I think I know so much about politics, but every time the bullyraggers of the reprehensible right rise on their haunches and make patently ridiculous charges against the black president they hate, I am left agape.
The latest example is the fulminating by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and others, that somehow President Obama broke corruption laws by having Bill Clinton suggest to the brother of war hero Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., that an honorary unpaid position on a government board where he could use his military experience might be a reward for standing aside and letting Sen. Arlen Specter run unopposed for re-election.
As we now know, Sestak beat Specter for the Democratic nomination for that Senate seat.
Not even Claude Rains would be “shocked, shocked” to find out that politicians act like politicians, offering deals to get what they want. I have been following politics since about the age of 12, and I have not heard of anyone finding this kind of behind-the-scenes persuasion to be unusual. While unseemly, the practice certainly beats politics of the Middle Ages, which Republicans call “the Golden Age,” when popes maneuvered for power by using poison as a means of persuasion.
The Issa talking point is that this is as bad as Watergate, as bad as former House majority leader Tom DeLay offering money to the campaign of a candidate in exchange for his father’s vote.
I wonder if Issa would like to compare this “corruption” to the coincidences in his own life that resulted in three allegations of grand theft auto, a conviction on a weapons charge and an allegation he pulled a gun on a business rival.
I had the same reaction listening to Issa on the Ed Schultz show. Issa could not even try to explain the alleged quid pro quo corruption regarding Sestak, other than to say it was "corruption." There is no allegation that there was an offer of payment or any other compensation in return for voting a particular way, or doing anything regarding the public business in a particular way. Bob Dole used to say, "Where's the outrage?" The question for Republicans should be "Where's the corruption?" I suppose the potentially good news is that the GOP is so reflexively nutty that all but the Tea Party people will turn their backs on them.
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