BlackFive

I didn't have much of an opinion on Joe Sestak before today, other than to say I support his position on allowing each of the 50 States to make their own decisions about whether or not marijuana should be legal.  And I know little other than rumor of his service and reputation prior to an abrupt dismissal by Admiral Mullen.  But I'd like to make a couple of observations about his claim to have been offered a position in the administration by the White House in return for ending his primary challenge to Arlen Specter.  The first is that if indeed this offer was made by one or more members of the Obama administration, it was corruption, a felony.  The second is that it was Joe Sestak's legal obligation as an American, and more importantly his duty as a retired Admiral, to report it to the authorities as soon as it happened.  The third observation -- and most important -- is that Joe Sestak did no such thing.  Instead, what we get are a bunch of non-answers from Joe Sestak to direct questions from David Gregory:

MR. GREGORY: What, what job were you offered to stay out of a primary race by the administration?

REP. SESTAK: It's interesting. I was asked a question about something that....

...happened months earlier, and I felt I should answer it honestly. And that's all I had to say about it because anything beyond that gets away from what we just spoke about.

MR. GREGORY: Right.

REP. SESTAK: What are the policies that are really going to help people who've been slammed by the economy...

MR. GREGORY: All right, but you've campaigned on transparency. It's part of the politics. You talked about standing up to the White House when they'd fielded a candidate--made a deal with Arlen Specter. So isn't it in the--in the spirit of transparency, were you offered a job by the administration? And what was it?

REP. SESTAK: I learned, as I mentioned, about that personal accountability in the Navy.

MR. GREGORY: Yeah.

REP. SESTAK: I felt I needed to answer that question honestly because I was personally accountable for my role in the matter.

MR. GREGORY: What's the answer? What's the job you were offered?

REP. SESTAK: And--but anybody else has to decide for themselves what to say upon their role, and that's their responsibility.

MR. GREGORY: Yes or no, straightforward question. Were you, were you offered a job, and what was the job?

REP. SESTAK: I was offered a job, and I answered that.

MR. GREGORY: You said no, you wouldn't take the job. Was it the secretary of the Navy?

REP. SESTAK: Right. And I also said, "Look, I'm getting into this...

MR. GREGORY: Was it the secretary of the Navy job?

REP. SESTAK: Anything that go--goes beyond that is others--for others to talk about.

Yes yes, personal accountability.  They teach that in the Navy.  Got it.  Now here's the thing.  According to Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod, no such inappropriate offer was made to Joe Sestak.  Which means:  Someone is lying.  

Specifically, it means that Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod are calling Joe Sestak a liar.  

Now you may be suspicious about the administration's investigation of itself on this matter, and their lack of transparency in publishing the results.  Instapundit certainly is.  But here's another, more personal observation:  Most of the Navy guys I know would not let themselves be called a liar by a sad sack like Robert Gibbs if they weren't, you know, lying.  Froggy would have waterboarded his fat ass quicker than you can say "Charlie Sheen is an awesome actor."  And Subsunk would have appeared out of a storm drain like some kind of an angry sea wolf ninja, kicked him in the nuts until he fell to the ground holding onto what was left of them, grabbed the hair on the back of his head, and shoved his face into the pavement until his nose and teeth were mashed up into some kind of a bloody stew.

But Joe Sestak didn't do that.  

So here's what I think.  I think the fact that Joe Sestak -- even after being called a liar by Robert Gibbs -- has not come forward and made a statement to the authorities about felony corruption he claims to have witnessed says something.  And what it says is this:  Joe Sestak is either a coward, a liar, a political sycophant or -- and this is where I'd put my money -- all three of these things.  

Whatever Joe Sestak learned in the Navy, it wasn't "personal accountability."  

-- Uber Pig

PS:  Thanks for the Instalanche, Glenn.  If you're here from Instapundit for the first time in a while, be sure to watch my boy Uncle Jimbo on the Rachel Maddow show tonight as he discusses the need for a deliberate approach to ending DADT.