"They" are making this stuff up in order to hurt Obama re Sestak Bribe

[Botany]

Just like ACORN, WMDs in Iraq, or Whitewater this crap about trying to bribe Joe Sestak
by the White House is pure "gotcha" politics. Hundreds of times people have been offered
jobs by people from both parties in order to get them to drop out of races, endorse a certain
candidate, or to curry favor.

This is like ACORN all over again there is nothing there but a minority party w/ help from
a complaint media is making this molehill into a mountain. With all the crimes and lies of
the bush administration these republicans .... Tom Coburn I am looking @ you ..... are with
a straight face talking about ethics and the rule of law? :puke:

ACORN = made up crap
WMDs = made up crap in order to start a war
Whitewater = made up crap (The Clinton's lost money on the deal) in order "to get Clinton."

Sorry to rant but I just saw Mika on Joe S. for a minute talk about the "Sestak Bribe." :puke:

Right now @ Fox News and Creative Response Concepts dirtbags are pushing this meme 24/7.

[babylonsister]

1. That's all they've been talking about practically; that's all they've

got. It's a non-story they're again trying to make into a story. Ignore these particular talking heads; lots of bloviating, signifying nothing.

[Botany]

3. The big lie theory

Just tell a lie often enough, some of the people who hear it will believe it.

Obama offering Sestak a job to help "his guy" in the race has been done thousands of times before.

[iamjoy]

5. That Doesn't Matter

I mean, it doesn't matter that there's nothing wrong here, if they talk about it enough it will leave President Obama (and maybe Sestak too) smeared with sufficient mud for Republicans to win in November and that's what's really important to them.

To me, focusing on whether that was criminal misses another very important point. See, my way of looking at is that if the White House offered Sestak a job to stay out of the PA Senate Race, there's nothing wrong with it - that kind of political horse trading happens all the time, right? Except we expected better of the Obama administration, didn't we?

[babylonsister]

7. Should we be privy to every conversation that takes

place in the WH? The answer is a resounding no, and these clowns know it. They're trying to create controversy out of thin air. And we have no idea what if anything the WH offered-maybe Sestak interpreted whatever was said differently than it was intended. That's the problem with blatant speculation, which happens constantly.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/05/what_scandal.html

What scandal?

By Dylan Matthews


Dave Weigel has pretty thoroughly debunked the meme that the Obama administration offered Rep. Joe Sestak the post of secretary of the Navy to prevent him from challenging Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Senate primary (a primary Sestak won last week). Ray Mabus was nominated to the position before Specter switched parties, and certainly before Sestak considered challenging him.

Still, Sestak's camp is insisting that the administration made some job offer, and so the story hasn't gone away just yet. Why it's supposed to be scandalous, though, is beyond me. The White House wasn't exactly shy about favoring Specter over Sestak, and it is not shocking to hear that the top Democrat in the nation wanted to avoid a divisive primary in an important Senate contest. One might think such an offer would politicize the position in question, but that's to be expected. It's a political appointment; its tainting by the Senate confirmation process prevents a process based purely on finding the best person for the job, so it's not as though the White House was corrupting a fair process by considering electoral politics.

More to the point, this politicization is only a problem if it results in cronies, or otherwise unqualified people, taking important positions. It's hard to imagine this being the case with any position Sestak would have been appointed to fill. A 30-year Navy veteran who reached the rank of vice admiral and spent two years on the House Armed Services Committee, like Sestak, is more than qualified to be secretary of the Navy. It's harder to evaluate Sestak's suitability for the post the White House actually offered him, as we don't know what it is, but there's not exactly a dearth of positions in the federal government for high-ranking former military officers. It may have looked scuzzy for Obama to offer Sestak a job to protect Specter, but it's hard to imagine it would hurt whatever department he would have been tapped to run.

-- Dylan Matthews is a student at Harvard and a researcher at The Washington Post.

[ShortnFiery]

2. How many times do some of us have to remind you NOT to watch Mourning Ho-Jo?

Just because the whores in the M$M spew propaganda, WE in this forum don't have to take manufactured crises up as truly LEGITIMATE topics?

I believe if DEMOCRATS would stop watching Mourning Ho-Jo, it would be shut down for lack of ratings.

Let's give it a good try because it's hard enough to keep up with the GOP's noise machine, in and of itself.

Turn the channel? :shrug:

[TheDebbieDee]

4. If DEMOCRATS would stop watching Mourning Ho-Jo, it would be shut down for lack of ratings.

A 1,000 times this!

[Botany]

6. I only saw it for a minute trying to hear the latest on the Gulf.

I switched it off the minute I heard Mika read her line about "the Sestak bribe."

I try to never watch Fox news or Morning "dead intern in my office" Joe because
I know what they are about. Last time I saw Morning Joe he was squinting and
talking about the Gulf as "Obama's Katrina."

However I hope the White House and the progressive work on a good push back
on this law now.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. First problem is Sestak starting this by opening his big yap about it...

if he hadn't whined about it in the first place, nobody would have known.

Second problem is thinking anyone watches Morning Joe but Democrats looking for something to complain about. Fox viewers already think Sestak is scum, so no big deal there.

(If it becomes a running topic on Today, then watch out.)

[ShortnFiery]

9. Sestak mentioned this months ago when all was less than "sweetness and light" within

the democratic party. The truth is what it is. If you are open and honest, then there's no need for B.S. loyalty. Let all the facts come out in the open - then let the chips fall where they may?

[vi5]

10. There's no "there" there....BUT....

..this is yet another reason why I think presidents should stay far, far, FAR away from primaries. Let the people decide. Washington is already one big incumbent protection racket. There's no reason for the president to play a part in that and it would also avoid any aftershocks or anything of the sort. At all. If other people want to get involved then fine. But really, just stay away altogether and this could all have been avoided.

The fact that everyone knows the White House favored and wanted Specter means this story no matter how untrue is given some semblance of credibility. If the WH were completely neutral and voiced that neutrality in no uncertain terms then nobody would believe any of this even for a second.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

11. What's so frustrating is that Ed invited Laura Flanders on to debate this Republican

who I never heard of but who is often on his show. And she totally didn't hit back against the Repuke on this story.

If Democrats allow the Republicans to move with this story and refuse to hit back, they will be in big trouble.

When are they going to learn not to let these Repuke lies and feigned outrage go unchecked? These Republicans are the same people who aided and excused the outing of a CIA agent.

[stray cat]

12. Sestak did say he had been offered a job if he withdrew

[WI_DEM]

13. Is this actually new? or have presidents done this type of thing forever?

I don't see it as illegal.