Corrente links to Dee Dee Myers on the Favreau incident. The part I really liked:

[T]here is a larger issue at stake. At what point does sexist behavior get taken seriously?

Indeed, that is a question we have been asking for the past many years.

Speaking for me only

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stays true to form in the Complaint (pdf) against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. It's filled with references to other individuals identified by status with a letter designation.

There's fundraisers, advisers and hopeful Senate candidates. Here's a likely who's who, which will be updated with corrections and additions. From the Washington Post:

• Senate Candidate 1: Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett
• Senate Candidate 2: Ill. Attorney General Lisa Madigan
• Senate Candidate 4: A deputy governor of Illinois, which could be Dean Martinez, Bob Greenlee and Louanner Peters.
• Senate Candidate 6: a wealthy person from Illinois. Gawker speculates it's J.B. Pritzker, Penny's brother.

Marc Ambinder says Senate Candidate 5 is likely Jesse Jackson, Jr or Emil Jones. Politico agrees.

Question: Where's Rep. Danny Davis in all this, he was referenced by Blagojevich as a possible Senate replacement.

“We spent part of Thanksgiving Day together, and he made some comments to the press that he thought I’d make an excellent senator, then he said ‘Well let me stop, I don’t want to prejudice anything,’ but yes, we are in conversation with the governor,” Davis said.

MSNBC just read a statement from President Elect Barack Obama on today's arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Obama said he's saddened and sobered by the charges.

No mention of being "shocked." Interesting.

Random note: Blagojevich may be the most cumbersome name to type since Schwarzenegger. Anyone have a shorthand way of remembering how to spell it?

Update: Obama says he was not aware of Blagojevich's attempt to sell his Senate seat, a point, as we wrote earlier, was also made by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald this morning.

In other news, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has denied Sen. Larry Craig's attempt to reverse his guilty plea in the bathroom solicitation case. On the entrapment issue:

They cited a precedent ruling that said entrapment "exists only where the criminal intent originates in the enforcement officials of the government rather than in the mind of the accused."...."Here, the complaint clearly indicates that the criminal intent originated in the mind of appellant, not in the officer."

More...

Check out page 63 of the 78 page complaint (pdf)against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagovich where the Governor and aides and consultants are discussing whether to appoint Obama's preference, referred to as Senate Candidate 1, for his senate replacement:

ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant are believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherf*cker [the President-elect] his senator. F*ck him. For nothing? F*ck him.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH states that he will put “[Senate Candidate 4]” in the Senate “before I just give f*cking [Senate Candidate 1] a f*cking Senate seat and I don’t get anything.” (Senate Candidate 4 is a Deputy Governor of the State of Illinois).

[More....]

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and FBI Agent Robert Grant are giving a press conference on CNN about the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Fitz reminds me more and more of Eliot Ness.

Fitz says "there's politics and there's crime" and sometimes people "blur the lines."

There were others involved. FBI Agent Grant said he called the Governor at 6:00 am and told him there was a warrant for his arrest and the FBI was outside. He asked him to come quietly. The Governor said, "Is this a joke?" and Grant said "No." He went quietly, was handcuffed, and as he was leaving, his wife and kids were "beginning to stir."

The press release is here (pdf) and the 78 page complaint is here (pdf.) In addition to wiretaps, including one on Blagojevich's home phone, Blagojevich's personal office and a conference room were bugged.

[More....]

Incredible:

Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois was arrested by federal authorities on Tuesday morning and charged with corruption, including an allegation that he conspired to profit from his authority to appoint President-elect Barack Obama’s successor in the United States Senate, prosecutors said.

Blago has basically been surrounded by allegations and rumors of ongoing investigations and he does THAT? I know I should be stunned by the corruption. But I am more stunned by the sheer stupidity.

Speaking for me only

In the Times today, Nick Taylor argues for the New Deal PWA, Harry Hopkins led model:

THE plan by Barack Obama to attack unemployment by putting people to work on roads, bridges, schools and new energy projects sounds like a version of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration. If Franklin D. Roosevelt is Mr. Obama’s model, and if the president-elect wants to avoid the disorganized hodgepodge that the financial bailout seems to be so far, then he should look to the structure created for the W.P.A. in 1935 to select the best plans for renovating the country’s outdated infrastructure.

It's an interesting take but not entirely uncontroversial historically. For example, the feud between Harold Ickes, Sr. and Hopkins may have been personal, but it was framed on the basis of policy differences. Here is a a discussion of some of them. It would be interesting to hear more from economists and historians on the relative merits of the Hopkins' WPA and the Ickes' PWA.

Speaking for me only

As someone who was criticized for railing against the idea of John Brennan as a potential head of the CIA (I also find the idea of Michael Hayden as DNI intolerable), I do find it ironic that by and large, I am quite comfortable, pleased even, with the makeup of the incoming Obama Administration. At the same time, I am someone who has always urged people to speak their mind - to wit, if you are not pleased with the makeup of the incoming Obama Administration, it seems to me you should say so. In a NYTimes article on the subject, Markos Moulitsas is quoted as saying:

New York Congressman Vito Fossella was sentenced to five days in jail today for a D.U.I, conviction.

Fossella was arrested after running a red light on May 1 in a Virginia suburb of Washington, and convicted of drunken driving in October. Under Virginia law, a driver who registers a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or higher must serve five days behind bars. Police say Fossella's blood alcohol content was 0.17.

Fossella's lawyers tried to convince the judge that the breath-test machine used on Fossella was faulty, but the judge didn't buy it.

Fossella's lawyers have already filed a notice of appeal. If successful, they will seek a jury trial next time around.

28 years ago tonight, in the middle of Monday Night Football, Howard Cosell announced there had been an "unspeakable tragedy in New York City." John Lennon had been shot. (Video here.)

This is my sixth annual blog post about that night, and how for me, it's a day of both sadness and celebration. [More...]

I've been out of commission all day. Anything exciting happen?

This is an Open Thread.