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Obama White House probe of Obama White House

finds no Obama White House impropriety on Sestak
May 24, 2010 |  2:22 am

Obviously, nothing to see over here, folks. Move along now.

Joe Sestak, the newly-elected Democratic Senate nominee from Pennsylvania, repeated his
assertion Sunday that somebody he did not identify from the Obama White House offered him an
administration job he did not detail, possibly in return for him dropping out of his undesirable
primary challenge of Arlen "I Was a Republican Before I Realized I Was a Democrat"
Specter.

Obviously, Sestak didn't accept the offer. And Specter didn't win a primary race that he feared losing
if he stayed a Republican. 

On NBC's "Meet the Press" David Gregory asked Sestak about the job offer.

Here's the exchange:

MR. GREGORY: What, what job were you offered to stay out of a primary race by the
administration?

REP. SESTAK: It's interesting. I was asked a question about something that....

...happened months earlier, and I felt I should answer it honestly. And that's all I had to say
about it because anything beyond that gets away from what we just spoke about.

MR. GREGORY: Right.

REP. SESTAK: What are the policies that are really going to help people who've been
slammed by the economy...

MR. GREGORY: All right, but you've campaigned on transparency. It's part of the politics.
You talked about standing up to the White House when they'd fielded a candidate--made a
deal with Arlen Specter. So isn't it in the--in the spirit of transparency, were you offered a
 job by the administration? And what was it?

REP. SESTAK: I learned, as I mentioned, about that personal accountability in the Navy.

MR. GREGORY: Yeah.

REP. SESTAK: I felt I needed to answer that question honestly because I was personally
accountable for my role in the matter.

MR. GREGORY: What's the answer? What's the job you were offered?

REP. SESTAK: And--but anybody else has to decide for themselves what to say upon their
role, and that's their responsibility.

MR. GREGORY: Yes or no, straightforward question. Were you, were you offered a job,
and what was the job?

REP. SESTAK: I was offered a job, and I answered that.

MR. GREGORY: You said no, you wouldn't

take the job. Was it the secretary of the
Navy?

REP. SESTAK: Right. And I also said, "Look,

I'm getting into this...

MR. GREGORY: Was it the secretary of the

Navy job?

REP. SESTAK: Anything that go--goes

beyond that is others--for others to talk
about.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, CBS' Bob Schieffer

asked Obama press secretary Robert "The
Artful Dodger" Gibbs about the Sestak offer.

Here's that exchange:

SCHIEFFER: One final question. Joe Sestak,

who beat Arlen Specter -- and the White
House, of course, was backing Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania primary up there -- all
these reports that the White House offered him some sort of job, some sort of post in the
administration if he wouldn't run. Would you tell us what -- what post he was offered?

GIBBS: Well, Bob, I'm not a lawyer. But lawyers in the White House and others have looked
into conversations that were had with Congressman Sestak. And nothing inappropriate
happened.

I think Republicans are continuing to dredge this up because, if you look just a couple of
days after this primary, the polling shows that Republicans are already behind in a very
important Senate race.

SCHIEFFER: Improper or not, did you offer him a job in the administration?

GIBBS: I'm not going to get further into what the conversations were. People that have
looked into them assure me that they weren't inappropriate in any way.

SCHIEFFER: Robert Gibbs, thank you very much for being with us.

The self-cleansing investigation of themselves is a favored tactic of the ex-state senator; See this
Obama-Blagojevich Ticket item from 2008, and relies on the media dropping it.

It should also be noted that even though Sestak is a two-term House member, he's running as a let's-
clean-up-Dodge candidate. But now he won't say who from the White House offered him what to get
out of Dodge.

Sestak did reveal that President Obama, who campaigned for Specter against Sestak, was the first to
call, congratulate and offer to support Sestak this fall. That's an offer of dubious usefulness in that
state of small people in small towns bitterly clinging to their guns and religion.

Especially seeing as how the Democratic president is now 0-4 in such select endorsement contests
since November. But it's not something from the party leader that the newly-stamped party candidate
can reject out of hand either.

The way modern American politics operates, it is now no longer in Sestak's interests to fight with
Obama. And Obama's call was an implicit peace offering designed to keep him quiet, if not happy.  

Because it sure isn't in the interests of a president who promised to change the way Washington works
to have a smoldering quid pro quo Navy-gate scandal traced back to a smoke-filled Oval Office.

Hence, Gibbs' artful dodge, in the hopes that this week the rest of the media will drop this line of
questioning as quickly as Schieffer did.
Related Items:

So, Mr. President, how's that Guantanamo closing promise coming along?

Transparent Robert Gibbs successfully deflects 13 straight media questions

-- Andrew Malcolm

If you click here to receive automatic secret Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item, the White House
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Photos: Karen Bleier / AFP / Getty Images (Sestak); George Widman / Associated Press (Specter);
Blank photo of unidentified administration official(s) who talked with Sestak.

More in: 2010, Campaign Gaffes, Campaigning, Corruption,

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Democratic Politics, House of Representatives, Pennsylvania,
Political History, President Obama, Primary Calendar, Scandal, Comments (27)
Senate Races, White House

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"""...bitterly clinging to their guns and religion."""

Couldn't let an article go by without insulting, fly-over country could you.

(AM responds: It's only Pennsylvania. But did you even read the item? Seems not. But thanks for
visiting anyway.)

Posted by: Cmate | May 24, 2010 at 04:00 AM

Well isn't this cosy the wolves guarding the chicken house? You don't have to be educated to realize
that something is fishy about this whole thing. Let's do what the Democrat always do have an
indepedant counsel look into this matter!

Posted by: PaulRevere | May 24, 2010 at 09:15 AM

It's kind of like when the incoming Obama White House investigated whether any one from the
incoming staff had anything improper to do with the Blagojevich administration of my home state of
Illinois. Obama found himself and all his staff not guilty. Isn't that amazing?

Posted by: Liz | May 24, 2010 at 04:56 PM

And I am quite sure that the Obama White House's findings will be all the press needs to move on. They
need to be on alert to be ready for the next round of tea-bagger-related outrageousness.

Posted by: Sean | May 24, 2010 at 08:11 PM

Where's the comment that begins, "I love it when you wingnuts..." Those are always among the best.
They combine a sniffing dismissiveness with an inability to approach the evidence or even the
argument.

Posted by: Amos | May 24, 2010 at 08:15 PM

Cmate, that's what Obama said about Pennsylvania. You didn't hear that?

Posted by: MB | May 24, 2010 at 10:43 PM

yea kinda like when accorn investagated themselves and found nothing wrong well i robbed a bank
checked ionto it and found i did no wrong

Posted by: geraldludlow | May 25, 2010 at 01:01 AM

I expect that this kind of horse trading, pay offs and pay backs, goes on all the time. But the sputtering
and dissembling sure makes it smell like a scandal.

Posted by: tim maguire | May 25, 2010 at 04:21 AM

I wonder if Andrew Malcolm would care to cite the statute that says it's illegal to offer jobs to people
who are campaigning for political office. If the White House offered Sestak the Secretary of the Navy
job they would not have done so "in return" for him leaving the race, because in order to accept the
job he would need to leave the race regardless. In other words, you're accusing the White House of
"bribing" Sestak to become Secretary of the Navy by offering him the position of Secretary of the Navy.

Were you, Mr. Malcolm, "bribed" to work for the LA Times (rather than, say, for Fox News, where you
would seem to be more at home) by the offer of a job at the paper? When the LA Times offered you a
job did they say to you "if you'll do us a favor by leaving your current job, we'll pay you back by giving
you a job here at the Times?" Or did they simply say "we'd like to offer you a job at our paper and we're
willing to pay such-and-such"?

If the White House approached Sestak, do you think they would have said "hey, buddy, if you leave the
race against Specter, we'll offer you a job as Secretary of the Navy"--thus implying that they didn't
really think he'd be a very good Secretary of the Navy or have the President's strong support in that
position? Or do you think they'd have simply said "we want you to be Secretary of the Navy, because
we think you're the best possible candidate for the job!" If they said that, can you please try to explain
to me how in the world that would be "bribery"?

Posted by: Hugh Roberts | May 25, 2010 at 08:54 AM

The most corrupt administration EVER!!! Now if only the rest of the press would quit licking the hands
of these corrupt democrats and actually do some REPORTING!!! Of course our "free" press has already
neutered itself for its political masters, so all we'll get is "Nothing to see here, move along...look,
there's a republican! [pant, pant] I can smell the corruption!" Pathetic, truly pathetic. Good thing we
have the blogosphere, talk radio and the National Enquirer to break all the real stories, otherwise we'd
only get the democrat approved propaganda. Sad.

Posted by: Forrest | May 25, 2010 at 09:19 AM

This reminds me of the stylings of many dictators around the world. Remember Sadaam's (Speaking of
Husseins) announcement about 5 minutes after a supposed free election ON PAPER BALLOTS that he
had won 100% of the votes?!? That's some fast counting! Hugo does it regularly, stating, "We couldn't
come up with an amicable agreement, so the government had to act"... Kim Jong, The Castro Bros, etc
all play this game because they can. This is because the people they overthrew were either unable, or
unwilling to stand up to them.

People, hold these politicians to account. They will rob, cheat, transform & steal to our ultimate
demise if we do not. They are the proverbial fox guarding the hen-house, this attempted bribery of
Sestak is exactly that, and this guy should be impeached if it can be proven.

Posted by: Dale M- Kingwood TX | May 25, 2010 at 01:02 PM

Sestak should name names. It's not too late!

Doesn't anyone in the press want a story? Lazy bunch. No one does their job anymore. Lame stream
media is now Lazy stream media. Years ago, a reporter to do anything to get to the truth. Now they
are hand fed by the W.H. Very sad.

Posted by: Marie | May 25, 2010 at 01:23 PM

where the hell is Joe Wilson when ya need 'em......

oh well I'll try to do it like he would....

YOU LIE!!!!!

Posted by: butt neckid | May 25, 2010 at 02:00 PM

"Obama White House probe of Obama White House finds no Obama White House impropriety on
Sestak"
Classic headline!

Posted by: Garden Gnome | May 25, 2010 at 02:09 PM

ALSO- OJ Simpson announced the results of HIS investigation into the murder of his wife: "I found
absolutely no evidence that I did it...!

Posted by: TruthTeller | May 25, 2010 at 02:09 PM

I definitely need to start writing down the rules that have come into effect since Obama was elected.
Just a few so I don't forget:
1 ) Dissent is the highest form of sedition and also racist.
2) It is acceptable for the White House to investigate and adjudicate corruption allegations against the
White House (Richard Nixon just called to say "what the f#ck")
3) Everything bad that happens in the world is not the President's fault and, in fact, the President is not
even accountable for his own actions or the results of his own policies.

I think that's a good start

Posted by: Big E | May 25, 2010 at 02:34 PM

This reminds me of the early days of the Nixon cover up. The chi town thugs in the white house are
doing Obama in. Since Obama is an empty suit, I am happy to see his poll numbers headed south. LOL

Posted by: Bean Dip | May 25, 2010 at 02:47 PM

I didn't know NYT Judith Miller was still working for the White House on their internal investigation
team.

Posted by: Deapster | May 25, 2010 at 02:52 PM

".....Obama White House probe of Obama White House finds no Obama White House impropriety on
Sesta........"

SEE,....!!!!

Posted by: CHICAGO RALPH | May 25, 2010 at 03:16 PM

The headline reveals this probe as pure incest.

Posted by: Allan | May 25, 2010 at 03:29 PM

Mullins kicked Sestak out of the Navy in, I believe it was 2005. Sestak is a snake who would bite his
jmother if it would get him a vote.

Posted by: Callie | May 25, 2010 at 04:28 PM

Just like in all prisons. The inmates will tell you they can find no wrong doing in what they did, But in
this case the (White House) guards are the ones doing the crimes and the taxpayers are paying the
fines.

Posted by: Budswisr1 | May 25, 2010 at 05:05 PM

Hugh, its unfortunate you possess such a malformed sense of judgment. Or perhaps you are blinded by
party politics and simply caught up in cheering for your 'team'. If you honestly do not understand why
buying off a political candidate with tax payer's money then perhaps you're none other than a crook
from the Nixon admin. Try to put the red and blue b.s. aside and understand the implications of any
president buying off political opposition.... Folks like Hugh Roberts are to blame for the poor political
culture in this country. Folks like Hugh Roberts blindly vote for party lines versus real issues. Sizzle
Hugh Roberts, sizzle.

Posted by: Piablo | May 25, 2010 at 05:22 PM

I can see why you allowed the post by Hugh Roberts, even the logic challenged deserve a say, I guess.
If Joe Sestak has knowledge of a federal crime, he is supposed to report it, not say it is the
responsibility of someone else to come forward should they so choose. Maybe Joe is just angling for a
higher post. If he runs and wins in November, then he can hold out for Sec. of Defense. And when he
resigns Ed Rendell can then appoint Spector to fill the empty Senate seat. What a plan.
Posted by: Mike Dudnikov | May 25, 2010 at 09:06 PM

....Isn't it about time for the AMERICAN PEOPLE.. to decide if its time
t o have a SPECIAL COUNSEL..do a real investigation. If the people
don't get a chance to tell OBAMA.. what they want.......

Chances are that the Democrat Party will never get to appoint one again,
n o matter what the circumstances. OBAMA's time in office will set a
precedent for many moons to come. But, then OBAMA has set a lot of
prededents that will harm the Democrat party. I don't want that to happen to a once great unit. It is
time for real Democrats to speak up!

For the sake of our party ---- we should tell OBAMA to ' cool it ' with his
crazy views for America being just another global country or just
another Bananna Republic.

Posted by: tess of Penna. | May 25, 2010 at 09:33 PM

 
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