The Apple, The Tree, and Barack Obama as a "Made Man"

...looks like the son learned a lot from his dad, the bribe-accepting race hustler:

Chicago Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is the anonymous "Senate Candidate No. 5" whose emissaries Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich reportedly offered up to $1 million to name him to the U.S. Senate, federal law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

According to the FBI affidavit in the case, Blagojevich "stated he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided Rod Blagojevich" with something "tangible up front."
Jackson said this morning he was contacted Tuesday by federal prosecutors in Chicago whom he said "asked me to come in and share with them my insights and thoughts"

The congressman, a son of the famed civil rights leader, denied that anyone had been authorized to make payments or promises to the governor on his behalf.

Uh-huh. Another denial, another person who "misspoke". Here's Obama, incidentally, refusing to speak at all:

Q: Are you aware of any conversations between Blagojevich or [chief of staff] John Harris and any of your top aides, including Rahm [Emanuel]?

Obama: Let me stop you there because . . . it's an ongoing.... investigation. I think it would be inappropriate for me to, you know, remark on the situation beyond the facts that I know. And that's the fact that I didn't discuss this issue with the governor at all.

Ah. Now we are getting somewhere. Just because Obama didn't discuss the issue directly with Blagojevich doesn't mean it wasn't discussed - through proxies. Didn't Tony Soparano often send out Silvio and Pauli Walnuts to hold many a key discussion on his behalf? And didn't Tony prefer low-key in-person meetings when he needed to - virtually untraceable, save for a wire - as opposed to a quick cell-phone call?

Let it not be said that Obama wasn't paying attention while rising through the ranks of La Cosa Nostra - I mean, Chicago politics....

More here - What Did Obama Know, And When Did he Know It?