The Laughter is Getting Louder

This post by Yours Truly, was a little ahead of the curve, but I think it will wear well.

Team Obama exonerated itself two evenings before Christmas, with Obama in Hawaii and Emanuel in Africa, and neither one answering questions. Team Obama is hoping the furor will die. The press are torn. They like a juicy story, but they like Obama more. You can bet that editors are not going to send investigative teams out to pursue this story now that the self examination has shown that Obama is still a virgin.

The MSM and Lefty bloggers are valiantly carrying Team Obama’s water but the rest of the blogosphere is laughing its head off. Even the LA Times blog is in on it with this great headline: Obama team probe of Obama team finds no Obama team impropriety.

The Barack Obama presidential transition office today finally released its own report on its own internal investigation of its own contacts with legally challenged Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. And you'll be comforted to know the Obama folks found no impropriety whatsoever by Obama folks.

So go back to wrapping holiday presents or pretending you're working at your desk and checking out Obama's important abs. All is well with the coming World of Change.

The incredulity rivals that of Rathergate, without the smoking gun of the Microsoft generated document. The Huffington Post is dutifully carrying Team “O’s” water, as is the AP and the NY Times. The rest of us are not buying it.

Here's a roundup of recent comments. USA Today

"Obama's own five-page report, released Tuesday afternoon, clears the
president-elect and his staff."

The AP give us a video:

The AP

The Houston Chronicle

"...contact with governor was proper"

Christian Science Monitor

‘Nothing inappropriate’

The NY Times regurgitates the Gregg Craig memo and asks no questions about its internal inconsistencies.

The report concluded that Mr. Emanuel had as many as six conversations with the governor’s office about the Senate vacancy, but that Mr. Obama had none, and that neither Mr. Emanuel, Ms. Jarrett, nor any other Obama associates had any talks about a deal in which Mr. Blagojevich would benefit from appointing someone to the Senate seat.

Move on folks, nothing to see.

Forbes.com parses some of the memo's language:Blagojevich, Obama And No 'Personal' Benefit

Team Obama absolved the Obama Team in a report late Tuesday. Written by the man chosen to be White House counsel, Greg Craig...

That's why Craig did his own investigation. Here are the results: Any inappropriate contact with Gov. Blagojevich or his staff? Nope, not any evidence there. No quid, no quo. Considering the author of the report and the steady drip of suggestions that this would be the conclusion, no surprise there.

There is one curious word, though, and it is in the report seven times. It points to the possibility that something interesting may have been discussed. The word is personal, as in Rahm Emanuel remembers "no mention of efforts by the Governor or his staff to extract a personal benefit in return for filling the Senate vacancy."

If Emanuel knew the governor expected a campaign donation in exchange for a Senate appointment, would that be a "personal" benefit or -- maybe -- a "political" benefit? Is Craig, who was Bill Clinton's lawyer during his impeachment, squeezing individual words a bit too hard?

Jennifer Rubin at Pajamas Media starts thus:

If only Scooter Libby had thought of this: conduct an internal report, exonerate himself, and release it during Christmas week when he and every other percipient witness were at an inaccessible holiday location. Well, it wouldn’t have worked because the MSM would have regarded such a stunt coming from a Republican official as laughable. Indeed it only would have spurred the press to gin up its own investigation into potential wrongdoing, if only to prove the self-exonerator wrong.
But the rules aren’t the same for the Democrats. When Rahm Emanuel and the other Obama transition team members get a clean bill of health on Blago-gate from their own colleagues, the MSM pronounces itself satisfied

And of course Glenn Reynolds has his comments which, as usual win the "pithy" prize.

GEE, DO YOU THINK? Analysis: Obama Inquiry Has Closed Loop Quality.
UPDATE: “Smells Like Team Spirit.”