Background: several weeks ago the LA Times reported that the Obama administration had steered nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of a no-bid contract on a secondary smallpox vaccine – one not actually tested on human beings – to Siga Technology, a company controlled by longtime Democratic party contributor Ronald Perelman. Needless to say, the drug’s much more expensive than the primary drug, the government interfered with the bidding process, and people pretended afterward that no correspondence between the company and the government took place.
Well, it seems that questions are being asked by an exceptionally unlikely source:
Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, has asked The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review the Obama administration’s award of a $443 million sole-source contract to a company owned by a major Democratic donor.
[snip]
Citing “serious questions” about the contract, the Los Angeles Times reported that McCaskill has asked the inspector general of HHS to investigate. McCaskill is the chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting and Oversight.
…except that it’s not really a surprise. As Hot Air cynically (and accurately) points out (via Instapundit), McCaskill’s in the unenviable position of having to run as a Democrat in Missouri in 2012 with Obama at the top of the ticket; which is a longer-winded way of saying “DOOM.” If McCaskill wants to simply be reduced to being the Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting and Oversight starting in 2013, she’s going to have to come up with some way of distancing herself from the Obamatross President. Exposing yet another corruption scandal in this administration might work.
Might. Obamacare is a mighty albatross, all on its own.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: Siga is currently being pegged as a potential candidate for a buyout, given the combination of the government contract and a low stock price. Not that I’d be the sort to suggest that such a thing might be a consideration for any sort of delay.
Moe Lane
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
Jeff Emanuel
Claire McCaskill, defender
tankertodd (Diary) Saturday, November 26th at 10:13AM EDT (link)Claire McCaskill. You WANT her on that wall. You NEED her on that wall!
HA! LOL
Someone must have having a wittle twubble with her weelection campaign. Awwwwlll
DOOM
———————————
The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race – Chief Justice Roberts
The woman is fearless, a crusader for Truth & Justice
johnt Saturday, November 26th at 10:27AM EDT (link)every sixth year. Her compatriots in the House, every 2nd year, with suitable deceit given the shorter term. Morons will be impressed, the media will avert their truth shedding gaze, and the sow may just get in.
I was struck by the “procure the vaccine” phrase attributed to the administartion pay off to Pearlman. And what would be done with it?
My guess, stash it in the same warehouses where untold millions of tons of cheese are stored, a gift to cows and farmers, right up to the roofs. Your guvmint in action.
“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville
Anything to distract from her "Air Claire" scandal.
Xasteius (Diary) Saturday, November 26th at 10:32AM EDT (link)I really need to stop distracting myself and make a few vids.
Don’t leave the party, hijack it back!
The only poll that counts is the one at the ballot box.
I don’t want to be Reagan. I want to be a Chance/Soros hybrid.
She is an Obama sycophant...
drbob1988 Saturday, November 26th at 10:37AM EDT (link)and a BIG supporter of Obamacare. Now she needs a new election strategy. I’m sure she cleared this with the Bamster before she proceeded. I’m one of her constituents and remind her occasionally that she needs to get her moving boxes ready….oh, and about that Air Claire thing…corruption by any name is still corruption
Enuff said!
I noticed recently
jomo2009 Saturday, November 26th at 12:23PM EDT (link)that Sarah Steelman has made some head way in the polls. Looks like she and Todd Akin will fight it out down to the wire.
Obamatross? I like it, Moe. Good coinage.
texasref (Diary) Saturday, November 26th at 1:52PM EDT (link)Rolls off the tongue.
“The medical director who performed the autopsy on Trayvon Martin found only two injuries on his body: the gunshot wound and broken skin on his knuckles. Welcome to the Duke lacrosse case all over again.”–Rush Limbaugh, 5-16-12
Next Step: Docket Sounding on 8-8-12
Final Step: Verdict of Not Guilty
One of Obama's earliest supporters
clintonformccain Saturday, November 26th at 2:52PM EDT (link)McCaskill ain’t foolin’ anyone. Everyone knows that she was one of the first to lock her lips on Obama’s bum cheeks.
How many will it take?
belcatar (Diary) Saturday, November 26th at 3:36PM EDT (link)Well, let’s see, we have:
1. Gunwalker
2. Solyndra
3. Siga
4. Obamacare
5. Bribing that Pennsylvania guy to get out of the race in 2008
6. Awarding the fighter contract to a Brazilian company with ties to Iran
Any one of these scandals would be front page news day after day if the President had an R in front of his name. How many of these things is it going to take before the national media even hints at the merest possibility of corruption?
The whole thing stinks.
I would like to see Rick Perry as President.
Maybe McCaskill sees general pattern like she did in 2006.
rickdeckard Sunday, November 27th at 9:33AM EDT (link)“This current culture of corruption has helped Missouri families see that it is lobbyists with too much access and influence to members of Congress who are cutting these sweetheart deals at their expense, and they are calling for action to put a stop to it.”
But then in ’06 she was running against a republican congress, not a democrat president. Odds are it’s not in her genetic make-up to see the big picture this time.
Of course, that doesn’t mean lobbyists don’t have too much access to the current White House occupant. It’s just not something we need to focus on. What with the election coming up, and all that.
Degeneration, from John Ashcroft to McCaskill
johnt Saturday, November 26th at 4:59PM EDT (link)How low can we go? Just another marker on a downward slide, and considering what the man had to put up with. That’s what happens when you share the nation with vermin.
“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville
She's just irked because
taxpayer1234 (Diary) Saturday, November 26th at 6:56PM EDT (link)someone in HER district didn’t get the no-bid contract.
Siga - headlines in all the media
bobguzzardi Saturday, November 26th at 7:15PM EDT (link)Wasn’t this a hot topic at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, NYTimes and WaPo? I think not. Fortunately, for RedState etc but this does not get to enough people.
If casual conversation permits...
rickdeckard Sunday, November 27th at 1:14PM EDT (link)I’m always prepared to let people know that there are better, and more accurate, sources for news than the establishment media.
At the majors it seems like investigative reporting is all but extinct. It has been replaced by talking points from talking heads who are supposed to be debating “pertinent” questions, but who just keep interrupting each other.
I find most of my breaking news on the blogs now. And it comes with considerably more detail and background, too.