White House Bribery and Cover Up?

[TankBuster 0]

Certainly the most transparent administration in the history of mankind will soon be forthcoming with the actual details of the offer/conversation.

http://www.examiner.com/x-33986-Political-Spin-Examiner~y2010m5d25-Joe-Sestak-admits-White-House-offered--job-President-Obama-silent-on-issue-Video

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/25/1279839/senate-majority-whip-calls-for.html

The forecast is mostly sunny with occasional beer.

[Gawain 0]

It's certainly shady, but I'd be surprised if anything came out of this. The insiders have such a strong majority that Sen. Durbin is simply putting on a show. The media will not enable any real results either.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[jgoose71 0]

Are you seriously surprised? This is the same administration that refused to investigate the Black panthers threatening voters outside a polling station. They only investigate Republicans and the CIA.

"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
Life, the Universe, and Everything

[turtlespeed 212]

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Certainly the most transparent administration in the history of mankind will soon be forthcoming with the actual details of the offer/conversation.

http://www.examiner.com/x-33986-Political-Spin-Examiner~y2010m5d25-Joe-Sestak-admits-White-House-offered--job-President-Obama-silent-on-issue-Video

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/25/1279839/senate-majority-whip-calls-for.html

No surprise here - Bribery is a way of the whitehouse - no matter who is in office.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[idrankwhat 0]

I'm not quite sure what the big deal is. This is Washington. That's what they do.

"I'll get you elected if you promise to pass this legislation that our lawyers pen for you. Then you can come work for us as a lobbyist because government pay sucks in comparison."

"Thanks for getting me elected with your lavish gifts of "free speech". Now here is that political appointment to head the department that's supposed to be regulating your business."

"Hey, how about I buy you and your SC justice friend an all expense paid hunting trip with me and my oily friends. And don't worry, I promise not to bring up that pending court case."

"If you help me out with "x" I'll be sure to remember you when some job vacancies arise. If you really help out and there are no jobs available I'll make one."

Business as usual. Distasteful, but typical.

[TankBuster 0]

Once it crosses certain boundaries, it becomes trying to influence the outcome of an election through illegal means. It's a felony. They probably did it, but they are very careful about not getting caught, so they most likely will get away with it.

The forecast is mostly sunny with occasional beer.

[DanG 1]

I'm not so sure that they really did it. Why would they be so hot to keep him from running against Specter? He's a Democrat, too. Offering the guy a job is not the same as offering him a job to keep him off the ballot. He may be exaggerating the situation to make him seem more important than he is.

I'm not saying that the WH did or didn't do it, but right now it's all He Said, She Said.

- Dan G

[Andy9o8 0]

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Offering the guy a job is not the same as offering him a job to keep him off the ballot.

You've just identified the fulcrum around which each side will pirouette as they dance their little dance.

I used to be interested in politics. Now I'm just interested in Government, and governance. This kind of shit, from each side, is why.

[TankBuster 0]

Looks like BalarinaBoy enlisted the help of Clinton for this one. Good choice. If there's a subpoena we'll have to filter through several definintions of "IS"

The forecast is mostly sunny with occasional beer.

[Gawain 0]

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Looks like BalarinaBoy enlisted the help of Clinton for this one. Good choice. If there's a subpoena we'll have to filter through several definintions of "IS"

So, a sitting President directs his Chief-of-Staff to ask a former President, whose wife is the Secretary of State, to talk to a former Admiral who is a Congressman about an "advisory" board position if he stays in the House versus run for the Senate?

No, no, no, no, no...you don't use a hot-knife-through-butter team like that for some meaningless non-paying board job. This is turning out to be bigger than I thought.

Offering something of value as a political favor per se, is black-letter in violation of the statute. The problem is that AG Holder won't assign an independent prosecutor for this. He doesn't have the political moxy. No one on the democrat side of the aisle is saying anything...they're really going to sweep this under the rug?

Really? Really?!

This amounts to electoral manipulation at a minimum...denying (or attempting to deny) voters a "qualified" individual in a valid primary election.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[mnealtx 0]

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This amounts to electoral manipulation at a minimum...denying (or attempting to deny) voters a "qualified" individual in a valid primary election.

That's the Chicago way!

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[TankBuster 0]

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This amounts to electoral manipulation at a minimum...denying (or attempting to deny) voters a "qualified" individual in a valid primary election.

That's the Chicago way!

If you remember, Obama got his opponents kicked off the ballot for his first elected position in Chicago. What it boils down to is he hired a few lawyers to strike names from his competition's petitions for misspellings, etc., until they didn't have enough to qualify.

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In his first race for office, seeking a state Senate seat on Chicago's gritty South Side in 1996, Obama effectively used election rules to eliminate his Democratic competition.

As a community organizer, he had helped register thousands of voters. But when it came time to run for office, he employed Chicago rules to invalidate the voting petition signatures of three of his challengers.

The move denied each of them, including incumbent Alice Palmer, a longtime Chicago activist, a place on the ballot. It cleared the way for Obama to run unopposed on the Democratic ticket in a heavily Democrat district.

"That was Chicago politics," said John Kass, a veteran Chicago Tribune columnist. "Knock out your opposition, challenge their petitions, destroy your enemy, right? It is how Barack Obama destroyed his enemies back in 1996 that conflicts with his message today. He may have gotten his start registering thousands of voters. But in that first race, he made sure voters had just one choice."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/29/obamas.first.campaign/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

I was expecting so much more after that speech in front of the Roman columns. A new era of American politics was to begin! I thought he had changed......

The forecast is mostly sunny with occasional beer.

[redlegphi 0]

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Looks like BalarinaBoy enlisted the help of Clinton for this one. Good choice. If there's a subpoena we'll have to filter through several definintions of "IS"

So, a sitting President directs his Chief-of-Staff to ask a former President, whose wife is the Secretary of State, to talk to a former Admiral who is a Congressman about an "advisory" board position if he stays in the House versus run for the Senate?

No, no, no, no, no...you don't use a hot-knife-through-butter team like that for some meaningless non-paying board job. This is turning out to be bigger than I thought.

Offering something of value as a political favor per se, is black-letter in violation of the statute. The problem is that AG Holder won't assign an independent prosecutor for this. He doesn't have the political moxy. No one on the democrat side of the aisle is saying anything...they're really going to sweep this under the rug?

Really? Really?!

This amounts to electoral manipulation at a minimum...denying (or attempting to deny) voters a "qualified" individual in a valid primary election.

The advisory position was unpaid, so "something of value" just went right out the window. Also, they withdrew the offer when they realized that he couldn't serve in the advisory position and remain a member of Congress, due to conflict of interest. This is quite possibly one of the most meaningless "scandals" yet. You right wingers are getting desperate.
Also, not that this really does anything to make it "right" (especially since it's not wrong in the first place), but Bush AND Reagan did it first, so the outrage looks more than a little hypocritical and phony.

[airdvr 197]

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This is quite possibly one of the most meaningless "scandals" yet.

Probably, but breaking into a DC office building looked pretty harmless at first too.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[Gawain 0]

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Looks like BalarinaBoy enlisted the help of Clinton for this one. Good choice. If there's a subpoena we'll have to filter through several definintions of "IS"

So, a sitting President directs his Chief-of-Staff to ask a former President, whose wife is the Secretary of State, to talk to a former Admiral who is a Congressman about an "advisory" board position if he stays in the House versus run for the Senate?

No, no, no, no, no...you don't use a hot-knife-through-butter team like that for some meaningless non-paying board job. This is turning out to be bigger than I thought.

Offering something of value as a political favor per se, is black-letter in violation of the statute. The problem is that AG Holder won't assign an independent prosecutor for this. He doesn't have the political moxy. No one on the democrat side of the aisle is saying anything...they're really going to sweep this under the rug?

Really? Really?!

This amounts to electoral manipulation at a minimum...denying (or attempting to deny) voters a "qualified" individual in a valid primary election.

The advisory position was unpaid, so "something of value" just went right out the window. Also, they withdrew the offer when they realized that he couldn't serve in the advisory position and remain a member of Congress, due to conflict of interest. This is quite possibly one of the most meaningless "scandals" yet. You right wingers are getting desperate.
Also, not that this really does anything to make it "right" (especially since it's not wrong in the first place), but Bush AND Reagan did it first, so the outrage looks more than a little hypocritical and phony.

Of course, there was no value in the position or conversation. Let me direct my chief of staff and use a former president as a gopher-boy to convey the message. You don't use big guns like that for nothing. No pay does not remove value. Sitting in an advisory position in itself has value.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[mnealtx 0]

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Sitting in an advisory position in itself has value.

Evidently, only when it's a Republican that makes/gets the offer.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[justinb138 0]

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The advisory position was unpaid, so "something of value" just went right out the window.

If is wasn't 'something of value', then why was it offered as an incentive?

The fact that it was offered (instead of just asking nicely) leads me to believe that the people offering it certainly believed it had great value.

[redlegphi 0]

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The advisory position was unpaid, so "something of value" just went right out the window.

If is wasn't 'something of value', then why was it offered as an incentive?

The fact that it was offered (instead of just asking nicely) leads me to believe that the people offering it certainly believed it had great value.

So, to sum up, every time somebody offers you a job, your consider that an attempt at bribery. Good to know.
Also, I find it amusing that we're still ignoring the fact that Saint Ronnie and W did the exact same fucking thing.

[Gawain 0]

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The advisory position was unpaid, so "something of value" just went right out the window.

If is wasn't 'something of value', then why was it offered as an incentive?

The fact that it was offered (instead of just asking nicely) leads me to believe that the people offering it certainly believed it had great value.

So, to sum up, every time somebody offers you a job, your consider that an attempt at bribery. Good to know.
Also, I find it amusing that we're still ignoring the fact that Saint Ronnie and W did the exact same fucking thing.

Here's a clipping for the President Reagan part...doesn't say he was offered a specific job...in fact, Hayakawa stated no one at the White House contacted him.
http://twitpic.com/1ruq64
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19811126&id=ibcsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HhQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5060,5317656

I honestly don't remember which job President Bush offered to whom?

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[justinb138 0]

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The advisory position was unpaid, so "something of value" just went right out the window.

If is wasn't 'something of value', then why was it offered as an incentive?

The fact that it was offered (instead of just asking nicely) leads me to believe that the people offering it certainly believed it had great value.

So, to sum up, every time somebody offers you a job, your consider that an attempt at bribery. Good to know.

Nice try, but you're conveniently ignoring that fact that the job was offered as an incentive for something else (not running for the senate seat).

[tr027 0]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2010/05/28/sestak.briefing.on.job.offer.cnn?iref=allsearch

"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it. " -John Galt from Atlas Shrugged, 1957

[turtlespeed 212]

From what I have heard, and cannot confirm right now, was that the "Job" that Clinton offered, wasn't even available to a congressman. He wouldn't have been able to accept it.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[billeisele 122]

apparently they have morals, at least they tried to bribe the guy

during the Clinton era you just got dead

Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

[hwt 0]

The advisory position was unpaid, so "something of value" just went right out the window. Also, they withdrew the offer when they realized that he couldn't serve in the advisory position and remain a member of Congress, due to conflict of interest. This is quite possibly one of the most meaningless "scandals" yet. You right wingers are getting desperate.
__________________________________________________
do you really believe Obama when he said he offered a advisory position ?? He offered Sestac a position that he could not accept to quit the primary? this isn't even a job.
I say impeach the Liar... wait , that would mean Biden would be president and Pelosi would be a heartbeat away.. never mind..

[airdvr 197]

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The advisory position was unpaid, so "something of value" just went right out the window.

If is wasn't 'something of value', then why was it offered as an incentive?

The fact that it was offered (instead of just asking nicely) leads me to believe that the people offering it certainly believed it had great value.

So, to sum up, every time somebody offers you a job, your consider that an attempt at bribery. Good to know.
Also, I find it amusing that we're still ignoring the fact that Saint Ronnie and W did the exact same fucking thing.

I thought Barry was supposed to be above all of this. I though he was running a different kind of program. Oops.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne