Old dogs, I suppose, simply cannot be taught new tricks.

So, the Obama “report” on the Blago thing is out, and the AP’s headline is “Obama aide had multiple talks with governor, aides.”

Scandal! Scandal! Er…

An internal review prepared for Barack Obama found his incoming chief of staff had multiple conversations with the Illinois governor’s office, but said the talks did not involve any deal concerning whom the governor would appoint to replace Obama in the Senate.

Emphasis added. So here, the first graf of the story sort of countermands the message the headline is trying to send.

Emanuel had one or two conversations with Blagojevich and four with Harris on the subject of the Senate seat, according to the review. The report said Obama authorized Emanuel to pass on the names of four people he considered to be highly qualified to take over his seat — Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, Illinois Veterans’ Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

As we noted previously - what is the assertion here, that the Obama team should have had no contact whatsoever with the governor who was to appoint his successor? That it was somehow inappropriate for Obama to have his team touch base and let Blago’s team know what the president-elect was hoping for?

Now, we may say - sure, this is the Obama report, and of course it’s going to say Rahm didn’t have those sleazy conversations. But where is any shred of evidence giving lie to this? Fitzgerald doesn’t produce it; Fitzgerald says he’s got no evidence linking Obama to Blago’s “Let’s Make a Deal,” and sources are saying Emanuel isn’t the target of prosecutors, either.

So what exactly is the point here - unless the point, at this time of national peril, is to chase down “scandal” where there is none simply because this is the way our system works. Or doesn’t, as the case may be.