[A] second Democrat has come forward to confirm that the Obama administration dangled high-ranking government jobs in an attempt to move him out of a challenge to a Democratic incumbent senator.
Andrew Romanoff, a former state legislator in Colorado, said Wednesday evening that deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina said three separate government jobs “might be available to me were I not pursuing the Senate race.”
Also Thursday, the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will begin in Chicago. The proceedings will last several months and have begun to gain notice in the press because of the potential for embarrassing information about the president or some of his top advisers – chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, top advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett and others – to emerge....
Romanoff made his admission largely because pressure on him to confirm or deny reports from last fall was renewed after the White House was forced last Friday to detail what they offered to Rep. Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania Democrat, to get him out of his Senate primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter.
June 3, 2010
Sestak/Romanoff/Blagojevich...
Things going on at the same time.
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52 comments:
L'affaire Sestak is like John Kerry's DD214 and Obama's birth certificate; there really should not be anything there, so why are these guys acting like there is?
Keep digging; maybe there really is a pony in there.
The Blagojevich trial has a lot of potential headaches for this administration. Already Emanuel and Jarrett will have to testify, and that's just a start.
"there really should not be anything there, so why are these guys acting like there is?"
So, what do you make of the Romanoff story?
In the doctor's lounge this morning, people were crossing their fingers hoping this would be the end of Obama. I'm not so optimistic.
So, what do you make of the Romanoff story?
I'm curious which Democratic Politician in a nominally Blue-ish state hasn't received a Job Offer at some point or another. Isn't that why Political Parties like to control the Executive Branch? So they can dangle jobs in front of their friends, and friends of friends, and friend of friends of friends, to see how high they'll jump for them?
Does this surprise anyone, really?
Of the three stories, I think the Blagojevich one is the most compelling, of only because facts seem to be more concrete.
This is a new story, and a Representative from Colorado's story would at most make for a miniature pony anyway.
Blagojevich gives us a ringside seat of Illinois Keystone Kops politics. Get some beer and onion rings and enjoy.
"They are here to maintain disorder!"
What Rahm Emanuel thought his job description was:
Who will give me $1,000 for this senate seat? $1,000 Do I hear 2,000? How about $5,000 ?
The Ses-pool just keeps getting larger, doesn't it?
We have long paid farmers not to farm. Now we are paying politicians not to run.
I wonder if we could pay lawmakers not to make law. Probably the best investment we could ever make.
What gets me is the "Lots of politicians do it, so it's OK" arguement. When did the actions of politicians become our moral or legal arbitrator?
Even if it has happened before, it shouldn't happen again.
- Lyssa
It won't matter.
It won't do anything other than lower the opinion of Obama, which doesn't matter because the framework for state crony capitalism and kleptocracy is nearly complete, and will be near-impossible to undo.
So we can all be shocked shocked to find that corruption is going on in here, but that plus 4 bucks will by you a latte (assuming you purchase it at the approved outlets).
Romanoff sees the writing on the wall. Better to come clean than have to explain why he failed to say he turned down a job offer that wreaks of a subversion of the political process.
The fatal flaw in the process of jobs for political strategy machinations is that politicians are elected to represent the voters not their political party. Forsaking the voters for the self-serving interests of a political party is immoral, unethical and a perversion of democracy. That is why it is illegal.
The politicians excuse reminds me of the child's response when asked by an adult, "Why did you do that?" "Everyone else does it..!" is the lame reply.
This is a web of deceit unraveling in front of our very eyes. The deceit of being hoisted on your own petard, as the saying goes.
Oh, and we get another white house statement that pretty much confesses to a crime, but everyone will pretend doesn't. http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjIwMDRjZTY1Yzk0OGNiNTFiMjkwNTg4ZDk1N2I2Y2Q=
Hagar
Last Friday they pretty much confessed to a crime under 18 USC s 600. Look its not Watergate redux, but is it too much to ask that the law be applied evenly? That means the offerors go to jail for a while. And can we all stop pretending nothing happened. For instance, the white house attempted to prevent Sestak from becoming the senatorial nominee for the dems, a result that the people of the PA Dem party wanted. Since when is using bribery to thwart the will of the people a good thing?
Btw, the confirmation word was "boatox." heh.
So, what do you make of the Romanoff story?
Heh..
The White House acknowledged Thursday that it made overtures to Colorado U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff about a possible administration job as it was trying to steer him away from a primary challenge to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.
The statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs came the day after Romanoff revealed that White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina offered to consider Romanoff for three posts as an alternative to his Senate campaign.
Yep, gonna change the way things are done in DC.
I'm curious which Democratic Politician in a nominally Blue-ish state hasn't received a Job Offer at some point or another.
Dunno but from what I understand about the law, offering the job in return for dropping out of an election is illegal. That's the issue.
So, what do you make of the Romanoff story?
These 3 hit the Obama myth two ways.
1. Its not "change we can believe in" or "changing the culture of Washington", or "the most ethical evah" or even "most transparent".
it's classic Chicago Machine
2. They aren't competent at either the original corruption/graft or the coverup/cleanup afterwards
Vet66 said:
"This is a web of deceit unraveling in front of our very eyes. "
Fortunately, the worldwide web has given John Q. Public the power and the tools to counteract that web of deceit. They can run but they can no longer hide.
This issue is not important and thus has no value. Obama/Biden will be at the WH till Jan. 2016. Focus on helping America, please.
If the President does it, it's not illegal.
Pretty hard to help America when shit like this is going on.
With all due deference to separation of powers... [elections] should be decided by the American people, and that's why I'm urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.
Uh, Mr. President, it's called the Hatch Act, and it's already the law.
it's classic Chicago Machine
Exactly. The stench is getting hard to mask.
Obama has a moral compass:
Alinsky.
Ugly. Illegal. Not unexpected. Maybe the bigger story is the relative lawless behavior of our political leaders. Does anyone really believe there will be serious consequences for anyone? Or just another low-temperature, long-running show that generates legal bills and page two copy?
it's classic Chicago Machine
This bears repeating when you think that the President was raised in a political landscape that is barely less corrupt than Louisiana or Mexico City for that matter yet somehow 52% of the electorate really beleived the hope and change meme.
We have long paid farmers not to farm. Now we are paying politicians not to run.
I think you may have hit upon a game-changing public policy initiative. Let's pay them all not to run!
Hoosier Daddy said...
This bears repeating when you think that the President was raised in a political landscape that is barely less corrupt than Louisiana or Mexico City...
But as part of the package in Chi-own they expect a machine that is competent and you know, plows the streets and cleans up oil spills :)
Louisiana and Mexico expect less competence, prettier women, warmer winters and better drinks.
Robert Armitage outed Valerie Plame. Scooter Libby went to jail.
If crimes and misdemeanors are not prosecuted owing to the perpetrator's station or political affiliation, then we hardly have the rule of law, do we?
If you say the misdemeanor is de minimus, why is there a statute aimed at curing exactly this evil. How is it insignificant that elected official use their positions of power to deprive voters of a choice of candidate. That's greater disenfranchisement than any ID requirement ever was.
And by the way, I suspect that if the truth ever came out about what went down during the Chrysler bailout, we'd really be talking impeachment. But it won't.
Bill-friggin-Clinton is involved. What else needs to be said?
Andrew Romanoff, a former state legislator in Colorado, said Wednesday evening that deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina said three separate government jobs “might be available to me were I not pursuing the Senate race.”
Wow. This thing may have legs, afterall.
For kicks, someone needs to ask Gibbs at the next White House press briefing:
What did the President know, and when did he know it?
"Last Friday they pretty much confessed to a crime under 18 USC s 600."
And on top of that, anyone who believes their story that the offer was for a Presidential commission, or whatever, is naive in the extreme.
These 3 hit the Obama myth two ways.
1. Its not "change we can believe in" or "changing the culture of Washington", or "the most ethical evah" or even "most transparent". It's classic Chicago Machine
2. They aren't competent at either the original corruption/graft or the coverup/cleanup afterwards
Only mimes are lower humans than incompetent political criminals. And only slightly lower at that.
This issue is not important and thus has no value.... Focus on helping America, please.
The first and best way we help America is to demand that we be governed by the rule of law, not the rule of men and women.
Ponder that today and going forward: the rule of law not of men.
It is one of the core things that has made and kept us who we are, and why almost everyone in the world would prefer to live in America if they could.
It is now becoming obvious. The Dems realize Obama's goose is cooked and he can't win re-election in 2012. So they are turning on him to clear the field for a new prez candidate. Even the MSM is turning on him.
One Democrat potentially offered a job to another Democrat?
MPEACH!
"Focus on helping America, please."
How, by passing more laws like ObamaCare, Cap and Trade, and the non-stimulative Stimulus?
No, thank you.
@Garage
Does your understanding of the rule of law vary in direct proportion to who's in office?
Besides...never fear. This country will never impeach the first half-black president. Rahm, on the other hand...
If Rahm were named Karl Rove, this stuff would be at the top of the front page.
Romanoff's charge lends credence to the Sestak business. Now you have a pattern of behavior offering a quid pro quo to change the dynamic of an election for Federal office, which is illegal. Blago's trial, if he lives that long, will expose how this is the way things are done in The Zero's home town and how much he (Zero) participated.
Lyssa's point criticizing the attitude, "Lots of politicians do it, so it's OK", is the most instructive. It's what the usual suspects tried to use to excuse this when the Ses-pool (much better than something ending in 'gate') started to fill. And we see garage doing it here, but we all know if this happened on Dubya's watch, his comment would only have, "IMPEACH".
Finally, Jacq's point about how corrupt the Lefties are in Federal courts is also illustrative. Libby was railroaded for something he didn't do and which wasn't even illegal. Coming just before the November elections, I think a lot of people will be getting more reasons to Tea Party.
Does your understanding of the rule of law vary in direct proportion to who's in office??
No, and know for a fact I wasn't wigging out who Bush offered a job too and who he didn't. Because, it's you know, something that's been going on since the dawn of democracy.
Garage, the issue is the quid pro quo, not just who Obama offered a job to, but in return for a specific action, here being not running for office.
I am pretty sure that's illegal, even if it's done all the time. Robbery is similarly illegal and frequent.
No, and know for a fact I wasn't wigging out who Bush offered a job too and who he didn't. Because, it's you know, something that's been going on since the dawn of democracy.
Wigging out is not an apt description of what's going on right now. Frankly, it's democracy in action. If there were a mob at 1600 Penn Ave with torches and pitchforks, I would agree it would be wigging out.
So you knew about some supposed Bush deals like this and you weren't pissed off about it because it goes back to the dawn of democracy? Let's see...that puts you steadfastly in the categories of lawlessness, elitism, cronyism, and anywhere but inside the democratic process.
Law-breaking or not, what Chez Obama was trying to do here was short-circuit the democratic process by robbing the people of those two states their rightful choices for candidates all in the name of Party politics.
But since it's been going on since the dawn of time, I suppose it's okay. Slavery, murder, rape...we have laws against those too and they've been going on since one ape slapped another. Not a moral equivalence, mind you, simply pointing out that you're full of shit as per normal.
PS - calling the current administration out on something does not automatically mean support for the previous or any previous administration. When are you on the left going to get that through what's left of your skulls?
Does your understanding of the rule of law vary in direct proportion to who's in office?
I think that sums up the position of a fair number of Democrats. I know more than a few wide eyed idealists who really, truly believed the HOPE AND CHANGE meme and while I never witnessed them express any regret for their vote, they sure like to change the subject when The Won comes up in conversation.
Garage, the issue is the quid pro quo, not just who Obama offered a job to, but in return for a specific action, here being not running for office.
You're talking to the guy whose default position is against whatever conservatives are for. To paraphrase Churchill, if Satan was running on the Democratic ticket, garage would at least make a favorable reference to him at the polling center.
You know things are getting tough when their only remaining argument is that "He's no worse than the worst president ever and unconvicted war criminal, Bush."
You know things are getting tough when their only remaining argument is that "He's no worse than the worst president ever and unconvicted war criminal, Bush."
Well when you drunk the Kool Aid as deep as some of the usual suspects have, what else is left?
This is the WH's personal job creation effort.
I promise not to run for anything if they give me a mid six-figure job.
That's the Chicago way. My prediction: nothing happens.
Personally, I hope this thing blows over. Yes, it's sleazy. Yes, it seems to be a violation of the law. But if the Republicans take the House, I really don't want them tempted to impeach Obama.
That's nearly the worst thing I can imagine for the country, and unfortunately I don't think it's unlikely.
First came broken promises on public funding, C-SPAN broken promises, Big Pharma kick back scandal and broken promises, "transparency" pledges, DOC-FIX Scam, $500B Medicare raid, rampant Obamacare bogus numbers, Jerimiah Wright Obama lies, Bribes to pass Obamacare made behind CLOSED DOORS; the Louisiana Purchase, Nebraska Cornhusker–kickback, Florida Gatorade, etc. Mind bending debt for future generations, and now *CRIMES* like Sestek & Romanoff job offers - -
Hatch Act crimes..
Obama is
ONE
and DONE.
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