How Many Sestaks Are Out There?

Considering Joe Sestak was supposedly offered a job he apparently wasn't eligible for, it makes you wonder how many others are out there who've also been approached in The Chicago Way? Considering how beatable Chuckie Schumer's puppet Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Post wonders aloud.

So the White House tried to bulldoze Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak out of a primary challenge to GOP-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter?

Big deal.

The White House has been taking aspiring opponents of rookie New York Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand and squashing them like bugs for months now -- and nobody's made a federal case out of it.

Sure, it's moderately interesting that the designated bulldozer in the attempted Sestak disappearance turns out to have been Bill Clinton.

And it's also possible that offering Sestak a job to keep him out of the Senate race -- if that happened -- was a crime.

The line of potential challengers was long, yet they all just happened to find other things to do. Curious, isn't it?

She did little in her first year in office but reverse course on most positions she held during her single full term in the House -- while transforming herself into Chuck Schumer's shadow.

Potential opponents arose, only to be swept aside, including:

* Rep. Steve Israel (D-Long Island), whom Obama personally called and asked to drop out.

* Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan), a principled liberal who nonetheless found it impossible to raise money with the White House blocking her.

* Ex-Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.), with a strong pro-Wall Street message, could have overcome his out-of-state roots -- as Bobby Kennedy and Hillary Clinton did before him. But, as Ford acknowledged, the "heavy-handed tactics" of Obama's "party bosses" carried the day.

But not in Pennsylvania.

Sestak withstood the pressure -- and beat Specter. Too bad he didn't live here.

Nothing will happen in the Sestak case but they best justice will be seeing all of Obama's handpicked candidates being defeated.

Holiday Weekend News Dump: White House Claims It Was Bill Clinton Who Talked to Sestak About a Job

It took them three months to come up with this tale? No doubt their lapdog media sycophants will now say they've been forthcoming and let's move on.

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 promoted Sestak to vice admiral and made 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 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.

Let's see if Sestak parrots the party line now.

Even better, let's get everyone under oath on this and see they all have to say.

Joe Sestak and the Chicago Way

It looks like Joe Sestak has verified that the White House offered him a job as a pay-off to not run for the Senate against Arlen Specter

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."

Questions...I have questions:

1. How this is different from what Rod Blagojevich is alleged to have done?

2. Anybody out there think that Holder will investigate this potential felony? Me neither.

3. You know that if this was a Republican Congress would hold public hearings. Anybody think that will happen here?

4. Is this a good example of the "most transparent and ethical administration" ever?

5. Will the left-wing media pursue this story, drop it like
a hot potato, or try to blame Bush? I vote for door number 2.

Just another example of the Chicago Way.

Man Charged in Chinook Copter Sabotage

An arrest has been made in the suspected sabotage of H-47 Chinook helicopters at a Boeing plant in Pennsylvania.

Poor thing was supposedly upset over a job transfer.

An assembly line worker upset about a pending job transfer has been charged with vandalizing a military helicopter at a Boeing factory, prosecutors said Tuesday.

They said they were still trying to determine who damaged a second helicopter at the plant.

Matthew Kevin Montgomery, 33, of Trevose, cut a bundle of about 70 wires on an H-47 Chinook helicopter, U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said at a news conference.

Montgomery admitted to cutting the wires on the morning of May 10, his last day working on the Chinook line, according to an arrest affidavit. He had been a Boeing employee for 18 months.

"Regardless of what his motivation was, the impact was the same," Meehan said. The helicopter would not have been able to fly with the cut wires, investigators said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Perkin agreed Tuesday to release Montgomery on $25,000 bail; the judge ordered him to live with his parents in Southampton, undergo a mental health exam and have no contact with Boeing or its employees.

"He's very concerned and very remorseful," said public defender Mara Meehan. "He's been pretty upset, which is one reason why concerns have been raised about mental health."

I hope he is upset and gets the harshest possible punishment allowing him ample time to think about what he did.

H/T Lawhawk.

Previously.

But Let's Not Question Anyone's Patriotism

No, can't have that.

But I'll say this: It would be nice if the the scum-sucking maggots who did this were discovered by the men in the plant.

Investigators have concluded that two military helicopters were vandalized on the production line at a Boeing factory near Philadelphia, the Defense Department said Thursday as it offered a reward in the case.

Federal officials were handing out fliers to workers at the Boeing Rotorcraft Systems plant listing a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identity of the person or persons who vandalized the H-47 Chinook helicopters.

"We have determined that this was a deliberate act and not an accident," said Ken Maupin, resident agent in charge of the Philadelphia area office of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, at a news conference outside the plant.

A production line at the plant has not been fully functional since Tuesday when two workers found what the company called irregularities in the transport helicopters.

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak has said he was told that broken or severed wires were found in one helicopter and that a suspicious washer was found in a second. Maupin described the washer as being in a place it shouldn't.

Maupin said 10 agents were investigating the case, but he would not comment on specifics of the investigation or what led to the determination it was vandalism.

"You have a large number of workers here at this point and one or more that was the problem," Maupin said. "The majority of the people here are hardworking, loyal Americans, and many of them are veterans. They want to find (those responsible) as much as we do."

We can only hope.

Maupin said the military had not grounded any helicopters that are now in use.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said that he was comfortable with the conclusion the damage was done deliberately and that a prosecutor had been assigned to the case.

"There are federal statutes that would implicate anybody who intentionally interfered with a mechanism like this that is being introduced into a theater of war," Meehan said.

Execution would be fine by me.

Via Ace.

Dems Flee From Fugitive Clinton Donor

As troubles mount for The Pantsuit and fugitive donor Norman Hsu, Democrats are running for the tall grass and are rushing to return possibly suspect donations.

Democrats Give Away Fundraiser's Cash

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats began distancing themselves Wednesday from a fundraiser who is wanted in California for failing to appear for sentencing on a 1991 grand theft charge.

Al Franken, a Senate candidate in Minnesota, Rep. Michael Honda of California and Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania said they would divest their campaigns of donations from Norman Hsu, whose legal encounters and links to other Democratic donors have drawn public scrutiny in the past two days.

Hsu is a fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and is described as a devoted fan of the presidential candidate and New York senator. He planned to co-host a money event for Clinton on Sept. 30. In a statement Wednesday, Hsu said he believed he had resolved his legal issues and was unaware that he faced a warrant.

Reports in The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times this week have caused numerous Democratic candidates and organization who have benefited from Hsu's contributions to reconsider the donations.

Franken's campaign received $2,300 from Hsu and Sestak and Honda each received $1,000 for their re-election efforts.

The Clinton campaign did not immediately comment on Hsu's legal situation. But in a statement issued Tuesday, the campaign defended Hsu in response to the Journal report about a San Francisco family whose contribution patterns tracked Hsu's.

``Norman Hsu is a longtime and generous supporter of the Democratic Party and its candidates, including Senator Clinton,'' Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a statement Tuesday. ``During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question or to return them.''

Federal Election Commission records show that Hsu has donated $260,000 to Democratic Party groups and federal candidates since 2004. Though a fundraiser for Clinton, he also donated to Sen. Barack Obama's Senate campaign in 2004 and to Obama's political action committee.

In 1991, Hsu pleaded no contest to a single felony count of grand theft but failed to show up in court for sentencing, according to Ronald Smetana, a California deputy attorney general who prosecuted the case.

Smetana said there is an outstanding warrant for Hsu's arrest. A clerk at the San Mateo County courthouse where Hsu was prosecuted said the warrant was issued in 1992 and orders were for $2 million bail for Hsu if he were arrested.

Smetana said Hsu collected about $1 million from investors by falsely claiming he had a contract to import latex gloves. Smetana said he planned to ask a judge to sentence Smetana to prison.

Smetana said he figured Hsu, a Hong Kong native, had fled the country.

``We would obviously like Mr. Hsu to return and face justice,'' said Smetana, who said he had assumed Hsu, a Hong Kong native, had fled the country.

Showing how feckless and pathetic they are, not a single Democrat presidential candidate has even dared mention this brewing scandal, nor does much of the media have interest in it.

UPDATE: Well, what do you know, now Mrs. Clinton is, ahem, giving the money back. Or playing cute, actually, by donating it to charity.

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton will give to charity the $23,000 in donations she has received from a fundraiser who is wanted in California for failing to appear for sentencing on a 1991 grand theft charge.

The decision came Wednesday as other Democrats began distancing themselves from Norman Hsu, whose legal encounters and links to other Democratic donors have drawn public scrutiny in the past two days.

This is a woman who itemized Bill's underwear when last seen "donating" to charity.

Next time anyone mentions this, we'll be told it's old news.