my behalf.”

Now, one question I don’t know if anyone asked JJJ is whether he was aware that Blago was trying to get anything in exchange for an appointment.

And the same is true–in general–about JJS: we have no reason to believe he offered anything to Blago.

However, JJS’s retention of counsel is significant, insofar as it suggests someone in JJJ’s circle had contacts of sufficient interest that he felt the need to be represented before he (presumably) spoke to the Feds about it.

JJJ did not deny that someone had made an offer on his behalf–he denied that he had authorized it. And Blago’s statements here are not–like they are on most of these things–brainstorming statements about what he might do. While I think there’s no reason to credit his perspective about what “Emissary” and “Associate” were doing, I also suspect they did talk to him.

And, as I said, I think there’s a very good chance that the Feds have a tape of Monday’s meeting. The quickness with which they called JJJ, told him they were going to arrest the gov, and arrested him, suggests that if they do it may have incriminated Blago.

I would, however, disagree with your description that JJJ’s denials “were strong.” IMO they were carefully parsed–actually quite narrow denials, limited to himself. He said he didn’t do anything wrong. But he did not deny that those associated with him may have done something wrong.

A law enforcement official confirms that the person referred to in the federal criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich as “Candidate 5″ is Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.

However, federal officials caution that they have no evidence, other than statements made by Blagojevich, about whether Candidate 5 actually made any improper approaches to the governor. No conversations with Candidate 5 were ever picked up on any of the bugs or wiretaps.

And it gets worse for those who’d like to railroad JJJ:

It’s important to note that this is a third-hand statement: Blagovich is repeating what he says was the emissary’s description of what Candidate 5 said.

Please be careful before besmirching the reputation of the Jackson family, on the basis of one unreliable person’s word.