Hastert Fights to Save His Job in Page Scandal

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — Backed by measured words of support from President Bush, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert opened an intense drive on Tuesday to hold on to his post, but behind the scenes senior Republicans weighed whether he could survive the scandal surrounding former Representative Mark Foley.

Among the options being considered by senior Republicans is for Mr. Hastert to announce that he will stay on as speaker through this year but not seek re-election to the post assuming Republicans retain control of the House, said people on and off Capitol Hill who were involved in the discussions. They said the advantage of such a step would be to postpone a disruptive leadership fight until after Election Day.

Mr. Hastert, who stayed on as speaker after 2004 at the urging of Mr. Bush, has been involved in some of the discussions about how to proceed, but it was not clear how seriously he was considering not seeking the speakership next year, said the Republicans, who asked not to be named because they were discussing internal deliberations. Mr. Hastert returned home to Illinois on Tuesday.

In a round of interviews with right-leaning radio shows after the conservative editorial page of The Washington Times called Tuesday for his resignation, Mr. Hastert vowed he would not quit. He accused political opponents of stoking the furor over Mr. Foley, Republican of Florida, in an effort to influence the coming elections and strip Republicans of Congressional control.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/washington/04hastert.html?hp&ex=1159934400&en=e1ffda0be3da58be&ei=5094&partner=homepage

:dilemma:

After all, isn't Mr. Reynolds the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, who knowingly knew of the criminal abuse for some time?

bewteen two consenting adults, repukes would try to sic the feds on them on obstruction of justice charges :puke:

know that. ummmm.....

.....Mr. Hastert, who stayed on as speaker after 2004 at the urging of Mr. Bush,

...said the Republicans, who asked not to be named because they were discussing internal deliberations. Mr. Hastert returned home to Illinois on Tuesday.

We've gotta protect our phoney baloney jobs here.

....Mr. Bush, in his first public comments on the matter, spoke outside a school in California, supporting Mr. Hastert’s call for a full investigation and saying he was confident that Mr. Hastert would “provide whatever leadership he can to law enforcement in this investigation.”

“He is a father, teacher, coach, who cares about the children of this country,” Mr. Bush said of Mr. Hastert, a former high school teacher and wrestling coach from Illinois. “I know that he wants all the facts to come out, and he wants to ensure that these children up there on Capitol Hill are protected.”

Though Mr. Bush stopped short of saying explicitly that he wanted Mr. Hastert to keep his job, White House officials said the president wanted to return the loyalty Mr. Hastert had shown the administration. But they said the White House was resigned to more political damage as the Foley case played out no matter what Mr. Bush and the House leadership might do or say.

Republican lawmakers said privately that Mr. Hastert’s fate would ride on developments in the coming days. There appeared to be no organized effort now to push for the speaker’s ouster, and in public many backed Mr. Hastert, saying the full facts of the case were not yet known.

That's why he kept this thing under wraps, hoping it would go away, to save a Republican seat.

Just HOW many stories has Denny floated so far? 3? 4? Tomorrow will there be a 5th?

He has about as much interest in protecting anything but his political ass as Chimpy does. Which of course is zero.

Mr. Hastert’s allies sought to rally rank-and-file lawmakers behind the speaker, and a letter of support was being circulated by Representative John Shadegg, Republican of Arizona, who was trying to round up signatures. The speaker’s office was also trying to tamp down outrage from the right and released a letter of support from the Christian Coalition.

......But other Christian conservative groups, a pivotal variable in Republican turnout for the midterm elections, condemned the lack of earlier action by Republican leaders.

“It is clear someone knew,” said a statement from the Arlington Group, a coalition of major Christian conservative organizations including Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America and the American Family Association. “We are very concerned that the whole truth concerning this episode be reported, including when House leadership or other members from either party knew of this situation.”

Phil Burress, president of the Cincinnati group Citizens for Community Values, said that among Christian conservative voters, the Foley scandal “just sows more contempt for Congress as it becomes nothing more than a playground for sexual perverts.”.......

....Republicans said they were increasingly concerned that the matter would dominate the final weeks of the midterm elections. One lawmaker in a difficult race in Pennsylvania, Representative Jim Gerlach, canceled a fund-raiser with Mr. Boehner.

God of all the House repukes, this guy really is near the tops in terms of scumminess.

People make a lot of fun of TX for keeping freaks like DeLay in power. This is fuckin Illinois. Backwater towns in the state could just as well be any other red state. Is this district fuckin retarded for keeping this shit in power this long?

but I think it would be easier to throw the bus!


rocknation

and I want a royalty if my post inspired you!

:headbang:
rocknation

Does this mean that Boehner has the inside track?

Surely he would be rocking chair wary. Should the house remain in republican hands, he will be in real trouble. This tells me that my earlier estimate of Hastert's demise at 60/40 may need to be revised upward.

Boner is a mean political infighter and, although not particularly astute nor intelligent, a liar extrordinaire. His booming voice and straight faced, unruffled mendacity will carry him far, as long as his party is in power and he can escape any personal accountability.

,...closet hatred of women and blacks. I'll NEVER NEVER EVER forget the way he treated the (mostly) Black Caucus and ACLU and affected Muslims during the hearing re the un"Patriot Act" effects upon constitutional rights.

Fat asshat!!! Oh, and, I will forgive him,...WHEN HE'S OUT OF HIS POSITION OF POWER. Yes. I will forgive him, then.

I will never forgive any of these greedy, posturing, sanctimonious criminals.

We want his crooked ass gone.

After all, not all Republican crooks are fat.

Boehner? Blount? How about Bob Ney or Tom DeLay?

Maybe they can bring back Schuyler Colfax?

weighed less than 300 pounds.

some of the cries of "conservatives" are coming. It would appear
that Mr. Bosse's former boss Dan Burton may be pulling some of the
strings on this puppet. If it is even slightly possible to worsen
this situation that would be a move toward an even greater calamity.

Where are getting this? Are there any reliable facts to support this hypothesis?

And what do you mean be a greater calamity? More Congressmen exposed as pedophiles? Any House Speaker, no matter how idiotic, won't be much of a calamity since he'll be replaced in the next Congress by Speaker Pelosi.

Burton's committee and was one of the first to call for Hastert's head. As to a
greater calamity. Look at it as a possible complete breakdown of representative
government with the collapse of functionality of the H of R. As if it
isn't already near that with three hour fifteen minute votes, etc.

time and set a weight limit of 300 pounds for the Speaker.

the original "voodoo queen of New Orleans".

Here's Hastert on the Crescent City's plight post-Katrina:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9164727/

WASHINGTON - It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that’s seven feet under sea level, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said of federal assistance for hurricane-devastated New Orleans.

"It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed," the Illinois Republican said in an interview Wednesday with the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill....

There are "some real tough questions to ask," Hastert said in the interview. “How do you go about rebuilding this city? What precautions do you take?”

Hastert later issued a statement saying he was not "advocating that the city be abandoned or relocated."

And now look at the pathetic little (?) weasel, trying to figure out which bilge pump is closest so he can jump out of the sinking S.S. Repuke Family Values as fast as he can.

:evilgrin:

to use "fat" as an insult?

Why is it always "fat this" and "fat that" on DU? I have never seen a forum that is so hypersensitive to almost any form of dicrimination or insult based on any characteristic but so ready to use one specific one in an exclusively negative way.

Sure Denny is fat. No doubt.

But being fat has NOTHING to do with his obfuscation of these emails and IMs.

Barney Frank is gay. Freepers use the term as an insult when they denigrate his votes and speeches that are nothing to do with homosexuality. Are they right? No.

Feinstein and Boxer are women. Freepers use terms which denigrate women to insult them even though their gender is not relevant to politics. Are they right? No.

Are you who are so quick to use Denny's weight against him, when not only has weight nothing to do with it but there are so many more more meaningful and relevant flaws to use, any better than Freepers? No.


EDIT - to forestall the obvious ever so mature and relevant retorts:

Yes I'm fat. I'd be dead if I was the supposed "ideal weight" because at 5'10+ I'd have ZERO body fat at 205 lbs and am "supposed" to be 155-173 but I weigh a lot more than that (285 if it matters or you are curious) and am, undeniably, fat.

No I am not personally offended by being called fat or by others being called fat WHEN IT MATTERS. Sure if I audition for the role of Oliver Twist call me too fat. If I hit on a supermodel tell me I have no chance because I'm fat. If I comment on marathon running question my credibility because I'm fat, but I remain completely clueless what being fat has to do with politics in general or this scandal in particular, yet it remains an almost reflexive insult on DU, and is never questioned when used pejoratively like all other physical or human characteristics are.

and articulate and enlightening. Hastert is finished. Of course he knew.

Click on: video, former page describes messages.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/