White House Asked Bill Clinton to Urge Sestak to Drop Out of Senate Race

[Argyle58]

Foxnews.com:

White House Asked Bill Clinton to Urge Sestak to Drop Out of Senate Race
Published May 28, 2010
| FOXNews.com


At the behest of the White House, former President Bill Clinton urged Rep. Joe Sestak to drop out of a Senate primary, according to a White House report. (AP)

The White House asked former President Bill Clinton to talk to Rep. Joe Sestak about the possibility of obtaining a senior position in the Obama administration if he would drop out of the Democratic primary race against establishment-backed Sen. Arlen Specter, the Obama administration will say in a report to be released Friday morning, Fox News has confirmed.

The report, by the White House Counsel's office, will describe the Clinton conversations as informal and unhinged from any precise job offer since, as a former president, Clinton could not guarantee Sestak anything.

The conversations with Sestak were initiated by Clinton at the behest of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel was Clinton's political director when he was president. Clinton had promoted Sestak to vice admiral and made him his director of defense policy. Sestak was a loyal and tireless supporter of Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency in 2008.

The report will be released one day after President Obama said the White House would issue a formal explanation that should answer questions about Sestak's allegation of a job offer and insisted "nothing improper" happened. On the same day, Clinton had lunch with Obama.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has also said nothing improper happened, but refused to elaborate when asked repeatedly about the charge at Thursday's briefing.

Sestak, who did not drop out and won the race against Specter last week, repeated his allegation in an interview on Sunday, but also declined to elaborate.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has been leading the charge for more details on the allegation, said he hopes Obama's pending response "will detail what conversations were had with Congressman Sestak."

"If what the president said is true and nothing 'improper' took place, Adm. Sestak's credibility will be called into significant question," Issa said in a statement. "If the president's response is insufficient or contradicted, the situation will only escalate."
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Wow.....they're blaming someone besides Bush.

[pollyannaish]

Wow.....they're blaming someone besides Bush.

 

 

 

This blaming other people stuff is starting to get hilarious!

[Geee]

Argye58. As I just said to Polly on The Porch, I believe that I read yesterday that Bubba met with O yesterday right before his press conference. Wonder if they were discussing what is IS???

[pollyannaish]

Argye58. As I just said to Polly on The Porch, I believe that I read yesterday that Bubba met with O yesterday right before his press conference. Wonder if they were discussing what is IS???

 

I have to say that this is a pretty brilliant strategy because I can see Bill Clinton going rogue and offering a job on the sly...but he has no official role in the administration which means they have plausible deniability.

 

So it comes down to how honest Sestak is. If he goes along with the ploy or it is the truth, it's not going anywhere. If he doesn't and it happened another way, then there is still trouble for the administration.

[Pepper]

Limbaugh says the Sestak business is the hole that Obama needs to plug.

[Casino67]

Wouldn't it be hilarious that after all that Clinton has done and gotten away with, that this could possibly bring him down? Ahh, but I dream.

[nickydog]

Still, this is rich.

[Geee]

Makes me very nervous to hear the Pubbies hinting at impeachment this morning. I remember Bubbas approval #s being down until the public thought he was bing picked on

[Argyle58]

Yesterday I said that we would probably hear something Clintonesque in this subject, didn't even dawn on me that we would be hearing it from Bubba himself.

 

I wouldn't worry about impeachment....as long as Sestak sticks to this story, there won't be enough evidence. But, if for some reason it breaks that way, I would like to point out the O's poll numbers a below Bubba's at any time in his term in office.

[Casino67]

From a twitterer that calls himself JoeyBiden:

 

JoeyBiden

 

I know you want to be a powerful senator but how about a nice unpaid position instead.

[saveliberty]

So, how can Clinton be considered "the White House" or "the Administration" unless he is being used to cover for the person who really did it?

[pollyannaish]

I know it's crazy to say, but I like Sestak. He seems like a pretty straight up guy. Could work for in his favor in his Senate race.

 

I think that the GOP would be very wise at this point to simply stand out of the way and let the chips fall where they may. This makes the Obama administration and President Clinton look like power hungry, manipulative players. That's probably all the mileage we can get out of the issue and we'd do best to back away and focus on less dicey/stylistic issues.

[Guest AnneV]

This makes the Obama administration and President Clinton look like power hungry, manipulative players.

(Oh! You mean to say they're not?!?!?)^sarcasm

[righteousmomma]

This is "kiss my a$$ play back time".

Clinton is getting his revenge.

Rush today:

 

"Now, a lot of you are probably wondering, "What do you mean, Rush, that you started out here with Clinton talking about kissing his rear end?"

Here it is.

This is the UK Telegraph back in June of 2008. It's by Tim Shipman in Washington and Philip Sherwell in New York, and it's June 28th, 2008. This is after Operation Chaos is over and the Democrat primaries are over.

"Bill Clinton is so bitter about Barack Obama's victory over his wife Hillary that he has told friends the Democratic nominee will have to beg for his wholehearted support. ... The Telegraph has learned that the former president's rage is still so great that even loyal allies are shocked by his patronising attitude to Mr Obama, and believe that he risks damaging his own reputation by his intransigence. A senior Democrat who worked for Mr Clinton has revealed that he recently told friends Mr Obama could 'kiss my ass' in return for his support."

 

So here it is, UK Telegraph, the media. Clinton's "lingering fury has shocked his friends. The Democrat told the Telegraph: 'He's been angry for a while. But everyone thought he would get over it. He hasn't. I've spoken to a couple of people who he's been in contact with and he is mad as hell. 'He's saying he's not going to reach out, that Obama has to come to him. One person told me that Bill said Obama would have to quote kiss my ass close quote, if he wants his support." Well, it appears that it happened yesterday. It appears that it happened. (laughing) Clinton finally got what he wanted. He was asked to bail Obama out of this, and has -- has done so. So this has been a building. It's been building to a crescendo here and people have been wondering, "Well, who did what to who?" because, you know, Sestak, the onus has been on him. He's the one that revealed this had happened but he wouldn't provide any details.

 

He was waiting for the White House to come out with the story, and now that they've come out with the story, Sestak's not talking. You know, he's going right along with it. But he was either one of two things. Either Sestak was lying when this all happened, or something far more serious was going on and that is that a bribe was offered. Now, it may be "the way the game is played in Washington" but Sestak blew it by going public with it. So now the lid's off, everybody is looking into it, and it remains to be seen if this is going to be accepted and the end of the story..."

[Guest AnneV]

So here it is, UK Telegraph, the media. Clinton's "lingering fury has shocked his friends.

The Democrat told the Telegraph: 'He's been angry for a while.

[SrWoodchuck]

Dick Morris is saying:

 

Rahm calls Clinton, at Obama's request, and asks him to offer unpaid advisory position on Intel. oversight to Sestak, in return for dropping out of campaign to protect Specters anti-filibuster vote.

 

Rahm is still agent of the administration [Obama's agent] and position is still "something of value", even if unpaid.

 

An inducement to protect a vote is still a bribe, ergo, a crime has been committed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Issa is pissed, and refuses to drop calls for investigation.

 

The saddest thing is that Obama, Rahm & Clinton are all lying criminals, but I have to believe Sestak was a man of honor, and if he is merely silent, or affirms this last minute ploy, he has no honor, and is as base as they are....

 

I also say, if it was this simple.......why did it take weeks, just say it?

 

It's a lie, and everyone knows it & it should play over & over again......making them wallow in their lies.

[NCTexan]

The saddest thing is that Obama, Rahm & Clinton are all lying criminals, but I have to believe Sestak was a man of honor, and if he is merely silent, or affirms this last minute ploy, he has no honor, and is as base as they are....

SrWoodChuck... we'll soon find the true colors of Congressman Sestak. I don't have high hopes that he'll display any more honor than the majority of those in the party that he's aligned himself with so tightly.

[pollyannaish]

This makes the Obama administration and President Clinton look like power hungry, manipulative players.

(Oh! You mean to say they're not?!?!?)^sarcasm

 

 

That sounded much more earnest in writing than it did in my head.

[Sanguine]

 

SrWoodChuck... we'll soon find the true colors of Congressman Sestak. I don't have high hopes that he'll display any more honor than the majority of those in the party that he's aligned himself with so tightly.

 

This is sad, but the mere fact that Sestak aligns himself as a Democrat makes me question his integrity. I don't think it is possible to be a democrat and maintain integrity right now. It is a party that stands for, is imbued with, and drives an anti-American, anti-middle class, anti-religious, anti-thinking, and pro-elitist value system.