Archive for May, 2010
Biden honors fallen troops at Arlington instead of Obama
Obama has really been criticized on this one by some veterans’ groups. Usually, presidents traditionally participate to lay a wreath and deliver remarks at Memorial Day festivities, but this year, that job fell to Vice President Joe Biden. Today, in Arlington Cemetary, Joe Biden is saluting the sacrifices of the men and women of the armed forces who died and are buried there.
He said the United States has “a sacred obligation” to provide its servicemen and women – “these new warriors” – with everything they need to carry out their jobs. President Barack Obama was to preside over a separate holiday observance near Chicago later Monday. Meanwhile, Obama’s Memorial Day tribute in Chicago was interrupted by rain. He stood under an umbrella and asked the guests at the event to return to their cars until the storm passed.
Issa says Sestak job offer a bad coverup crime
California Republican Rep Darrell Issa called the job offer to Sestak an impeachable offense, for the Administration, in exchange for Sestak quitting his Senate bid. According to Issa, the coverup is worse than the crime. The fact that former President Bill Clinton offered Sestak an unpaid position on an advisory board if he would drop his challenge against party-switching Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, wasn’t even plausible, as the law states a sitting congressman can’t serve on a presidential commission.
“It’s a crime because they’ve admitted that they offered this position … So that begs the real question. Do we believe this is a further cover-up because he’s — they’re now talking about a job that President Clinton himself should have known Sestak couldn’t take? ” he said.
“They’re now coming up with a nonplausible answer,” Issa said. ”If it’s not a crime — and I believe it is — it certainly is business as usual, politics of corruption. The fact is once you’re in power, if you can use our appointments, you can corrupt the process,” Issa said.
Gov Brewer removes AG from new law defense
In the latest legal challenge over the Arizona Immigration law, Gov Jan Brewer has removed the state’s Attorney General from defending the new immigration law, accusing him of joining forces with the U.S. Justice Department as it weighs whether to challenge the law in court. Brewer, who is a Republican took the action when Attorney General Terry Goddard who is a Democrat, and also her challenger for her re-election seat, met Friday with Justice Department lawyers, who then met with her legal advisers.
Goddard has publicly stated he opposes the law, although he said he would defend the state, as he is the chief lawyer and he also told the Justice Department that “we need solutions from Washington, not more lawsuits.”
Clinton’s roll questioned in Sestak job offer
When Bill Clinton became the go between in the job offer to Joe Sestak from the Obama administration, many wonder whether if he was used by a cynical administration or did he take advantage of the situation to further his legacy. Last summer, at the request of Rahm Emanuel, Clinton met with Sestak to persuade him to abandon his primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter by offering an executive branch post. Sestak turned him down, and it looks like Clinton’s influence is beginning to fade.
“It’s very clear that President Clinton doesn’t want to leave politics but more importantly that the White House wanted some sort of plausible deniability,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who is calling for an FBI investigation, told Fox News on Friday. ”At this point, 10 weeks later, lots of witness tampering, or at least witness interrogation by people who are self serving, we’re beginning to go down that same road,” he said. “It’s now time for the president to say enough is enough, I promised to have higher integrity and that will include having someone on the outside tell us what we did right or wrong.”
Sestak deal puts Rahm Emanuel back in spotlight
Yesterday, when the White House admitted that a job had been offered to Sestak, it once again put White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel back in the spotlight. The report released told how Emanuel enlisted the aid of former President Bill Clinton to approach Rep Joe Sestak, about sitting out a Senate primary race. In fact, Emanuel has been involved in several political controversies during his 20 year stint in Washington politics. This current one involving Sestak is the latest since he joined the Obama Administration 16 months ago.
In the first days of the Administration, Emanuel admitted he was involved in the Illinois Gov Rod Blagojevich case, in which they discussed what type of person should replace Obama in the Senate. If you remember, Blagojevich was later ousted from office as Governor, as feds investigated the corruption allegations against him, and the fact that he tried to sell Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder. But no one in the administration was implicated in the plan.
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