Sestak Offer: Crime or Small Potatoes?

Pundits divided on alleged job offer
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 28, 2010 8:59 AM CDT
Sestak Offer: Crime or Small Potatoes?
Rep. Joseph Sestak, D-Pa. talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 25, 2010, after the Democratic Caucus luncheon.   (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

Republicans are eager to make a fuss about the job Joe Sestak says he was offered by the Obama administration, with Darrel Issa calling it an “impeachable offense.” So is it a big deal? Here's what pundits are saying:

  • Sure the allegations are disturbing, but impeachment-worthy? Please. “It's called politics,” writes Michael Grunwald of Time . “News flash: Sometimes political appointments and political races can get political.”
  • Indeed, historians tell the Huffington Post that “presidential history is littered with quid pro quos … so much so that the Sestak offer may be more the norm than the exception to it.”

  • But the LA Times disagrees. “It's much ado about something,” it says in an editorial. Normal or not, federal law forbids such quid pro quos. “We seldom agree with Issa,but in this case, we believe his questions deserve a response.”
  • It's particularly important for Sestak, argues the Philadelphia Inquirer, since he spent his entire primary campaign stressing trust and accountability. His current non-responses about the incident are “too-cute-by-half.”
(More Joe Sestak stories.)

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