The problem with both responses, of course, is that we can’t just take the word of White House officials. Sestak says the offer was made, and the White House admits there were conversations. At least three laws might have been broken, according to Darrell Issa, the Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. With that many, it shouldn’t be up to one of the interested parties to decide whether any laws were broken.

Gibbs sounded even more like McClellan at a press briefing last Friday, when he successfully ducked 13 questions on the matter. After a while, McClellan learned to duck such inquiries by saying he couldn’t answer questions because a special prosecutor was looking into the matter. That won’t happen in this case. The Department of Justice blew off the request to name a special prosecutor to look into the Sestak matter. That’s better for the White House, because no White House wants an investigation into its internal workings. But it leaves this fish flopping on the deck.