Yesterday, we  noted that a report was published November 5^th that Blago met with Obama over his successor, contradicting Obama's contention, and supporting the assertion of David Axelrod -- in a statement dismissed by the campaign as mis-speaking after Obama went on the record to the contrary in response to a question.

In the press release Blogo emphasizes the importance of his role in selecting Obama's successor. And the headline of the release makes it sound as though Blogo and Obama were discussing ("discusses"), or had already discussed that topic.

But the release did not really say that a meeting had actually been set up, much less that a meeting (or even a discussion) had actually occurred. And frankly, given the distance Obama was keeping publicly from Blogo at that time (Blogo was not at Grant Park), it is unlikely that Blago was one of the early calls that Obama after the election.

Indeed, I'm suspecting now that the reporter who wrote the "story" datelined November 5 may have relied solely on the press release of that same date, gotten ahead of what the press release actually said, and that when contacted more recently discovered as much and pulled the story, rather than bringing adverse attention to the fact that s/he fell for the November 5 press release and got the story so wrong.

Makes one appreciate again how unreliable is the MSM these days

About three minutes into the audio clip Mr. Blagojevich indicates that he has not yet spoken to Mr. Obama about this appointment.

At four minutes in, Mr. Blagojevich says point blank that he has not yet spoken with the President elect about selecting his replacement in the Senate.

"We have had some discussions about a process which we'll share ... if all goes well."