or it may well be that they simply saw that she’d be a good and popular choice

Except that she wasn’t the popular choice. The popular choice was Marie Kegalus (I think that is how to spell her last name). She worked hard and had a great ground game and was the reason the republican decided to retire rather then run against her again. Marie was a shoe in and Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago machine pushed her out and brought Tammy in – why? Tammy lost the election, why did she agree to displace Marie in the first place? Was that honorable? It has been years since that election and Tammy keeps popping up here or there – why? It is a puzzle.

This post is a smear by association of a courageous American woman who served her country and believes in its principles.

I completely agree with you. Major Duckworth appears to be an exceptional young woman in every respect. The sacrifices she has made in the service of her country are obvious. She performed her duty to the highest standards, even while disagreeing with the policies that sent her to war. She has shown no anger or bitterness about what happened to her. She’s been an unfailing advocate for Americans veterans, both personally and in her official capacity.

I deplore the fact that this promising young woman has been the target of an orchestrated smear campaign, based entirely upon guilt by association and deliberate distortion of the facts, and fail to understand why the outrage about this hasn’t crossed party lines. I would expect that such outrage would be particularly felt by women. I can only assume it is absent because most people haven’t taken the time to look closely at the situation.

That does not make Tammy a tool of Rahm, by any means. She may have leverage we don’t know about, or it may well be that they simply saw that she’d be a good and popular choice. Everything is not sinister – sometimes things are done for sane practical reasons, even by sleazebags.

I’m not giving merit to the assertions at all. I’m saying that the associations bear watching, but that I as a whole like and respect Duckworth, so will not trash her without more evidence. I will resist being told she’s guilty by association, but I will also resist being told that to have any suspicion at all is unwarranted.

I won’t be a tool for anyone, thanks – I will remain suspicious of ALL politicians, and watch them closely.

Naive and patently ridiculous allegations and insinuations against a courageous woman demand proof. City Nell has not provided any proof whatsoever; so to give merit to these assertions is the hallmark of a tool.

“[Dan] Roskam slammed Duckworth for a $1,000 campaign contribution from Myron Cherry, an attorney whose name is mentioned in this week’s federal corruption indictment of Antoin Rezko, a close supporter of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.” (Daily Herald, Candidates trade barbs during debate, October 13, 2006)

Let’s deconstruct the smear of Duckworth receiving money from “the Rezko machine!”

Fact: Duckworth received a $1000 donation from an attorney “whose name is mentioned” in the indictment of Rezko: Myron Cherry. The money didn’t come from Rezko; the campaign donation was from Myron Cherry, who has apparently not been charged with any crime.

Fact: There are a lot of people’s names “mentioned” in Rezko’s indictment, including the current President of the United States. Being “mentioned” in the indictment of another person does not make one guilty of any crime, may we all agree on that small fact, whether or not we like Barack Obama?

Fact: A $1000 donation to Duckworth’s election campaign from an attorney is a common event as anyone ever remotely involved in political campaigns would know–ask Bill and Hillary Clinton;

Fact: This smear charge came from Dan Roskam who opposed Duckworth in the election. There have been no criminal corruption charges arising from the insinuation.

Here’s the rub, City Nell:

If Tammy Duckworth is being smeared because she is supported by Axelrod, Emmanuel and Obama for a cabinet position in Veterans Affairs, I wonder what that means for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is also supported by Axelrod, Emmauel and Barack Obama for a cabinet position.

I resented the smearing of Hillary Clinton for 15 years based on nonsensical and patently untrue lies then; and I reject the smearing of Tammy Duckworth for the same reasons now.

This post is a smear by association of a courageous American woman who served her country and believes in its principles. I really don’t think your insinuations have merit. You’ve offered no evidence of corruption or wrongdoing, but you’ve tried to tarnish Duckworth simply because she was appointed by Blagojevich. It’s really not worthy of the paltry effort you put into it.

Di I believe that honorable service and injuries in service entitle someone to my blind trust? Absolutely not. But it does, in my mind, entitle them to a little benefit of the doubt until there is more to go on.

If it turns out she’s a tool of the Fraud, I’ll be yelling too. Until then, I’ll wait and see.

I see the author has edited her piece. Last night she wrote that Duckworth was nominated for THE TOP POSITION at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Today the piece says it’s as “Obama’s contact in the VA”.

In fact, On Feb. 3, Obama nominated her to the position of assistant secretary of public and intergovernmental affairs. Her duties would include directing VA’s public affairs operations, as well as programs for homeless veterans.

If your questions are relevant, the writer should have raised and answered them. The link she provides (friends of Blago) is very strange.