The Big Question: Sestak controversy overblown or big deal?

Bill Press, host of the “Bill Press Show” and a contributor to The Hill’s Pundits Blog, said:

The Sestak job offer flap has been totally overblown by everybody, starting with Sestak himself. There are conversations all the time about candidates dropping out of races. Even IF such a conversation took place, and even IF Sestak interpreted, or inflated, that as a job offer, nothing improper or inappropriate was done. Even less, nothing criminal. Sestak should shut up about any alleged job offer and start campaigning against Pat Twomey.

Justin Raimondo, editorial director of Antiwar.com, said:

In the world of Washington, D.C., it’s “overblown” — because, you know, “everybody does it.” In the real world, however, where most of us live, it’s not overblown, precisely because “everybody does it.” I like what Rep. Darrell Issa had to say: “This may be the way business is done in Chicago, but it’s not the way things are done in our nation’s capital and I am intent on getting to the bottom of this.”

My advice to Issa: This is a job for Patrick J. Fitzgerald.

Alan Abramowitz, professor of political science at Emory University, said:

This is very minor compared with the enormous problem of the Gulf oil spill.  I don’t think very many ordinary Americans care whether Joe Sestak was or was not offered a job.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said:
 

Rep.
Sestak’s allegations are extremely
serious and yet we’ve heard nothing from the Obama White House but vague
denials
of wrongdoing and outright stonewalling.

It’s time for everyone involved in this
scandal to come clean.  There is
simply no wiggle room.  Either
Sestak lied about the federal job offer or someone at the White House
likely
committed a felony.  It’s that
simple. 

Attorney General Eric Holder’s
refusal to appoint a special counsel in
the matter is a disgrace and will not
stand. 

This latest
bribery allegation reflects a disturbing pattern by the Obama White
House.  We still don’t have all the details
about involvement of Obama administration officials in the sale of
Obama’s
former Illinois U.S. Senate seat by Rod Blagojevich.  And
we still don’t have answers about
the charge that Obama Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina offered a
federal job to
Colorado Democratic Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff to keep him out of
the
Senate race.  There is also the
report that President Obama tried to push disgruntled White House
Counsel Greg
Craig out of the White House by offering a federal judgeship on the U.S.
Court
of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  Now we have
Joe Sestak.

The Chicago Machine has truly come to
Washington.

Truth fears no inquiry.  If
the Obama White House has nothing to
hide then it will ask for and fully cooperate with thorough Justice
Department
and congressional investigations of this scandal.

According to Judicial Watch, the following laws (among others)
may have
been violated in the Sestak matter: 
18 USC
210:  Offer to
procure appointive public
office; 18

USC 211: Acceptance of
solicitation to
obtain appointive public office; 18 USC
595: Interference by
administrative
employees by Federal, State or Territorial Governments; and 18 USC
600: Promise of employment or other benefit for
political
activity.

UPDATE: White House: Clinton spoke to Sestak about ‘uncompensated’ job

http://www.digital-staging.thehill.com/homenews/administration/100471-white-house-no-impropriety-in-discussions-with-sestak

Bill Press, host of the “Bill Press Show” and a contributor to
The Hill’s Pundits Blog, said:

No change. Republicans are grasping at straws.

Bernie Quigley, Pundits Blog contributor, said:

There is still time for the Clintons to destroy the Democratic Party. For Hillary to spontaneously compare the U.S. economy to Brazil’s – she who emphatically (with that classic Big Nurse voice) made the point that she put no stock in “those elitist economists” in her campaign – brings the whole Clintonian yin and yang back home. When Bill Clinton was elected reasonable Americans first began to question democracy as a vehicle of self organization and enlightenment. The million dollar bribe he took for pardoning a lobbyist was the low point of American presidential character, beating even his own record. If Hillary were to be elected president I believe by now the healthy regions in the country will have learned that there is a Jeffersonian defense: state sovereignty.

Peter Navarro, professor of economics and public policy at U.C. Irvine, said:

This kind of candidate manipulation is so commonplace in our system that our political leaders fail to realize how toxic it is to the democratic process.   For every Sestak we know about, there are hundreds more in local, state, and federal races that we don’t.  It’s just one more reason to for the tea partyers and others to hate and mistrust Washington.

Alan Abramowitz, professor of political science at Emory University, said:

No, I still don’t see this as a big deal.

Justin Raimondo, editorial director of Antiwar.com, said:

Bill Clinton involved in corruption? I’m shocked — shocked!

I like Issa’s comment about how they’re pleading guilty to a misdemeanor whilst denying the felony. The plea-bargaining has already begun.

Look, politics IS crime, so it’s no surprise that the Chicago crime family currently occupying the White House is involved in some shady deals. Nothing much will come of this, except, perhaps, at the polls, where it may have the power to transform a sclerotic old fool into an “insurgent” and give him the margin of victory. Sestak seems like a phony, a would-be “rebel” who’s just trying to get into the game: I hope Arlen beats the pants off of him.

John F. McManus, president of The John Birch Society, said:

Offering a federal job to someone for a political favor should be
roundly condemned.  This is obviously what happened in the runup to Mr.
Sestak challenging Sen. Specter. Let us hope that some heads will roll.
 
The federal government is too large and abuses like this are likely far
more common than we are told.  One answer to this kind of abuse is to
shrink the federal government by canceling its presence in so many areas
where it is not authorized (education, housing, medicine, and more). 
 
If this incident is a distraction for the White House, that’s good
news.  It will keep the occupant and his staff from doing more harm to
this nation.

Frank Askin, professor of law at Rutgers University, said:

Only one Republican, Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (La.) voted for the tax extensions and unemployment portion, while 34 Democrats voted against provisions.

The Medicare “doc fix” that passed easily lost the support of 15 Democrats but gained the votes of 15 Republicans — Reps. Brian Bilbray (Calif.), Gus Bilirakis (Fla.), Michael Burgess (Texas), Steve Buyer (Ind.), Shelly Moore Capito (W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Charlie Dent (Pa.), Vern Ehlers (Mich.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Steve LaTourette (Ohio), Michael McCaul (Texas), Hal Rogers (Ky.), Ed Whitfield (Ky.), Don Young (Alaska) and C.W. Bill Young (Fla.).