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You are here: Home / Oh- Hey Look at That Non-Story Going Away

Oh- Hey Look at That Non-Story Going Away

by John Cole|  May 28, 20108:46 am| 73 Comments

This post is in: Assholes, Democratic Stupidity

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No surprise:

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) said Thursday his brother has spoken with White House officials about the congressman’s allegation that he was offered an Obama administration job if he would stay out of a Democratic Senate primary.

Sestak ran in, and won, that primary, defeating the White House’s preferred candidate, Sen. Arlen Specter.

He told reporters Thursday that he would not expand upon his prior statements until the White House releases its report on the matter. President Obama said in his news conference such a report would come “shortly.”

Of course Sestak will wait. That way he can screw them again.

*** Update ***

Kay gets this exactly right in the comments:

He’s struggling to back off the allegation. He made the allegation, Obama responded. It’s his turn to talk. I don’t know why the White House report would matter. That’s nonsensical. Presumably he was there.

He’s actually getting them in deeper. The WH said they conducted a preliminary inquiry, and that’s consistent with contacting his brother (who is his campaign adviser). His announcement today that they had contacted his brother once again pushes it back to the WH. That isn’t where it belongs. It’s his job to back up his accusation.

Pretty much.

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Reader Interactions

73Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Jake

    May 28, 2010 at 8:50 am

    Don’t worry, Issa will proceed with his impeachment plans regardless of the outcome. He’s just working for the best interests of his constituents, after all.

  2. 2.

    JimPortlandOR

    May 28, 2010 at 8:53 am

    I closely monitor the news, but I guess I’ve been in a blackout. What and why did Sustak say that set off this furore?

    What kind of possible motivation could he (and his brother, and campaign staff) have for trying to make the Dem. party, and Obama and team look like they did something wrong?

    Why would any Dem. support Sustak in PA when he acts like a member of Mitch McConnell’s GOP marauders?

    I can’t see how this started, and where it goes.

    I do know that if I were Obama it would be a cold day in hell before I’d lift a finger for Sustak, financially or otherwise. [But Obama’s team is so opaque that maybe they will support Sustak for being a ‘good’ Dem.]

  3. 3.

    J.W. Hamner

    May 28, 2010 at 9:01 am

    I closely monitor the news, but I guess I’ve been in a blackout. What and why did Sustak say that set off this furore?

    He said it back in February from what I recall, but it wasn’t useful to GOP partisans back then… so we’re hearing about it now.

    I happen to agree with Chait’s analysis that it’s not a quid pro quo if the quid and the pro are mutually exclusive (i.e you can’t run for office if you have a job in the WH)… so I don’t have any idea why it’s so hard for the WH and Sestak to deal with this.

  4. 4.

    kay

    May 28, 2010 at 9:03 am

    @JimPortlandOR:

    This:

    He said the ordeal has grown out of a single quip — answering “yes” and saying he was offered a “high-up job” — to a question posed by longtime Philadelphia TV newsman Larry Kane during a February interview.

    And then this:

    “Something happened last July, literally, hardly even remember it,” Sestak said of the offer. “All of a sudden, in this interview, someone asked a question . . . and I answered it up front. But I immediately said the same thing I said to you and haven’t deviated: Look, let’s move on, the rest is politics.”

    He’s struggling to back off the allegation. He made the allegation, Obama responded. It’s his turn to talk.
    I don’t know why the White House report would matter. That’s nonsensical. Presumably he was there.

    He’s actually getting them in deeper. The WH said they conducted a preliminary inquiry, and that’s consistent with contacting his brother (who is his campaign adviser). His announcement today that they had contacted his brother once again pushes it back to the WH. That isn’t where it belongs. It’s his job to back up his accusation.

  5. 5.

    joe from Lowell

    May 28, 2010 at 9:04 am

    Uh, who’s waiting so they can screw whom, again?

    Your snark overtook your clarity on that one.

  6. 6.

    Tom

    May 28, 2010 at 9:08 am

    He’s struggling to back off the allegation. He made the allegation, Obama responded.

    What was the response from Obama?

  7. 7.

    Ari

    May 28, 2010 at 9:08 am

    I guess I’m with JimPortlandOR on this one. This went right below my radar (or above it?)

  8. 8.

    Bobby Thomson

    May 28, 2010 at 9:08 am

    @JimPortlandOR:

    I do know that if I were Obama it would be a cold day in hell before I’d lift a finger for Sustak, financially or otherwise.

    Sestak has been a better Democrat than a lot of people for whom Obama cut ads this cycle. Joe Lieberman all but peed in his face and Obama put the word out to let bygones be bygones. I don’t think that will be an issue.

    At the time, I thought this was a dumb self-inflicted wound by Sestak. Not because it made the president look bad (which it didn’t and doesn’t), but because it was so ineffective and only made Sestak look like a desperate loser. Since that time he seems to have found his legs.

    All that said, this is just a glorified case of “Show us the birth certificate! Book Two,” and the strategy for dealing with it should be exactly the same.

  9. 9.

    kay

    May 28, 2010 at 9:13 am

    @Tom:

    “I can assure the public that nothing improper took place. But as I said, there will be a response shortly on that issue.”

    “I can assure the public that nothing improper took place” is unequivocal.

    I think there’s probably a way out for Sestak, though. He waits for the report, and then says he now understands nothing improper took place.

    Which he knew, but that way he saves face.

  10. 10.

    Sheila

    May 28, 2010 at 9:16 am

    The gops do not have the House, they most likely will not get control of the House in November, and if, by some slim chance they do, this story will be long gone as the concentration-span-impaired American public and media will have moved on. Whistling in the wind is only pleasing to do those close enough to hear it, which is usually only the whistler.

  11. 11.

    J.W. Hamner

    May 28, 2010 at 9:18 am

    @kay:

    I think there’s probably a way out for Sestak, though. He waits for the report, and then says he now understands nothing improper took place.

    Has he actually alleged that something improper took place?

  12. 12.

    Toast

    May 28, 2010 at 9:19 am

    His brother? Whuh?

  13. 13.

    Tom

    May 28, 2010 at 9:19 am

    @Kay

    “I can assure the public that nothing improper took place” is unequivocal.

    Yeah, but saying nothing wrong took place and proving it (or at least clarifying what happened) are two very different things.

    Remember, McClellan stating that Rove and Libby had nothing to do with outing Plame?

    I personally think this is a whole lot of nothing. And I think this will more or less end once the WH issues their report on it (more or less because there will be some dead-enders on the right who will cling to the notion Obama did something wrong despite lack of evidence). But, in my mind, a response needs to be “yes we offered him a job, he turned it down. Nothing improper took place.” Not merely “I can assure you nothing improper took place.”

  14. 14.

    kay

    May 28, 2010 at 9:29 am

    @J.W. Hamner:

    Sestak declined to say whether the alleged job offer was inappropriate and defended Obama’s integrity. “I think the president’s a pretty legitimate, you know, person,” he said.

    He won’t say. Which is why it won’t go away. I think he probably points to the report as definitive, and that way he can say he raised it, but turns out, it wasn’t improper.

    It’s a good year to run as an innocent outsider targeted by the Party machine. I don’t know if he anticipated that it was certain to be used against both him and the WH.

  15. 15.

    kay

    May 28, 2010 at 9:35 am

    @Tom:

    Yeah, but saying nothing wrong took place and proving it (or at least clarifying what happened) are two very different things.

    Absolutely. My point is that Obama is already committed to that answer. Obama is confident nothing improper took place, confident enough that he used “I” can assure….
    He’s presenting the report on the inquiry as an official response, but he himself is assuring the public nothing improper happened, so his personal credibility is on the line.
    I’m actually confident there’s nothing there. He chooses words carefully, and the easier and safer answer is “we’re looking into it”.
    The pain in the ass is going to be that there’s no “proving” anything regarding a vague allegation. He’s disproving something, we know not what, because Sestak won’t say.
    That’s always a terrible situation to be in, if you’re the accused.

  16. 16.

    Pamela F

    May 28, 2010 at 9:47 am

    Gotta say, Sestak’s behavior doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. He needs to make this go away because if he doesn’t I would imagine a significant number of Pennsylvaneans will be angry at him for making trouble for the WH.

  17. 17.

    Yossarian

    May 28, 2010 at 9:53 am

    This merely confirms what I have long suspected– the Pennsylvania Democratic Senatorial primary was a contest between two of the bigger douchebags we’re unlucky enough to call our own.

  18. 18.

    Mumphrey

    May 28, 2010 at 9:57 am

    I really don’t like this guy. I think it’s too bad Specter didn’t win; it sounds crazy to say this, but I think Specter would be a much more reliable senator for Obama and the Democrats than Sestak. I know a lot of you will think I’m nuts, and maybe I am, but that’s how I feel. I don’t trust Sestak. I mean, I guess Specter can be untrustworthy as well, but he’s more open about his untrustworthiness; he may be a reptile, but he’s never been shy about letting us know he’s a reptile. Sestak, though, tries to come off as a good guy, but I don’t think he’s any less self-intersted than Specter.

  19. 19.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 10:04 am

    Anybody know what size orange jumpsuit Obama wears?

  20. 20.

    Rekster

    May 28, 2010 at 10:09 am

    How about who really gives a shit?

  21. 21.

    kay

    May 28, 2010 at 10:13 am

    @Rekster:

    According to the sources, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel asked Clinton and his longtime adviser, lawyer Doug Band, to talk to Sestak about the race. It’s unclear right now whether the White House will say that Clinton was asked to suggest specific administration positions for Sestak, whether Clinton floated positions on his own, whether Clinton discussed other options not related to the adminstration, or whether employment even came up at all in the talks.

    Bill Clinton. Media’s absolute favorite subject.

    “Whether Clinton floated positions on his own” is probably a little worrisome, given his propensity to talk so much.

    Anyway, I think this precipitates an absolute feeding frenzy.

    All hands on deck! The Clintons are in it!

  22. 22.

    zmulls

    May 28, 2010 at 10:16 am

    Sestak’s my congressman, and I like him. He’s like a Jim Webb – he’s a solid guy and I won’t always agree with him, but I think I can depend on him a lot more than Specter. So Sestak got my vote in the Primary. (Our town, and the surrounding towns, went 3-1 for Sestak).

    I agree this is ‘Show us the Birth Certificate, Part Two’ — the GOP makes a nothing into a story, but talking about it nonstop, and there’s really no “good” answer. So someone makes a small comment and it’s the story of the day, content-free.

    I mean, “Hey, we really want to clear the field for our guy, and we could sure use your expertise in this other job, what do you think?” is about as commonplace a political exchange there is. Sestak is a highly qualified individual — think about all the political donors given ambassadorships, or the spouses or children or nephews of important people given internships or staff jobs, at every level of government.

    The GOP wants you to think this is a BFD in the Joe Biden sense; I think it’s a BFD in the standard usage sense.

  23. 23.

    tomvox1

    May 28, 2010 at 10:20 am

    Way to go, Joe! I’m sure Netroots et al are thrilled they helped nominate a guy who is trying to undermine the president and give ammo to his enemies. Hell, maybe they are… Tell me the difference between what Sestak is implying and what Blago was accusing Rahm of again? Can’t wait to see what wacky stunt Halter pulls…

  24. 24.

    Chris

    May 28, 2010 at 10:22 am

    I’m starting to regret my vote for Joe Sestak. He didn’t need Philadelphia to win in the primary, but he will need it win in the general. He may want to remember that.

  25. 25.

    JasonF

    May 28, 2010 at 10:41 am

    I won’t speak for other commenters, but my view — and from what I read, the view of most commenters who disagreed with your “Sestak needs to fix this!” post yesterday — is that this is not going away. If Rep. Sestak produces a notarized videotape of President Obama saying “I absolutely refuse to engage in any quid pro quos because that would be illegal and immoral, and I therefore will never, ever, ever offer you a job to avoid even the appearance of impropriety,” Sean Hannity will still be flogging this.

    So should Sestak address it? Sure. Why not. But it’s not going to make a difference. No matter what he says, all the usual suspects will claim there is corruption and there is cover-up.

  26. 26.

    Ronbo

    May 28, 2010 at 10:41 am

    OOOps! Well, now we know Rahm was the culprit. Can we now remove him from power?

    John, don’t apologize for your outburst against Sestak. We know you are often wrong. The status quo is your life!

  27. 27.

    Ronbo

    May 28, 2010 at 10:46 am

    RE: comments degrading Sestak. If the truth hurts, then just stick your head in the sand.

    By action, Obama is far to the right of Richard M. Nixon. By talk, he is a liberal icon. Obama’s Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde act is disgusting. I didn’t vote for Republican Obama; did you?

  28. 28.

    Randy P

    May 28, 2010 at 10:50 am

    @Ronbo:

    I didn’t vote for Republican Obama

    I have no trouble believing you didn’t vote for Obama, thanks.

  29. 29.

    Unabogie

    May 28, 2010 at 10:52 am

    @Randy P:

    Too true. I guess the question I always ask is: if you were a Teabagger pretending to be a Firebagger, exactly how would your comments differ?

  30. 30.

    J.W. Hamner

    May 28, 2010 at 10:53 am

    Wait… Sestak has been milking for months the offer of an unpaid advisory position in the White House?! A job that ultimately they realized they couldn’t offer him anyway because he’d have to leave the House?

    Wow… this is about the lamest “gate” I’ve ever seen… and the fact that Sestak let it fester and wouldn’t set the record straight shows a lot about his character… and lack thereof… I think.

  31. 31.

    cat48

    May 28, 2010 at 10:53 am

    I agreed with John on primary day. There is something about Sestak I just don’t like and here we are. He’s inept and sloppy. He gave Morning Jo the impression that he was offered Secy of Navy not to run. Joe asked him this directly & he gave him a nonanswer which Joe took as a Yes. Sestak created this monster and it is his monster to slay.

    So, look at the timeline and you see O nominated someone else for that position in March 2009 who was confirmed in July. Problem is Arlen didn’t even become a Dem until April 2009 so Sestak lied about this too. Sloppy……his story does not add up. He’s nothing but trouble.

  32. 32.

    danimal

    May 28, 2010 at 10:57 am

    What a tempest in a teapot. The ultimate insider gotcha game. No one outside the FauxNews bubble cares. Issue a damned report with timelines and quotations and then be done with it. Let Hannity scream; he’ll find another shiny object to obsess over when this one loses its shine.

    It’s obvious there was no lawbreaking-he didn’t take a job as a payoff to get out of the race and it’s not illegal for the admin to vet potential candidates for administration positions. They scandalmongers would have to prove a quid pro quo arrangement and that’s virtually impossible.

    Every day this is in the news is a foolish mistake.

  33. 33.

    Unabogie

    May 28, 2010 at 10:57 am

    So, here’s my prediction: The Teabaggers will go into full throated outrage mode (Firebaggers go in poutrage – similar but different). Over the next week, unlike during the Clinton era, bloggers like Think Progress will unearth countless examples of Teatards doing the exact same thing with no apparent need for Special Prosecutors when the Teafreak President did it.

    Exhibit A.

    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/5/27/14524/8364

    St. Ronnie did it too! Neener, neener!

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 28, 2010 at 11:00 am

    Oh crikey. Looks like the White House sent Big Dog to have a “informal” chat with Sestak. The wingnuts are going to go even wingier and nuttier, you just watch.

  35. 35.

    sparky

    May 28, 2010 at 11:00 am

    @Ronbo: as they say in church basements everywhere: bingo!

    um, this thread seems a bit…confused. is this a straight internal D party line? apparently there is a there there–Obama has admitted there’s a there there by virtue of saying nothing bad happened. quid pro quo is nothing new in politics, but unfortunately, the Rs are correct in saying that there is a line between the usual political behaviour and a crime. do i have any idea that a crime was committed? nope. but i find it difficult to believe that you all think it’s a good idea to just say strange things like: it’s the accuser’s burden. the accuser made the remark already, and assuming Sestak isn’t an idiot with a martyr complex, that’s a tremendously dangerous thing to say in public about the head of your party. so i rather doubt that someone would throw a knife like that claim with nothing to back it up, as you really really do not want the weight of the Executive to fall on your ass.

    in other words, (a) just because the Rs are attempting to make hay of it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen (b) to the extent Obama has the trust of the body politic as being honest, it’s best to get it out on the table (assuming it’s not a crime) (c) if it isn’t cleared up it will hang out there and fester. people understand normal quid pro quo, but they have a bad habit of filling in the blanks with darker fantasies.

    edit: i am NOT saying that someone in the WH engaged in criminal activity; my guess would be that they did not. i AM saying that now that it’s out in public, it will be better to disgorge whatever documents there are related to this matter. you can’t regain trust once you lose it, and there a lot of ways to lose it.

  36. 36.

    kay

    May 28, 2010 at 11:02 am

    @J.W. Hamner:

    Wait… Sestak has been milking for months the offer of an unpaid advisory position in the White House?! A job that ultimately they realized they couldn’t offer him anyway because he’d have to leave the House?

    Wow… this is about the lamest “gate” I’ve ever seen… and the fact that Sestak let it fester and wouldn’t set the record straight shows a lot about his character… and lack thereof… I think.

    He has. And didn’t refute it when it was suggested that it was Secretary of the Navy.

    Although he knew damn well that wasn’t true.

    Looks like we’re stuck with him, though.

  37. 37.

    Cacti

    May 28, 2010 at 11:21 am

    Sleestak has painted himself into a corner and is hoping the WH tosses him a life preserver.

  38. 38.

    angler

    May 28, 2010 at 11:21 am

    Specter would have been more loyal. He will be missed.

  39. 39.

    Cacti

    May 28, 2010 at 11:25 am

    @Ronbo:

    By action, Obama is far to the right of Richard M. Nixon. By talk, he is a liberal icon. Obama’s Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde act is disgusting.

    Still angry that he didn’t bring the socialist revolution he never promised?

  40. 40.

    fucen tarmal

    May 28, 2010 at 11:26 am

    le sigh..

    this is why we can’t have nice things…

    the acquisition of arlen specter as the 60th vote was a doomed and foolish concept from the start…the 59 votes were unwhippable and useless anyway.

    arlen has been elsie hillman’s boy since most of the obama team was figuring out which end of the playpen smelled the worst.

    he was the unreliable cherry that was supposed to top a shit sundae, because, as it turns out the 60 vote thing didn’t do dick, just like arlen didn’t do dick for the voters of pa. there is no reason at all we owe him a job.

    on the other side, while i can sympathize with sleestak not getting any support from the dems while running against their high priced free agent, all he had to do was shut the fuck up…

    the voters in pa end up looking like, and feeling like assholes either way. its like the parents who fight about everything arguing over some shit you did, taking opposite sides just because….we prefer sleestak over arlen, we know arlen, what he is and he isn’t, what he will never be, so for the national party to throw him on us, is to act like we are stupid…sleestak, won, all he has to do is take a victory lap and smile, do you really think the party that can’t rid itself of lieberman is going to hold a grudge forever? nah they would be kissing his ass soon enough.

    shorter: we, the pa voters are trying to stay blue, and get bluer, and the national is fucking it all up.

  41. 41.

    Cacti

    May 28, 2010 at 11:41 am

    Here’s the story

    Rham sent Bill Clinton to talk with Sleestak, feel out his intentions.

    Supposedly offered him an unpaid advisory position.

    There you have it. The Obama admin “bribed” Sleestak with an unpaid position.

  42. 42.

    tomjones

    May 28, 2010 at 11:41 am

    @Corner Stone: Anybody know what size ass hat Corner Stone wears?

  43. 43.

    tomjones

    May 28, 2010 at 11:46 am

    @Randy P: It was really just a mistake in punctuation.

    I didn’t vote for a Republican? Obama!

  44. 44.

    Sentient Puddle

    May 28, 2010 at 11:46 am

    The White House has released a memo about what happened. As expected, it looks like it’s absolutely nothing.

    Now can we get Sestak to look over the memo and say “Yup, that’s what happened” already? This shit is totally moronic.

  45. 45.

    micah616

    May 28, 2010 at 11:46 am

    I skipped the PA primary because of this. I didn’t like when Sestak did it early this year. I was rather shocked it wasn’t a big national deal then, but I’m not so shocked that it’s coming back to bite Sestak in the ass.

    This supposed job offer will be the biggest hammer Toomey has against Sestak, and Sestak will continue to get hit with it no matter how the story shakes out.

    Fortunately, Toomey’s ads are terrible. For now.

  46. 46.

    gypsy howell

    May 28, 2010 at 11:52 am

    Specter would have been more loyal.

    This is based on…..? Specter would be loyal to Specter and that’s about it.

    I don’t love Sestak, and I’m prepared to be mightily disappointed in him, but I’m not the least bit sorry he beat Specter in the primary. Specter has spent the last 40+ years being a complete dick as a republican, and then when he can’t play in his own sandbox anymore without his own party kicking sand in his face, he switches to being a Dem, as if that’s supposed to be a positive thing for those of us in PA who have put up with him for decades.

    And honest to god, I’m sick of incumbents automatically winning term after term. He’s 80 fucking years old for gods sakes, and he’s had serious health issues. Why does he even need another senate term anyway? Time for him to retire.

  47. 47.

    liberart76

    May 28, 2010 at 11:53 am

    The sleeper issue of the 2010 election is the impeachment of President Barack Obama. Republicans are already grumbling and fishing around for excuses to launch impeachment proceedings – see Darrell Issa. If voters hand the keys of Congress back to the Republicans, they seem likely to throw another national hissyfit and try to impeach the President, likely over Sestak’s job offer, if nothing else presents itself.

    A fine use of our government’s energies in our Time of Troubles. Even conservative independants, weary of the Democrats and their programs, would recoil from launching another impeachment circus just now. Such frivolity plays better in times of plenty, ie the Clinton Era.

    Democrats should call on every Republican candidate high and low to take a stand on the impeachment of Obama. They would be trapped between a rock and a dumb place, forced to choose between scaring moderates and pissing off their base. Their obfuscations would be both entertaining and damning.

  48. 48.

    debbie

    May 28, 2010 at 11:57 am

    Is anyone really stupid enough to believe this kind of thing never happens, or that this is any different than offering patronage jobs to supporters?

    I think it’s obvious that the Republicans need to apply a new coat of glitter to their unicorn.

    Also, I am begging Issa to bring on the impeachment. I know of no better way to guarantee a permanent Republican minority.

  49. 49.

    Cacti

    May 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    @debbie:

    IMPEACHMENT – because we’ve got nothing else

    Vote GOP 2010

  50. 50.

    Resident Firebagger

    May 28, 2010 at 12:23 pm

    Does this back up the accusation enough for you?

    The White House used former President Bill Clinton to offer an unpaid advisory position to Rep. Joe Sestak in hopes of persuading him to drop his Pennsylvania Senate primary challenge to President Barack Obama’s favored candidate, according to an internal report issued Friday.

    I know you all love to say how, as president, Obama is ultimately responsible for nothing, but Democrats have kowtowed to their favorite candidates for years. You really think this doesn’t go on?

  51. 51.

    feebog

    May 28, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    As I said in yesterday’s thread on this subject, good grief this is lame. Even assuming that Obama offered Sestak the Sec. Navy job, so what? He gets someone qualified for a high level position and resolves a primary race in PA. And if the offer was indeed for an unpaid position then this is even more of an non-issue.

    As for Spector vs. Sestak, no contest. Spector has been a whiny pain in the ass for 30 years. Suddenly he switches parties because he knows he can’t win a primary against Toomey and he is a Democratic hero? No, the switch was not because he had a sudden change in principles, it was the only way he was going to drag his sorry ass back into the Sentate one more time. Sestak may have his flaws, but he will be a hell of a lot more reliable vote then Arlen Spector.

  52. 52.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    @tomjones: Why tom, whatever do you mean?

  53. 53.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 12:29 pm

    @micah616:

    This supposed job offer will be the biggest hammer Toomey has against Sestak

    God, I so fucking hope so.
    Because if this stupid nonsense is the best Toomey’s going to have then that Senate seat will stay D.

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    @micah616:

    This supposed job offer will be the biggest hammer Toomey has against Sestak, and Sestak will continue to get hit with it no matter how the story shakes out.

    Let’s game it out a little. Ad man voiceover with a pic of Sestak on TV.
    “Joe Sestak was offered a bribe job by the soshulist oppressor Obama if he would just stand down. Or was he? Did he turn down the offer, or was there ever an offer at all?
    We don’t know but we know you just.can’t.trust Joe Sestak.”

    *paid for by Toomey for Senate.

  55. 55.

    square1

    May 28, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    This is what Republicans do. They create scandals out of thin air. The Obama administration is handling this disastrously. They are acting defensive and introducing completely irrelevant issues. (An “unpaid” position? Please.)

    We’ve seen this over and over and over again. The GOP throws mud at Obama and Obama flinches. E.g. when he changed the HCR bill to humor Joe “You Lie” Wilson and Sarah “Death Panels” Palin. Now he’s “investigating” this? For fuck’s sake, investigating what?!? There is nothing to investigate.

    But instead of pointing the finger of blame where it belongs, on Obama and Rahm for their ineptitude at deflecting wingnuttery, the Obamabots are blaming Sestak and, even better, “firebaggers” for their problems. Jane Hamsher is secretly plotting impeachment proceedings as we speak.

  56. 56.

    Nick

    May 28, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    Chris Cillizza basically just admitted the only reason the media is making a big deal out of this is because the media is mad the President wouldn’t indulge them on this earlier this week.

  57. 57.

    Nick

    May 28, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    @square1: I guess you don’t pay attention because the first response from the administration earlier in the week was “we’re not even going to discuss that” and were only forced on the defensive after the media blew it out of proportion because they were angry the President wasn’t answering their hard-hitting questions about nothing.

    The GOP threw mud, Obama didn’t flinch, os the media decided to help the GOP throw more mud.

  58. 58.

    square1

    May 28, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    Nick, as I said, they are inept. The administration is being bullied. This is not how you handle bullying. Trying to ignore the bully and then handing over your lunch money when that doesn’t work is not an effective solution.

  59. 59.

    Nick

    May 28, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    @square1: You are wrong, this is how you handle our garbage. We have the unique power of being able to make shit up and feed it to a public who believes its caviar.

    How do you handle a bully? Should he order the national guard to destroy news studios? I don’t know what you want them to do. He told them to fuck off and they made it a bigger deal, what is he supposed to do?

    The media wants a fucking story and they’ll make it up if they have to. The smartest thing the administration could do is release the facts, because just telling the media to go fuck itself is not going to stop them, it’s only going to make them madder and it’s only going to lead them to making up more lies.

    I work for the media, why can’t you people understand this about them?

  60. 60.

    square1

    May 28, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    Nick, you are completely missing the dynamic. The Obama administration isn’t being bullied by the media. It is being bullied by Issa and the GOP. The media is simply the schoolyard crowd who will cheer for whoever seems to have the upper hand politically. If Obama grew a pair of balls once in a while, he wouldn’t have to face these problems. And the media wouldn’t have the guts to go after Obama with nonsense.

    How do you fight back against a bully? You punch him in the nose. Issa is knee-deep in Bush administration scandals, including firing of U.S. attorney Carol Lam. It would be trivial to find something to bury him with.

    But no doubt Issa has (rightly) taken Obama to be a complete pussy with his “look forward, not back” approach to investigating Bush administration criminality. So, rather than overtly or covertly fucking Issa’s shit up, Obama sticks his tail between his legs and begs to be left alone. Pathetic.

  61. 61.

    Nick

    May 28, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    @square1:

    And the media wouldn’t have the guts to go after Obama with nonsense.

    you can’t POSSIBLY be this fucking delusional. The media is going after him precisely because they don’t like how hard he is on them. They think he DOES bully them, they think he DOES punch them in the nose and they don’t like it.

    Good God, you guys really are living on another fucking planet.

    Issa is knee-deep in Bush administration scandals, including firing of U.S. attorney Carol Lam. It would be trivial to find something to bury him with.

    Oh you mean the scandal the Democrats have been trying to leak to the media for years, only to have them stick all the evidence of a huge scandal in the garbage because it doesn’t interest them?

    No, as a news producer and news writer, I can tell you, with complete honestly, the media will not respect the President if he started pushing us around, because he already does. It will only make us make up more lies about him. Fox makes the most money out of all of us, there’s plenty of incentive to follow their way of reporting. No, Issa does not see Obama as a pussy, he sees an opening because the media is looking for a scandal, is willing to lie to get one, and there’s nothing the White House can do the stop it and Obama’s supporters are too busy living in a fantasyworld to back him up.

  62. 62.

    lawguy

    May 28, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    That mean old Sestack. He points out that the WH tried to keep him from picking on poor old Arlan, and now it is his fault.

    Look the guy is running as a democrat and the WH seems willing to help him. He now wants the whole thing to go away. Who would have thought?

    You know perhaps, to whatever extent there is fault in this the fault is with the party who violated whatever ethics laws were violated, not the party who was approached and reported it.

    Saying that I thought that was what politicians did was to trade favors and gifts and jobs. I am surprised that this is a big deal, but I do see the media and republicans partying like its 1994 again. But I suspect it doesn’t matter they would have found something.

  63. 63.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    @square1: oooo…ouch.

  64. 64.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    WE’RE DOOMED!! NON-STORY NOT GOING AWAY!
    RUN FOR YOUR RIVES! IT’S GODZIRRA!!

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    May 28, 2010 at 2:27 pm

    @Resident Firebagger:

    I know you all love to say how, as president, Obama is ultimately responsible for nothing, but Democrats have kowtowed to their favorite candidates for years. You really think this doesn’t go on?

    Of course it goes on. The point is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, either legally or ethically. It’s the normal horsetrading that all politicians do.

    Remember how the favorite Republican cry during the Libby trial was that Democrats were trying to “criminalize” normal politics even though perjury is, you know, a crime? Surprise, surprise, here they are trying to criminalize something that Democrats did that’s not actually a crime at all.

    It’s always about projection for Republicans. Always. They see this as a way out of the US attorneys scandal, and they’re probably right — the media will treat the illegal actions in that case and the completely legal actions in this situation as somehow equivalent because shut up, that’s why.

  66. 66.

    Mnemosyne

    May 28, 2010 at 2:30 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Dialect jokes haven’t been cool or funny since about 1985.

  67. 67.

    square1

    May 28, 2010 at 2:35 pm

    Yes, I am living on another planet. Its called Earth. You may want to visit.

    I blows my mind that anyone could look back on the past 20 years of the political-media landscape and conclude that the media was too tough on Democrats and too easy on Republicans because Democrats tried to bully the media and the Repuplicans didn’t. But, hey, whatever gets you through the day. I never gave the media much credit for their ability to perform self-analysis…assuming that you are what you say you are.

    No, as a news producer and news writer, I can tell you, with complete honestly, the media will not respect the President if he started pushing us around, because he already does. It will only make us make up more lies about him.

    Hmm. So you are claiming that it is routine within your profession to “make up lies” about Obama out of spite for “pushing us around”? Wow. Maybe instead of arguing with me, you could start apologizing for the unprofessional, unethical, and sleazy behavior of you and your colleagues. Oh, and quit your job.

  68. 68.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 2:40 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Oh bite me clownshoe.
    That comment made its point. And you can DIAF if you don’t like it.

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    May 28, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Racist joke is racist, but I’m the one with a problem. Okey-dokey.

  70. 70.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    @Mnemosyne: HAHAHAHAHA!!

  71. 71.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 2:53 pm

    @John Cole

    Kay gets this exactly right in the comments:

    {Giggling quietly to myself.}

  72. 72.

    square1

    May 28, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    Oh, and again, Nick. I’m not saying that Obama should bully the media. I said that he should have the balls to stand up to the GOP who are bullying him.

  73. 73.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 9:19 pm

    @John Cole
    and just for your future reference, anytime you feel like typing the below:

    Kay gets this exactly right in the comments:

    You should really take two and come back in the morning.
    Because it will not end well for you.

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