Blago continues his revenge against Rahm

It hasn't been an easy month for Rahm Emanuel. Obama's brass-knuckled chief of staff has been taking punches of his own, first from angry progressives and then from shower buddy Eric Massa. But if Massa's revenge has worn its course, another Emanuel associate, Rod Blagojevich, is only getting started. It's been reported that Blago is furious that he was punished for trying to sell Obama's Senate seat while Obama, Emanuel, and Valerie Jarrett got off scot-free. Emanuel is his first target.

Said Blagojevich [in an interview with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News], "Yeah the deal on senate seat with me was, I was not selling a senate seat for financial gain, or money that's a lie. I wanted to make a political deal. The attorney general of Illinois, Lisa Madigan, her father is the Democratic house speaker, he was blocking a public works bill, he was blocking expanding health care, and he was pushing a tax increase.

"I wanted Rahm and sought Rahm out to be the middleman to make the deal happen. I would appoint her senator in exchange for the jobs bill, health care expansion, and written promise not to raise taxes on people. Rahm was prepared to do it and then everything changed when I was arrested 6:00 in the morning.

"In fact, the day before my arrest, I directed my chief of staff to work out the tactics, and that meant working with Rahm. I wanted Rahm, not Senator Durbin, who also offered to help because he's a lot tougher. And he's the kind of guy, if he sees a guy who if he sees a congressman in the locker room, whether clothed or not he's going to press you for what he thinks he wants to try to get done.

"And that story about him and the other congressman, is the reason why I wanted Rahm to make the deal on senate seat, because this is a guy who knows how to get it done," Blagojevich said.

It's well known that the White House favored Lisa Madigan for the seat over both Roland Burris and current contender Alexi Giannoulias. Blagojevich is certainly lying about not trying to sell Obama's Senate seat, but his accusations against Rahm ring true.

We already know that Rahm was part of a small council that burned the midnight oil getting Blago elected in 2002. We also know he's been wheeling and dealing with Blago for years, most notably when the governor secured a bill on bringing Ultimate Fighting to the state on behalf of Rahm's brother and Hollywood mega-agent Ari. Rahm is on the FBI tapes of phone conversations with Blago. Emanuel has been mixed up with Blago's Chicago crowd from the beginning and it seems impossible that he wasn't instrumental in carrying out the governor's plans. When the FBI finally releases the tapes, Emanuel could very well be implicated...and so could the president.

Obama sneaks through Patriot Act

It's the BHO MO. Point over here, do something there.

With the press obsessed with the health care summit, Obama was bound to sneak a few things through. The most important stealth operation came Wednesday night when the House voted to renew the Patriot Act.

Yep, that Patriot Act. After a voice vote and absolutely no debate, the legislation passed 315 to 97. And Obama approves of the renewal. Well that's a turnaround -- or is it hust hypocritical. Obama opposed the legislation, in its current form, for his entire career. He's called for the Patriot Act to be rewritten. He's been particularly critical of a provision that allows the FBI to secretly demand business and personal documents, including library records. That provision is still in there, but now Obama supports it.

The bill also still permits "roving wiretaps," which allow law enforcement to track multiple phones at the same time. Roving wiretaps have outraged civil libertarians like Obama in the past, who think the FBI should get cleared for each individual eavesdrop.

Obama has previously said certain provisions in the Patriot Act amount to "Big Brother." I guess this makes him the new leader of Oceania.