Thursday.....Politics.....Answers Needed Under Oath

Pennsylvania's primary is coming up in May. Arlen Specter is being opposed in the primary by Joe Sestak, a former admiral and now a United States Congressman. In answer to a question posed to him, Sestak stated that he was offered a high ranking job by someone in the administration if he would abandon his run for the Senate from Pennsylvania. Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff is challenging Senator Michael Bennet in their primary. It has been reported that Romanoff was also offered a job in the administration if he did not challenge the Senator from Colorado. Yesterday, President Obama named Scott Matheson Jr. to a federal appeals court. A few hours after that announcement, he met with Utah Congressman Jim Matheson (Brother to Scott) to encourage him to change his negative November vote on the health care bill. Scott Matheson Jr. is a respected law professor and normally his appointment would not be questioned but these are not normal circumstances. Richard Nixon's reelection campaign against Senator George McGovern was not even in dire straits in 1972, but human nature and the desire for power trumped ethics and the law. The cost of Watergate was great to Nixon and many around him. These, along with many other issues concerning this administration, will have to be investigated in the coming months. Buying votes would be a crime. The Matheson situation may have been unintended but even if it was it would have been incredibly stupid to meet with an appointee's brother the same day as announcing the appointment, and this on an issue as important as health care and the unethical method being used to bring about a vote.