Romanoff really wanted to work for Obama but Obama wasn't so interested in him...until Romanoff decided to run for the Senate.

This is the statement on the White House website.

Andrew Romanoff applied for a position at USAID during the Presidential transition. He filed this application through the Transition on-line process. After the new administration took office, he followed up by phone with White House personnel.

Jim Messina called and emailed Romanoff last September to see if he was still interested in a position at USAID, or if, as had been reported, he was running for the US Senate. Months earlier, the President had endorsed Senator Michael Bennet for the Colorado seat, and Messina wanted to determine if it was possible to avoid a costly battle between two supporters.

But Romanoff said that he was committed to the Senate race and no longer interested in working for the Administration, and that ended the discussion. As Mr. Romanoff has stated, there was no offer of a job.

Apparently the best way to get your resume to the top of the White House hiring list is to file for a Democratic Senate primary.

It's also a good way for the White House to potentially run afoul of several federal statutes.

Remember when the 'firing' of US Attorneys, who serve at the pleasure of the President, was supposed to be something close to an impeachable offense? But offering jobs to muck up primary elections is what? A 'nontroversy' (to borrow a phrase)?

Not surprisingly, team Obama's defense is, everyone does it! Well, not everyone, they say Ronald Regan did. Once. 30 years ago. Except, he didn't.

In efforts to defend President Obama from the controversies involving Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Penn., and former Colorado speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff -- Democratic Senate candidates whom the White House made efforts to coax out of their challenges to incumbent Democratic Senators -- the White House and its allies have argued that a similar offer was made by President Ronald Reagan's White House when trying to coax a weak incumbent out of his re-election race.

But the Reagan White House official involved tells ABC News that that's not true, and heÂ’s supported by press accounts at the time.

The weak incumbent Sen. S.I. Hayakawa did eventually drop out of the race and never got a job with the administration.

So much for that "defense".

Aside from the fact Team Obama is wrong on its analogy to the Reagan situation, when exactly did "Hope and Change" become "But Reagan did it?" Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of areas in which I wish Obama would act more like Reagan but I don't think that's the message he ran on 2 years ago.

If nothing else I guess congratulations are in order, the White House has managed to knock Sestak out of the news.

Heck of a job Gibbsy! Heck of a job!

Posted by: DrewM at 07:47 AM | Comments (34)
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This young man's left testicle, named Ben-Gurion, weighs twelve pounds. His right testicle, named Yinon, weighs only eleven pounds two ounces, but that's only because he knocked one out to the thought of confronting a pack of tablecloth-adorned Muslim protestors all by himself.

This video was shamelessly yoinked from Rosetta over at H2.

Posted by: LauraW at 07:23 AM | Comments (267)
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Wuzzat?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:25 AM | Comments (148)
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When the going gets tough, the Greeks go on strike.

This strikes me as the reflex action of a deeply demoralized populace, I have to say. No one thinks that striking will actually do any good, or solve any problems; it's just that going on strike is all they know how to do.

Which is why they (and Spain, and Portugal, and maybe Italy) are probably boned.

Posted by: Monty at 05:12 AM | Comments (181)
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Live for free, more bling for thee.

...31 percent of foreclosures in March were deemed to be "strategic default" by researchers at University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

That's up from 22 percent in March of 2009.

We already know that mortgage walkaways are more prevalent among borrowers whose neighbors or friends have done the same thing.

We also learn from those same researchers that the likelihood of walking away increases by 23 percent when homeowners learn that a neighbor got some principal forgiveness...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:16 PM | Comments (115)
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What should have been the final out of the 3rd perfect game this season was absolutely blown by umpire Jim Joyce.

Here's the link to the video at MLB.com. The idiots don't allow embeding. There's a Youtube version below the fold but the person who uploaded it put the whole at bat and it takes awhile to get to it (skip ahead to the 1:00 mark).

I'm not a big fan of adding replay to baseball but given the magnitude of this call and how obvious it was, I'm betting there will be more reply in baseball (it's already used in limited circumstances) sooner than later.

Including replays in games makes officials tentative and already long games will become even longer. Given the nature of baseball there are a tremendous number of calls that can be subject to review, what flow there is in baseball will be ruined. But given the technology available, it's inevitable.

Update: Joyce admits the obvious.

“I just cost that kid a perfect game,” Joyce said. “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.”

“It was the biggest call of my career,” said Joyce, who became a full-time major league umpire in 1989.

To Joyce's credit, he manned up after the game.

A source told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick that Joyce came into the locker room following the game and apologized to (pitcher Armando) Galarraga and Leyland personally.

..."I don't blame them a bit or anything that was said," Joyce said. "I would've said it myself if I had been Galarraga. I would've been the first person in my face, and he never said a word to me."

Via "Kenisaw Mountain Landis" in the comments, Glarraga's reaction.

Galarraga said he gave Joyce a hug when Joyce apologized to him after the game.

"He really feels bad," Galarraga said. "He probably feels more bad than me. Nobody is perfect. I give a lot of credit to that guy. That (an apology) doesn't happen. He apologized. He feels really bad. Nobody is perfect. What am I gonna do? His body language said more than a lot of words. His eyes were watery, he didn't have too say much. His body language said a lot."

"Nobody is perfect"? Well kid, you were today. It won't show up in the record books but we all know and so do you.

They say sports doesn't build character, it reveals it. Galarraga certainly relieved his, as did Joyce. Good for the two of them.

Related enough: Ken Griffey Jr. retires. Hard to believe 'The Kid' is 40 years old and hanging it up after 22 years. The guy had a monster career even though he was injured so much, usually from playing hard.

He just didn't have it any more but at least he got to go out on his own terms. See ya in Cooperstown Ken.
more...

Posted by: DrewM at 06:13 PM | Comments (129)
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Good evening and happy Hump Day all.

Fire And Icebacks Don't Mix

I'm not sure why they're burning the Icelandic flag - maybe that's some kind of ritual for the Sons of Iceland or something. Anyway drunken scandis, gasoline, and open flames don't really mix. Hilarity and minor burns ensue.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:36 PM | Comments (794)
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Bauer's the guy that Erick Erickson fingered as likely the driving force behind the Folks hit, and the reporter for this story is the one who was talking with Folks.

As in the Folks case -- there is no evidence of the affair, and hence no pressing need of honor, sacred or otherwise, to push this to the press; and yet we have another South Carolina political bottom-feeder telling us that integrity and the Commands of GOD HI'SELF ALL-MIGHTY has dictated the revelations a week out from the primary.

Funny how these guys could live with this dark secret for years and years but only now as the primary approaches do INTEGRITY, CONSCIENCE, and SACRED HONOR, not to mention the MOVE-AH-MENTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT INSIDE AH' ME, HEE-AAH, suddenly make their irresistible commandments known.

“I did not have any intention of going public,” Marchant said Wednesday. “I kept getting calls from different people. I just felt like I owed Andre to disclose it to him. "

Yeah, I'll bet you felt like you owed it to Andre.

I don't know that I'd vote for Haley at this point, but I know for damnsure I'd vote for anyone other than Bauer.

More at Hot Air.

Video: Haley and Bauer Spar: Haley:

Bauer's response sparked a heated discussion between the two candidates. Haley claimed the Bauer campaign had tried to submit the story Tuesday night.

"Y'all were fishing the story last night and you didn't fire him yesterday," said Haley. "Only when no one would take it seriously because he's a paid consultant that you decided to fire him today."

She called the entire ordeal "sick politics" and said "it reeks of everything that's wrong with the establishment."

Haley has focused much of her campaign on going against the political grain of mudslinging in state politics.

Haley is a mother of 2 who says she has always been faithful in 13 years of marriage.

The moderator asks about this right at the beginning of the clip.

"Absolutely faithful for 13 years," she says. Her demeanor seems pretty... actually, credible. And angry. But that can be faked.

On the other hand, Bauer comes off as sleazy and wormy with his "no comment" nonsense.

Update: Sacred honor compels me to confess that Andre Bauer gave me a wettie.

So, so much sacred honor floating around these days. It's contagious!, I'll tell ya that.

Posted by: Ace at 05:32 PM | Comments (175)
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But he sure is stuck in it.

No embed, but you can see it here.

To be fair, he's also asking the Feds to press BP to pay for the sand barrier project. But this quote is noteworthy: "We didn't need another meeting. We didn't ask for another meeting. On Friday with the President we were very clear, it's not the process that interests us it's the outcome."

In one frustrated statement, Jindal pinpoints the significant difference between conservatives and liberals. Results vs. Intentions.

The careful reader will notice I did not call them "good intentions".

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:18 PM | Comments (48)
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House for sale: 4 bed, 2 bath, 3 acres, fireplace, sun room, whites only, detached garage. Wait.. what? A sun room? (wbztv.com)

From Fark, linking this story. Thanks to StarChamberMaid.

Posted by: Ace at 03:14 PM | Comments (94)
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