dennis hastert

GINGRICH: “When I was speaker, we had four consecutive balanced budgets.”

As Bob points out, we only had two, not four balanced budgets.

But there is something else here that has been eating away at me. More and more the right is trying to make it out that Newt was the sole man responsible for the balanced budget. They won't mention President Clinton and that it involved negotiations. Somehow the Speaker of the House has become the budget writer for the United States under these people.

So why haven't we had one since? In the 14 years since the time Newt refers to ten of those years we had a Republican Speaker. Neither Dennis Hastert nor John Boehner have produced a balanced budget. During most of Hastert's term we also had a Republican controlled Senate and White House. Why no balanced budget?

I'm not going to get on Newt for lying. We know this is a man that has a hard time ever telling the truth. What does get me is how many people on the right buy into this line of bullshit. To those people they need to ask themselves this; if the Speaker is the man who balances the budget and that is what we need right now, then why isn't Newt running for Congress? I think we all know the answer to that....

Coming To Pelosi’s Defense

The Republicans have been going ape shit over a post of Judicial Watch showing that Nancy Pelosi uses military aircraft to fly around the country. Coming to the defense of Pelosi, out of all places, is ABC:

The treasure trove of documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Department of Defense regarding Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's use of military aircraft doesn't seem to prove the organization's allegation that Pelosi has made "unprecedented demands" for the flights.

In fact, it appears that Pelosi uses military aircraft less often than her predecessor, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

The documents cover the period from January 2007 to November 2008 and show that Pelosi made the equivalent of 20 round-trips between Washington (Andrews Air Force Base) and San Francisco. That's an average of less than one round-trip per month. In contrast, former Speaker Hastert traveled home to his Illinois district virtually every weekend and, his former aides tell ABC News, he would almost always travel on military aircraft. Like Hastert, Pelosi also occasionally leads Congressional delegations on foreign trips (the documents show six foreign trips: one to Asia, three to the Middle East and two to Europe).

Today's Must Read

Retirement â€˜Waveâ€™ Building Among House Republicans?

The announcement Friday by former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., that he will not seek re-election in 2008 capped a week in which three veteran House Republicans in a 24-hour span declared that the current 110th Congress would be their last.

Hastertâ€™s announcement â€” coupled with similar ones Thursday by Ohio Rep. Deborah Pryce and Mississippi Rep. Charles W. â€œChipâ€ Pickering Jr. â€” brought to five the number of House Republicans who are not seeking re-election next year, compared with two on the Democratic side.

While nearly 15 months remain until the November 2008 election, the retirement decisions of Hastert, Pryce and Pickering will stoke speculation of a larger â€œwaveâ€ of GOP departures that would seriously hamper the partyâ€™s quest to make the 16-seat gain that they need to regain the House majority they lost last November.

Democrats pounced on the retirements as evidence of sagging morale in House Republican ranks and public disenchantment with President Bush and his party, which ran the House for a dozen years before the 2006 elections.

It is amazing how many Republicans are calling it quits this early. It appears that they see the writing on the wall and next year will not be easy for them.

Another GOPer Bites The Dust

Look who is calling it quits now:

Illinois Representative and former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert will not seek re-election, CQ.com reports. GOP sources tell CQ that a formal announcement will be made at a press conference scheduled this Friday.

Maybe it is time to start a blog called "Good-bye Asshole" where we can send parting messages to people leaving Washington.

Another Pelosi Sighting (But Still No Hastert Sightings)

SFGATE:

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi warned that a Republican victory Tuesday would prolong the U.S. involvement in Iraq another 10 years, as she embarked on a final push in a campaign that could make her speaker.

In an interview from her Capitol office, Pelosi characterized Tuesday's vote as a referendum on the war, shrugged off President Bush's efforts to make her liberalism a national issue, described the current GOP leadership as a "freak show," and expressed confidence about her party's prospects to pick up the 15 seats it needs for a majority.

"I know where the numbers are in these races, and I know that they are there for the 15; today (it's) 22 to 26," Pelosi said Friday.

Pelosi cautioned that the number of Democratic House victories could be higher or lower and said her greatest concern is over the integrity of the count -- from the reliability of electronic voting machines to her worries that Republicans will try to manipulate the outcome.

"That is the only variable in this," Pelosi said. "Will we have an honest count?''...read on

So while Pelosi is giving interviews, as well as campaigning, we still don't know where Hastert is. The Washington Post hasn't forgotten about our missing speaker:

HASTERT: "Duhhhh I Don't Remember"

For wanting to be leaders, these idiots sure do have short term memory loss:

The House Republican campaign chairman, at odds with Speaker Dennis Hastert over when Hastert learned about ex-Rep. Mark Foley's come-ons to teenage male pages, was questioned Tuesday by an ethics panel.

Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., would not comment afterward on his repeated public assertions that he warned Hastert about Foley last spring. Hastert, R-Ill., says he first learned about Foley less than a month ago.

Hastert, expected to testify this week, has said he doesn't recall the conversation.

After his closed-door testimony, Reynolds said, "I would only add a full and fair investigation of the facts is vital to ensuring the continued integrity of this institution, which is why I strongly encourage any of my colleagues who have information that may be of relevance to bring it to the committee's attention at once."

(emphasis mine)

So you are the leader of the House of Representatives. You are told that a member of the House is pursuing sexual relations with the very children the House you run is charged with keeping safe. To make matters even worse, that member if from your own party. To really add insult to injury, this is coming up with a mid-term election a year away - one that your very power is dependent upon. You don't remember hearing about that? Dennis Hastert is a fucking moron, idiot and child predator enabler. If this is the level of competence the GOP wants from their leaders then they all need their asses kicked this fall. They also all need to be charged with complicity in Mark Foley's games. Hell Hastert probably wishes he was in on the action with Foley.

Have You Had Enough Yet?

Just in the last 24 hours:

Calif. candidate's office, home raided

Roll Call: Rep. Rodney Alexander's office sued for sexual harassment

CREW asks DOJ to investigate Weldon for e-mails outlining possible threats of retaliation against his opponent's contributors Submitted by CREW

Congresswoman on page board buried file on husband's child abuse allegation

Every single headline involves Republicans. Consider all the other scandals added to this:

Cunningham
Ney
Delay
Libby
Scafavian
Abramoff
Claude Allen
Foley
Lester Crawford
Col. Republican Governor candidate Bob Beauuprez
Bill Frist
Dennis Hastert land deal
Dennis Haster's cover-up of Foley
NV Republican Governor candidate Gibbons
Rep. Don Sherwood
Mit Romney and his legal problems involving the Big Dig collapse

Plus all the other ones I have missed. Of course the Republicans continue to lie to the American people and treat them like they are ignorant infidels and say that the problems are equal on both sides of the aisle. That is denial and denial is the first sign that someone does not want to change.

Eugene Robinson: GOP Bigotry That Backfired

Eugene Robinson sums it up perfectly as always:

Let's deal with the circumstance that dares not speak its name: How much of the Mark Foley scandal's impact is due to the fact that he's a gay man who preyed on young boys?

The basic story line -- powerful man exploits children -- would be the same if Foley were straight and underage girls had been the subject of his lurid attentions. But would the intensity of the scandal be the same? Would there be all this unseemly finger-pointing and hand-washing among the House leadership? Would Dennis Hastert be fighting to keep his job; would Christian conservatives be so apoplectic; would the whole Republican Party look as if it were on the verge of a nervous breakdown?

I doubt it. There would still be a scandal, but I think Foley's now-acknowledged homosexuality was crucial in turning a crisis for the party into a potential catastrophe. In a perfect world that wouldn't be the case, but you might have noticed there's not a lot of perfection in Washington these days.

It's tempting to put it all down to hypocrisy. The Republican Party has gone to such lengths to demonize homosexuality that it must pain the leadership to reveal that such a thing as a gay Republican congressman could even exist. The party has stigmatized gay people as "them," not "us" -- as a class of people whose "lifestyle" is unsavory and whose committed relationships must never be recognized, lest the republic instantly crumble to dust.

Read on

Could These Items Be Connected?

Remember when this happened back in May?

An unusual FBI raid of a Democratic congressman's office over the weekend prompted complaints yesterday from leaders in both parties, who said the tactic was unduly aggressive and may have breached the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government.

Rep. William J. Jefferson (La.), who is at the center of a 14-month investigation for allegedly accepting bribes for promoting business ventures in Africa, also held a news conference in which he denied any wrongdoing and denounced the raid on his office as an "outrageous intrusion." Jefferson, who has not been charged, vowed to seek reelection in November.

Which was immediately followed by this, which came as a shock to many:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert demanded Wednesday that the FBI surrender documents it seized and remove agents involved in the weekend raid of Rep. William Jefferson's office, under what lawmakers of both parties said were unconstitutional circumstances.

People wondered why Hastert was so outspoken on something that could have provided a blanket of safety on a key campaign issue - corruption. It put some of the corruption into the Democrats court, but Hastert didn't see it that way. He was worried about the raid. No one ever knew why. Why did Hastert go against not only his own party, but also the President?

Well today we find this out:

Boehner Throws Hastert Under The Bus

Boehner is back in the spotlight on the Foley scandal. Now he is in the swing of attempting self survival:

ABC's Teddy Davis reports: In a radio interview with 700 WLW radio in Cincinnati, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) placed responsibility for the Foley matter not being handled properly on House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL).

"I believe I talked to the Speaker and he told me it had been taken care of," said Boehner. "And, and, and my position is it's in his corner, it's his responsibility. The Clerk of the House who runs the page program, the Page Board—all report to the Speaker. And I believe it had been dealt with."

This follows an interview on Sean Hannity's radio show yesterday where Boehner was being more forth coming with the impact the Foley scandal will have on the GOP this fall:

The House majority leader, John A. Boehner of Ohio, dismissed that possibility. “To vote for this candidate, you have to vote for Mark Foley,” Mr. Boehner said on a conservative radio program hosted by Sean Hannity. “How many people are going to hold their nose to do that?”

That interview was very heated and I wish I had audio of it. Hannity was working his ass off to spin this around and Boehner actually wouldn't let him.

Of course this in no way let's Boehner off the hook. He still played around with his story and did not follow up on the incident as he should have. We still need to send Boehner home this fall and there is still time to do that.

How A Democratic Strategist Should Respond

This should be required viewing and training for all DNC Strategists from here on out. This was awesome (h/t Christy)

The Republicans want to try and put out the ethics problems involving Democrats, but the fact of the matter is there are only a handful. They can name 3 or 4 and we can respond with 30 or 40. The problems within the Republican party are at least 10 fold compared to that of the Democrat party. Why is that? Could is be that the Republicans find no need for oversight? Dennis Hastert and Tom Delay kept the Ethics Committee from doing their job for over a year and look what happened. The Republican controlled House and Senate REFUSE to question any activity in the White House and look what has happened there - you got one ex-official in jail (Safavian) and one going on trial (Libby).

The Torch On Foley Is Now Passed to the Religous Right

The entire Foley scandal has removed the cover from a party has serious skeletons. Far more disturbing is the downplaying of the incident by others in the Republican Party, all the way up to the White House.

DOJ Giving Foley Time To Cover His Tracks

Today's New York Times article covering the developments in the Foley case has one key paragraph that must be addressed:

At the Justice Department, an official said that no investigation was under way but that the agency had “real interest” in examining the circumstances to see if any crimes were committed.

Why is an investigation not under way? The ABC chat transcripts are more than evidence enough to get an investigation going. So why not start it already? If this was any other citizen or a Democrat in Congress, you can bet the investigation would have started when the story broke. Is this the type of vigilance Gonzales' Department of Justice takes? If it is then there is no wonder why our country is always at danger.

Something else this does is allow more time for a cover up. With Foley's sudden departure, who is to say he didn't want to get home and start erasing his hard drive? More times than not these cases also involve child pornography. Investigators should have immediatley been assigned, a warrent immediatley obtained and his computers seized. Oh but wait a minute. Could they have been able to get his office computer? Remember - Dennis Hastert doesn't think members of Congress should have their offices searched, even with proper court orders. Now maybe we see why he went out to fight for a Democrat - Rep. William Jefferson.

I am also wondering what kind of message this sends to other internet sex predators out there? I mean they won't investigate the Congressman with this damming evidence out there, so why should any other predator worry? WRONG MESSAGE REPUBLICANS!

CREW Calls For Outside Investigation Into Foley Scandal

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today called upon the House of Representatives to appoint an outside counsel to investigate the House leadership's role in covering up Rep. Mark Foley's (R-FL) inappropriate email exchanges with a sixteen-year-old former House page.

Several members of the Republican leadership have now admitted to knowing for nearly a year that Rep. Foley engaged in email exchanges with a sixteen-year-old former House page. These members, including Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Reps. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), John Shimkus (R-IL) and Tom Reynolds (R-NY) have all claimed that they failed to take action because the boy's parents did not want to pursue the matter. The decision not to investigate further left other House pages unprotected and vulnerable to a potential sexual predator.

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert's (R-IL) decision to have Rep. Shimkus review the page system is particularly ludicrous, given that it was Rep. Shimkus who, despite having been made aware that the boy and his parents were concerned about Rep. Foley's emails, readily accepted Rep. Foley's explanation that he was merely mentoring the boy. Rep. Shimkus is the chairman of the House page board.

Although the matter allegedly was raised before the House page board, the failure to insulate pages from further contact with Rep. Foley and the failure to implement measures to protect the pages suggests that the leadership failed to take the matter seriously.

Trying To Twist The Facts On Hastert's Knowledge

Hastert's office has released a press statement regarding the Speaker's knowledge of the Foley incident. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered, but none greater than this:

Congressman Tom Reynolds in a statement issued today indicates that many months later, in the spring of 2006, he was approached by Congressman Alexander who mentioned the Foley issue from the previous fall. During a meeting with the Speaker he says he noted the issue which had been raised by Alexander and told the Speaker that an investigation was conducted by the Clerk of the House and Shimkus. While the Speaker does not explicitly recall this conversation, he has no reason to dispute Congressman Reynold's recollection that he reported to him on the problem and its resolution

(emphasis mine)

Towards the end of the press release, it says this:

No one in the Speaker's Office was made aware of the sexually explicit text messages which press reports suggest had been directed to another individual until they were revealed in the press and on the internet this week. In fact, no one was ever made aware of any sexually explicit email or text messages at any time.

So what does this say about the investigation that was conducted? Sounds like it was half-assed. This is purely a Republican tactic to keep circling blame from one person to another in hopes that the media and public will give up. Guess what? They are wrong. We will not give up. Children are more important than being a pawn in some sick political game.

Full press release available below the fold.

Why Don't We Have A Balanced Budget Now?