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The head of a watchdog group says the White House did nothing wrong by discussing possible jobs with several Democrats if they would refrain from challenging incumbents. Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the job discussions are just politics as usual.

In June and July of 2009, former President Bill Clinton asked Joe Sestak if he would be willing to take a White House appointment instead of challenging Arlen Specter's Senate seat. Republicans like Rep. Darrell Issa have demanded the Justice Department investigate.

White House counsel Robert Bauer argued in a memo Friday that the offer was just politics.

Less than a week later, it was revealed that White House chief of staff Jim Messina presented possible jobs to Colorado State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff if he didn't run against Sen. Michael Bennet.

Sloan told CNN's John Roberts that these types of offers happen all of the time.

SLOAN: There is really nothing improper in that. One of the things that is so odd about this story and the Sestak story is that people are surprised that the political appointments are given out for political reasons. Well that's how these jobs are given out in any administration going back to the beginning of administrations. Politicians get political appointments. Romanoff had apparently applied for a job through the transition office and Messina then called him to check in and see if he wanted those jobs. Obviously, Messina was doing it to try and keep Romanoff out of the primary. Although it was before he had announced that he was definitely running. But Romanoff declined and said he wasn't interested and wanted the Senate seat.

Republicans are just using the job discussions to attack the administration for political gain, according to Sloan.

ROBERTS: You are suggesting that there is nothing illegal about this. Republicans are taking a bit of a different attitude toward it. They have asked the Department of Justice to investigate the Sestak case. Now that this has Romanoff case has come out, do you think they are going to call for a full-blown investigation, maybe not just the DOJ but congressionally as well?

SLOAN: Absolutely. That's 100 percent certainly. This is a great issue for them to jump on, part of the reason is the Obama White House has said it was going to behave differently than other White Houses, more transparent, more ethical than everyone else. And this shows they were horse trading, just like everyone else. It is a great issue for the Republicans that want to dirty up the administration.

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This man is in some serious need of some civics lessons among other things I suspect. From C-SPAN's Washington Journal, a Rand Paul fan from Oklahoma actually calls Arlen Specter, John McCain and Tom Cole "Socialists". How much Glenn Beck does someone have to watch to have your brain fried this badly? It's scary.

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Sean Hannity apparently couldn't get through primary election night without asking Sarah Half-Term-Governor Palin for her invaluable insights on the primary election results. She had lots of praise for "the change that is needed" libertarian Rand Paul and his win in Kentucky. Apparently Palin doesn't think of herself as a former Republican Vice Presidential candidate and now a ClusterFox employee as being part of that "machine" she's so glad Paul is making uncomfortable.

We'll see how that "bit of a libertarian" line is workin' out for ya' after the general election voters start getting a good look at Mr. I'm-as-extreme-as-my-father libertarian Rand Paul in the general election.

Funny Hannity didn't bother to ask her how that "oily, drilly" thing is working out for her. No mention of the disaster in the Gulf with the oil possibly moving into Florida now. Imagine that. I guess Hannity couldn't let some little thing like one of the largest environmental disasters in our nation's history caused by an industry and drilling method Palin used as a talking point to mock Democrats get in the way of allowing her to blather on mindlessly about the primary elections.

I think I lose I.Q. points from just watching either of these two idiots. I can only stand either one of them in small doses. Too much Sean Hannity at one time and I start feeling like Jon Stewart did waiting for his "apology".

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While Matthews is right that there's a lot of anti-incumbent voter anger out there, how sad is it that a corporate Democrat and a Republican just turned Democrat possibly being ousted by a couple of more "centrist" Democrats is being called a "revolution" here? What would be revolutionary would be to get the money and corruption out of our politics and have public financing for campaigns so that primary races where challengers for our United States Senate actually having a chance to win were a lot more commonplace. As it is now once these people are voted in it's almost impossible to get them voted back out of there, no matter how awful they are.

As to Rand Paul, given his father's popularity with the Libertarian crowd that he got motivated during his Presidential campaign before the teabaggers and Dick Armey and friends co-opted the group from him, it's not all that surprising to see them supporting his son.

Heaven forbid Tweety ever passes up a chance to over-dramatize something. I'm sure he'll be animated as hell election night. I think he looks at politics like a sport instead of something that has real life consequences for the electorate.

MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with a thought on tomorrow`s election. We've got three big ones, all of which will gauge the level of anger out there, the amount of tough, edgy abuse people are ready to lay on the political establishment. Ground zero is Pennsylvania, where Joe Sestak is commanding a PT vote against Senator Arlen Specter`s fleet of destroyers. Those destroyers are manned by all who have an interest in Specter`s six three election, his pal, the governor, the vice president, the president, the mayor, the unions he`s been backing for decades, the center city lawyers, the judges, the people who want to judges, and, most importantly, the Democratic city committee that Specter used to work around and now is working with.

Down in Arkansas, we've got a hot race between an incumbent centrist Democrat, Blanche Lincoln, and a very ambitious lieutenant governor, Bill Halter. Lincoln was already dicey this year, which is a tough year for most Democrats, but especially southern Democrats. This Lincoln/Halter tussle is a contest that only makes sense if you know how angry the grassroots are. They`re angry because they're not getting what they want on health care and labor issues from Democrats like Lincoln. What they want is obedience to the progressive labor agenda.

In Kentucky, you've got to love it, Rand Paul, son of the libertarian Ron Paul, is dominating in a race against the state`s Republican establishment of Mitch McConnell. If Paul wins, it is going to really stick it to McConnell and the regular Republicans. It will be a big win for Jim Bunning, who had to skip a reelection effort because McConnell put the screws to him.

So there you have it, a real trifecta for those wanting to kick but. If Sestak wins in Pennsylvania, it means Democrats are as angry at the establishment as Republicans are. If Paul in Kentucky and Sestak win, it means both sides are going for change. If Halter in Arkansas and Paul and Sestak win, bet on an outright revolution.

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There not yet a vacancy on the Supreme Court but the second-ranking Republican in the Senate is already planning a strategy of opposing a President Barack Obama's potential nominee. Jon Kyl told Fox News' Chris Wallace that Republicans were prepared a nominee that was "overly ideological."

When Republicans were in the majority Kyl had decried use of the filibuster. "It's never been the case of until the last two years that a minority could dictate to the majority what they could do," Kyl said in 2005.

Since Democrats were the first party in decades to use the filibuster to block a judicial nominee, Republicans are within their rights to continue to use it, according to Kyl. Democrats blocked George W. Bush's nominee, Miguel Estrada in 2001.

"It is wrong and it shouldn't be done but I think you would agree if only one side is permitted to do it -- the Democrats and not the Republicans -- you have a very unfair system," Kyl said Sunday.

Justice John Paul Stevens told two newspapers that he would soon make his decision on whether or not he will retire this year. At least one Democratic Senator thinks the justice should wait.

"I think the gridlock in the Senate might well produce a filibuster which would tie up the Senate on a Supreme Court nominee. I think if a year passes there's is a better chance we could come to a consensus," said Specter.

Both Kyl and Specter appeared on Fox News Sunday.

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From Fox News Sunday, Arlen Specter criticized the Republicans for planning to ‘break the President’ as soon as he was sworn in to defeat him in 2012 and Jim DeMint claims that wasn’t their intent. I’d like to know how they knew he was going to ‘take over’ the economy and add more debt the day he got elected. DeMint responded to TPM and his defense was basically to call Arlen Specter names and say he can’t be trusted since he switched parties.

Trancript via Lexis Nexis.

WALLACE: Senator DeMint, you have raised questions about whether or not either of these bills are constitutional. Do you plan to file a lawsuit if something is passed to block the enactment of health care reform? DEMINT: Chris, this fight is not over right now, and the only thing worse than the policy itself has been the process that the Democrats have followed to get this passed.

We all heard last week about vote buying and different things going on in secret. So there are a lot of problems with this bill. Whether -- who files a suit or what happens if they pass it is one thing.

But my hope now is as we reveal to the American people what's actually in this bill, what it will cost them, what it will do to our Medicare and health care system, that we'll get a few Democrats to stand up in the House that maybe didn't before and help us stop this thing.

It is really bad, and it -- and it is not the answer. It doesn't meet the goals of the president. We need every American to have a health insurance plan they can afford and own and keep. This bill doesn't accomplish that.

WALLACE: Senator Specter, as our legal expert here -- not to diminish in any case any of the other senators that are appearing -- are there constitutional issues here? And let me ask you specifically about one. How can the government mandate that every individual has to buy health insurance?

SPECTER: I do not think there are serious constitutional issues. The mandate provision is very similar to what was done in Massachusetts when they had mandatory reform.

I'd like to pick up on what Senator DeMint says about the process. I think the process was very bad, but the process is really caused in large measure by the refusal of the Republicans to deal in any way.

Senator DeMint is the author of the famous statement that this is going to be President Obama's Waterloo, that this ought to be used to break the president, so that before the ink was dry on the oath of office -- and I know this because I was in the caucus -- the Republicans were already plotting ways to beat President Obama in 2012.

Now, effective government in a democracy relies upon some bipartisanship, but there simply isn't any. And the process which was used was not good. The lead story today in the Washington Post is that after you reform health care, you ought to reform the Senate. And I would start with the process.

And if some of the Republicans would come forward with suggestions, offer a vote or two, or three or four, to take away the need to have every last one of the 60 Democrats, you'd have a much better bill in accordance with the tradition of the Congress, especially the Senate, on bipartisanship.

WALLACE: Well, let me bring in Senator DeMint as a matter of personal privilege. You get 30 seconds to respond, sir.

DEMINT: Well, thank -- thank you, Chris. I never wanted to break the president. We just wanted to break his momentum as he took over more and more of our economy and created more and more of our debt.

The reason the Republicans didn't have any ideas in the bill is that the Democrats didn't allow it, Chris. There was nothing that they would consider other than a government takeover of health care. Whatever words were used, that was their intent.

The Republicans have a number of bills, Chris, that would allow insurance to be more available and affordable to every American, but that was not the goal of the Democrats here. They want the government to run it. They want 80 or 90 percent of Americans on government health care. That's not a good thing for our country.

WALLACE: Let me -- let me -- let me...

SPECTER: Twenty -- twenty -- twenty -- 20 seconds...

WALLACE: Gentlemen...

SPECTER: ... 20 seconds in reply?

WALLACE: No, no.

SPECTER: Twenty seconds in reply?

WALLACE: Senator Specter, no, because, in fairness, I've got to bring in your two other colleagues, and I know you wouldn't want to take time from them.

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Looks like American's for Prosperity's Tim Phillips has resorted to hiring some cheap help with their tour bashing the Employee Free Choice Act. Who better than Mr. Fake Plumber Joe Wurzelbacher? I guess these guys couldn't find any real plumbers to go out there and attack unions. From KDKA Pittsburgh:

'Joe The Plumber' Speaks In Green Tree

Samuel Joseph Wuerzelbacher was there to rally against the Employee Free Choice Act – a bill that's supposed to make it easier for unions to organize.

Some local unions organized against Joe at the event.

President Obama supports the Employee Free Choice act.

It appears to be dead for now in Congress due to opposition from Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter.

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Sen. Arlen Specter told Fox News' Chris Wallace that the Republican Party was the party of "no, no, no" when it comes to passing meaningful health care reform. While Specter believes the public option is "gaining momentum" within the Democratic Party, the GOP is the "party of obstructionism," said Specter.

UPDATE: Joe Sestak and Ned Lamont will be on C&L live chatting with us tomorrow, Monday Oct. 19th at 3pm PST/6pm EST so don't miss it.

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Sen. Arlen Specter has faced angry protesters at his town hall meetings about health care. But Specter says that the protesters are not representative of most Americans. "I think we have to bear in mind, although those people have a right to be heard, they're not really representative of America in my opinion. We have to be careful here not to let those town meetings dominate the scene and influence what we do on health policy," Specter told ABC's Jake Tapper.

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Ed Schultz takes on the Republican fear mongering that's stirring up the crazies at these town hall meetings.

But first, tonight's "OpEd."

Goofy? Yes. Spooky? Yes. And a guy shows up with a gun at a presidential town hall.

If that's not dangerous, I don't know what is.

Now, to do all of this justice, I have to show you this first tonight. Take a look at what happened inside the town hall meetings of Senator Arlen Specter and Senator Claire McCaskill today.

Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You and your cronies in the government do this kind of stuff all the time. Well, I don't care!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do not want to pay on a health care plan that includes the right for a woman to kill her unborn baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want this country turning into Russia, turning into a socialized country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What it says is, as a 74-year-old man, if you develop cancer, we're pretty much going to write you off.

MCCASKILL: You don't trust me?

AUDIENCE: No!

MCCASKILL: Hey! Hey!

OK. Ma'am-OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Fear, fear, and more fear.

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