Is offering a bribe to a politician to stay out of a race a criminal act? Yes (it's a felony, actually). Did someone in the White House offer Pennsylvania's Joe Sestak a job in the Obama Administration if he did not run in the primary against Arlen Specter? Yes, by Sestak's own admission. And will the honorable Mr. Sestak now report the person who offered him a bribe to the authorities, so that the case may be properly investigated and if necessary, prosecuted, as required by law?
No.
Via Politico:
Rep. Joe Sestak, winner of the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary, is refusing to provide more information on what job he was offered by a White House official to drop of that race, although he confirmed again that the incident occurred.
The White House was backing incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) in the primary. Sestak acknowledged in an interview in February that he was offered a position by an unnamed White House official - a potential violation of federal law - but has not offered any specifics on conversation. Republicans are trying to use the issue against Sestak in the November Senate race.
"It's interesting. I was asked a question about something that happened months earlier, and I felt that I should answer it honestly, and that's all I had to say about it." Sestak said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Anybody else has to decide on what they will say upon their role. That's their responsibility."
Yet Sestak confirmed to NBC's David Gregory that the incident did take place.
"I was offered a job, and I answered that," Sestak said. "Anything that goes beyond that is for others to talk about."
For others to talk about ? Really? Sestak is displaying the chutzpah of incumbency; with the voter's current mood, that's as dangerous as flashing your bling late at night in the bad, bad part of the 'hood.
If any of us "ordinary citizens" were privy to a felony - say, were offered to participate in a hold-up, or were offered the old "you-didn't-see-nothing" bribe, we would be obligated to report it. And while it would be admittedly difficult to prove such a conversation had taken place, once you had publicly admitted you were involved in (even on the periphery of) a potential felonious transaction, you would be legally obligated to provide the information to the authorities, lest you be charged with "aiding and abetting", or withholding information from the police.
But apparently Joe Sestak feels that the laws that apply to us "ordinary citizens" do not apply to Joe Sestak, or to the political class at all. A dangerous attitude in dangerous times; but can he get away with protecting felons in the White House in order to secure his election as Pennsylvania's next Senator?
Ask the press. Or maybe not. If a Democratic White House commits a felony involving the fixing of a public election for its favored candidate and the media decides to ignore it, does it make a sound?
In the past, it would not. In 2010, with an infuriated electorate raising the Gadsden flag, there will be nowhere for Sestak to hide; and the media will have to pursue this case or forever lay itself bare as mere handmaidens of the Democratic party.
...And wouldn't be ironic if the very "insurgent" campaign of Joe Sestak turned out to be the final nail in the Democrat's November 2010 coffin?
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