And we’re supposed to have confidence in this? (MORE: 21 CALLS BETWEEN EMANUEL AND BLAGO?)

The LA Times reports this morning that Team Obama is asserting that the “internal review” they did on themselves regarding the Blago scandal proves that they did nothing wrong:

Reporting from Washington and Chicago — Barack Obama said Monday that an internal investigation had found his staff had no inappropriate conversations with Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich over who would succeed the president-elect in the Senate.

But Obama said the review of his staff’s contacts would not be made public until next week at the request of federal prosecutors, who are investigating whether Blagojevich put Obama’s Senate seat up for sale.

“I had no contact with the governor’s office, and I had no contact with anybody in the governor’s office,” Obama said at a news conference called to introduce his energy and environment team. He said the review showed the Blagojevich scandal “had nothing to do with my office.”

Whew! I feel so much better now. As good as the left would feel after an “internal review” done by the Bush administration – on the Bush administration.

Dan Riehl notes the media’s typical lack of skepticism when it comes to questioning The One:

I’m not saying I actually think Obama did do anything wrong. But time was when the media prided itself on its skeptcism regarding performances like the one Obama is putting on.

It really must suck to be in the middle of a transition while at the same time having to answer for the fact that your COS was in contact multiple times with the high powered politico who was trying to sell PEBO’s Senate seat. Even if in the end it is definitively proven that the O-man’s admin did nothing legally wrong, just the taint of having your name associated with a scandal is all it takes to create that seed of doubt in the minds of the American people (just ask Bush/Cheney).

With poll numbers like these which suggest nearly half the American people believe the Obama admin was involved in some way with this scandal, as I’ve said before it does indeed appear as if the “shiny” has worn off the false squeaky clean image Barack Obama projected for the last two years.

Maybe this scandal has forced a few who were in 7th heaven over the election of Barack Obama to fall back down to earth and realize that there is only one God, and it most certainly isn’t the man who in a few weeks will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States?

Related: ST reader ChicagoJohn has read the FBI’s complaint against Blago and has questions for the mainstream mediots:

This is from the criminal complaint.

Its right after the part of the complaint where Blago says “f’ em” about the Obama camp, if they don’t want to deal. That note is note 104.

This is note 105, right after that:

Later on November 11, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor A.
Advisor A indicated that he will stay “on top” of getting the Senate Candidate 5 information leaked to the particular Sun Times columnist. ROD BLAGOJEVICH again raised the idea of the 501(c)(4) organization and asked whether “they” (believed be the President-elect and his associates) can get Warren Buffett and others to put $10, $12, or $15 million into the organization. Advisor A responded that “they” should be able to find a way to fund the organization.

I won’t quote the whole thing. But go read it.

Now further down, note 107, on page 68:

On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor B. ROD
BLAGOJEVICH discussed with Advisor B his idea for a 501(c)(4) organization. Advisor B stated that he likes the idea, but liked the Change to Win option better because, according to Advisor B, from the President-elect’s perspective, there would be fewer “fingerprints” on the President-elect’s involvement with Change to Win because Change to Win already has an existing stream of revenue and, therefore, “you won’t have stories in four years that they bought you off.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that he likes the 501(c)(4) idea because he knows it will be there in two years when he is no longer Governor, whereas Change to Win might not be.

Now you tell me:

How the heck is it that this hasn’t made the papers yet? What’d I miss?

Indeed. The mainstream media zeroed in quickly on who Senate candidate #5 was, but are they pursuing with equal fervor the identies of Obama advisors A and B? I’m not holding my breath.

PM Update – 12:57 PM: Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Steed is hearing “rumbles” that the feds have Obama’s COS Rahm Emanuel on tape talking to Blago 21 different times. Hmmm …