Althouse: Sestak... Plame...

May 28, 2010

Sestak... Plame...

Discuss!

35 comments:

mesquito said...: Richard Armitage offered Sestak Valerie Plame's job to stay out of the primary.; 5/28/10, 1:24 PM
Geoff Matthews said...: 2nd hit on Google.

Who blew a spy's cover so she had to drop out vs Who woo'ed a retired admiral to drop out?; 5/28/10, 1:42 PM
Anonymous said...: The WH appears worried about this one.; 5/28/10, 1:43 PM
GV said...: I don't get it.

How about a special prosecutor to investigate classified info leaked to the NYT? That would be Plame like.

This is so weird. All they had to do was admit to...."Hey Sestak, this is Rahm. We just realized you are immensely qualified for the Sec Nav job. If you have the misfortune to lose the primary, would you be interested in the job?"

The whole thing would just go away. I'm thinking this is just a rope-a-dope move to throw everyone off. Don't fall for it.

"White House clears itself of wrong doing! WH finally releases statement after being threatened with subpoena by White House for failure to release statement!"; 5/28/10, 1:46 PM
From Inwood said...: Mirror image of your Oxford thread:

One word answer.

A. Orwellian.; 5/28/10, 1:50 PM
Robert said...: Armitage blew Plame's cover.

Lewinsky blew Clinton.

How many degrees of separation could there be?

Over/under bet is three.; 5/28/10, 1:52 PM
Brian said...: The Sestak thing, I'm at a loss to figure out why it's such a big deal. I realize it's a back room deal (hey, hold off on running right now, we'll nominate you for a job later). Would it be different if this were a regular cabient position, instead of Sec. of the Navy? That somehow, the military if supposed to be above politics?

Don't parties try to not have crowded primaries if they can help it? Maybe I'm too cynical, I thought wheeling & dealing like this occurred all the time in partisan politics.

Is it that we were told Obama's not into this sort of thing in the campaign?; 5/28/10, 2:05 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Obviously it's a big deal otherwise Sestak wouldn't have mentioned it in the first place. And the idea that Twinkletoes tried to get Sestak to give up a Senate run by offering him a seat on some unpaid advisory board to too ludicrous to be taken seriously. They should have come up with a better cover story than that.

I will be fascinated to see what Sestak's story becomes if and when he testifies under oath.; 5/28/10, 2:16 PM
Hagar said...: Joe Wilson managed to weave a phantom emperor a new suit of clothes out of moonshine and horsefeathers and hold a parade doing great damage to the administration he was supposed to serve, but Wilson was a declared enemy of that administration.

Joe Sestak is a Democrat and probably just made a rookie mistake without any malicious intent, but if an actual offer was made, there really is some legal meat here.

And Wilson had the enthusiastic cooperation of the MSM, which probably will not be the case for those pushing the Sestak question.; 5/28/10, 2:29 PM
mesquito said...: Is it that we were told Obama's not into this sort of thing in the campaign?

By whom?

It was clear to me that Obama is a garden-variety urban lefty, very at home in the Chicago style of corruption and otherwise rather insular. Why people would believe otherwise is a mystery.; 5/28/10, 2:32 PM
Joe said...: I detest Obama, but I seriously doubt he had anything to do with this or even cared. This smacks of Rahm Emanuel playing kingmaker.; 5/28/10, 2:33 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: There is no relation between the two. Scooter Libby perjured himself to protect his boss Dick "Dick" Cheney from consequences of exposing an undercover operative for the CIA, who was working on weapons of mass destruction.

They did this because her husband exposed their lies about Saddam Hussein having, or developing, nuclear weapons.

And Cheney still shot that old guy in the face, just for fun.; 5/28/10, 2:37 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: To be clear, I thought Ronald Reagan should have been impeached for any number of high crimes and misdemeanors, including trading arms to Iran in exchange for hostages and waging an illegal war in Central America. Where people died.

But Reagan should not have been impeached for the exact same thing as this fake scandal:

Sen. S.I. Hayakawa on Wednesday spurned a Reagan administration suggestion that if he drops out of the crowded Republican Senate primary race in California, President Reagan would find him a job.

link; 5/28/10, 2:41 PM
Roger J. said...: Alpha--are you not aware that subsequent events have identified Richard Armitage as the person that identified Plame? The Deputy Secretary of State in Colin Powell's office? Are you that
uninformed? ApparentlyhApparently. To quote the loathsome Jeremy--read more and talk less. Your idiocy knows no bounds, son. You really do give decent liberals a bad name with your abject stupidity.; 5/28/10, 2:45 PM
Unknown said...: Brian said...

The Sestak thing, I'm at a loss to figure out why it's such a big deal.

Think about what Rush says all the time - that the Left is concerned with symbolism over substance. Somebody like Alpha makes the wildest claims about Republicans, but rebuttal always gets, "La la la la, I can't hear you".

If this were a Republican, the special persecutor would already be trying to hang the guy a la Scooter Libby - remember, he did nothing wrong; it was Richard Armitage that outed Plame, but there was the appearance of impropriety.

And that'll get you railroaded in a Lefty court.

PS Apparently, it's a federal offense to interfere with a federal election, especially if any kind of bribe or inducement is involved.; 5/28/10, 3:06 PM
Hagar said...: Scooter Libby was prosecuted for lying about who told him about Valerie Plame, not for whom he told.
He had a stupid attack before the Grand Jury and said Tim Russert told him, when he should have just said he could not remember; by that time there were so many talking about it. Still a lie, but close to the truth, and they could not have proved different. The lie he did tell, they could and did, and he should have known better, being known as a very smart and competent guy.; 5/28/10, 4:48 PM
Anonymous said...: "The WH appears worried about this one."

Of course they're worried ... since there is an active conspiracy occurring to obstruct justice.

Multiple people were involved in the conspiracy to commit a felony in attempting to bribe a person not to run for the House of Representatives.

Bill Clinton has now been implicated, but he didn't offer this job to Sestak on his own. He was asked by others to make the bribe and he stupidly acquiesced, thinking he wouldn't be thrown under the bus by the Obama Regime.

Bill Clinton is now finding out who the fall guy will be in the end ... and it won't be Barack Obama. It will be Bill Clinton.

If Clinton is smart, he knows what the meaning of is is and he knows he's being set up to go to prison to protect Barack Obama.

If Bill Clinton is smart, he'll turn states evidence and when it comes time to put people under oath, he won't take the fifth. If he's smart, he's going to cut a deal with the Special Prosecutor and save himself some jail time. If he's smart, he'll implicate ... at just the right time ... all the right people in the corrupt Obama Administration and then Hillary can waltz into the convention in 2012 on a Hope & Change platform and win herself her party's nomination.

Barack Obama is corrupt and a criminal. He's involved in an ongoing conspiracy. Bill Clinton has the evidence to hand to the Special Prosecutor. Hillary will become President once Barack is arrested.

Would someone please pass the popcorn!; 5/28/10, 6:23 PM
Anonymous said...: "The Sestak thing, I'm at a loss to figure out why it's such a big deal."

Like Richard Nixon said ... It's a big deal because people want to know if their President is a crook.

And Barack Obama is a crook.; 5/28/10, 6:25 PM
Rialby said...: I hope they frogmarch Rahm and Zero out of the White House at the same time.; 5/28/10, 6:27 PM
Rialby said...: How many elected offices has Obama now tampered with:

1. His own - see: Black Panther case
2. His own Senate seat: see Roland Burris (quick: name the Deputy Chief of Staff for Mr. Burris!)
3. PA Senator, 2010
...

What am I missing?; 5/28/10, 6:31 PM
Rialby said...: Oh, of course I forgot a big one...

The internal LEGAL ouster of a Chavezite in Honduras which the Obama administration tried to overturn in order to restore a nutjob anti-semite; 5/28/10, 6:33 PM
Anonymous said...: This isn't the first time the administration has attempted to bribe someone to induce them not to run for a seat in the House of Representatives.

The Denver Post reported in 2009 an attempt by the White House to bribe Andrew Romanoff, who, sensibly, refused to accept the bribe.

Aside: This is just a note to those who might be tempted to accept White House bribes: Accepting a bribe is also a crime and so you're smart to refuse because if you accept the bribe then they'll leak that to the press and you'll be arrested.

So, Romanoff and Sestak were smart to refuse the offers made to them, and anyone else who receives ham-handed bribe attempts by the CREEPS operating again out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be smart to also refuse their bribes.

There is a standard operating procedure that is emerging in the news stories recently about this White House and it's ugly. It's illegal. And Americans should not stand for it this time around any more than Hillary and America did last time around.; 5/28/10, 6:48 PM
Hagar said...: I do not think that they will ever be able to prove that Slick Willie offered Sestak a quid pro quo, but I do think it will be hard to get people to believe that the former President Clinton was sent out with only an offer of an un-paid seat on a Blue Ribbon Panel, and harder yet to believe that Rahm Emanuel talked to Clinton at all without asking the sitting President first; yet that is what they claim.

As usual, it's the cover-up more than the crime.; 5/28/10, 7:52 PM
Anonymous said...: "I do not think that they will ever be able to prove that Slick Willie offered Sestak a quid pro quo ..."

Really?

What if, put under oath, Bill Clinton does what he always does under oath and tells the truth?

What if he admits that yes, he did offer Mr. Sestak a job to drop out of the race.

And then, what if, put under oath, Mr. Sestak admits, under cross-examination, that yes, Bill Clinton did offer him a bribe to drop out of the race?

And then, what if, under cross-examination, Mr. Clinton implicates Barack Obama. What if Mr. Clinton testifies that, during an Oval Office meeting with Barack Obama and Rahm Emmanuel, Mr. Obama asked Mr. Clinton to offer the job to Mr. Sestak?

Would the Special {rosecutor, at that point, be able to "prove" to you that a crime had been committed?

Or are you immune to evidence?; 5/28/10, 8:09 PM
Hagar said...: That's never going to happen.

At that, they never "proved" that it wasn't Tim Russert that told Libby. It was just a "he said, he said" situation, the jury chose to believe Russert, and the judge used the opprtunity to sock it to Libby.
Essentially, Libby was convicted of being Dick Cheney's chief of staff.; 5/28/10, 8:17 PM
Anonymous said...: "That's never going to happen."

Well, that's never going to happen if we don't have a Special Prosecutor appointed.

Look ... the President of the United States stands accused of committing a felony - participating in a conspiracy to bribe a person running for the House of Representatives.

The people need to know if their President is a crook. And it sure seems that way. So, the thing to do is for the Justice Department (they still care about justice, right???) to appoint an independent counsel to investigate.

That way, the United States of America can put these motherfuckers under oath and compel their truthful testimony about these felony crimes.

Because until we get them under oath, none of these talking points means a fucking thing now does it?; 5/28/10, 8:30 PM
Revenant said...: Scooter Libby perjured himself to protect his boss Dick "Dick" Cheney from consequences of exposing an undercover operative for the CIA, who was working on weapons of mass destruction.

You still care about Plamegate? That's so cute! Its like finding a Republican who still thinks the Clintons killed Vince Foster.

Anyway, according to the New York Times Richard Armitage was Novak's source for the Plame story.; 5/28/10, 11:43 PM
Revenant said...: I do think it will be hard to get people to believe that the former President Clinton was sent out with only an offer of an un-paid seat on a Blue Ribbon Panel

Actually, I think Clinton's involvement makes it LESS likely that a bribe was being offered. Why call in the Democratic Party's biggest gun to offer a bribe? You could sent anybody to do that.

You send Bill Clinton when you want to convince someone to give you something for nothing -- to take one for the team in exchange for future consideration. If you actually have a tempting bribe to offer you don't need to pair that with star power.; 5/28/10, 11:46 PM
Anonymous said...: "Actually, I think Clinton's involvement makes it LESS likely that a bribe was being offered. Why call in the Democratic Party's biggest gun to offer a bribe?"

Our society doesn't despense justice on the basis of what you think.

Our society dispenses justice based on proper impartial investigation by the authorities.

We don't have to wonder what happened. Our laws make possible the appointment of an Independent Counsel to investigate high officials for corruption specifically so we don't have to wonder what occurred.

The Independent Counsel has the power to compel testimony by putting people like Bill Clinton and Joe Sestak and Barack Obama before a grand jury of their peers, where they are required to give their testimony.

We have courts precisely for this reason ... so we don't have to guess at which of our officials are corrupt and which aren't.

The Congress should demand and the Justice Department should appoint an independent counsel to investigate these claims of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Justice demands no less.

The President has rights.

Somebody should read them to him.; 5/29/10, 6:19 AM
opfor311 said...: Sestake is to Plame like Mountain is to Molehill?; 5/29/10, 6:41 AM
Anonymous said...: "Sestake is to Plame like Mountain is to Molehill?"

And Watergate was just a third-rate burglary.

Until it wasn't.

American cannot survive a criminal Presidency.

It is why Richard Nixon was forced to resign. Richard Nixon knew that the country could not survive his criminality.

Barack Obama, once he has been impeached, once his criminality has been established for all to see, will have a choice:

a) Resign like Nixon or
b) Be tried like Clinton

Clinton got off because his was seen as a personal crime (sex, adultery).

Barack Obama, on the other hand, is corrupting our country by bribing our officials (Sestak) and extorting our elected leaders (Massa).

That sort of criminality isn't personal. It's destructive not of Barack Obama ... it's destructive of the United States of America and the institution of the Presidency.

As Americans, we cannot allow that to continue.

And we won't.; 5/29/10, 9:39 AM
opfor311 said...: I think you took my comment the wrong way. If Sestak is to Plame as Mountain is to Molehill, then the Sestak scandal is MUCH MUCH larger than the Plame affair.
Capiche?; 5/29/10, 12:00 PM
Lance said...: Who cares about Sestak? The real issues are:

1. What's going on in the Gulf, and
2. What's going on in Korea?; 5/29/10, 10:35 PM
Anonymous said...: "Who cares about Sestak?"

Lots of Americans care if their President is a crook ... and it's not just Sestak.

Barack Obama also participated in a conspiracy involving the extortion of a member of the United States House of Representatives.

He also attempted to bribe the brother of a man running for Senate in Utah.

And let's not forget the attempt by Jim Messina to illegally bribe Andrew Romanoff.

Democrats are attempting to pay people not to run so they can maintain their grip on power.

We've found out about at least two of the people who refused their bribes ... but we have no way of knowing how many other people accepted them unless we put witness under oath and compel testimony.

Lots of people care about Sestak because lots of people care about whether their President is a corrupt criminal.; 5/30/10, 6:15 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: I like how Alpha Liberal will show up, spout some totally bogus bullshit, and then leave - without acknowledging he was wrong, or all the wrong that's flowed from that totally bogus bullshit.

Another courageous coward of dishonesty.; 5/30/10, 11:20 AM