So it appears Speaker Hastert has decided to do his best Gloria Gaynor impression:
J. Dennis Hastert, who was installed as House speaker eight years ago through backroom maneuvering in a moment of crisis for his party, has no distinct power base in Congress, not much of a national reputation and, in an age of television politics, little polish in front of the camera.
But Mr. Hastert has survived and survived to become the longest-serving Republican speaker. And on Thursday, standing outside his district office in Batavia, Ill., he made it clear that he did not intend to become a casualty of the Mark Foley scandal, saying he expected to win re-election to his seat and run for speaker again when the new Congress convenes in January.
Mr. Hastert made his statement soon after the leaders of the House ethics committee promised a vigorous investigation into the handling of the Foley case, approved dozens of subpoenas and said they expected to finish their work in weeks.
And what of that Ethics committee:
The House ethics committee launched a wide-ranging investigation into Congress’s handling of information about a Florida lawmaker and teenage pages yesterday, as Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) vowed to keep his job, saying, “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
The ethics panel approved nearly four dozen subpoenas for documents and testimony from House members, officers and aides. Its leaders said they plan to complete the inquiry in a matter of weeks, but not necessarily before the Nov. 7 congressional elections.
Sounds like the right thing to do. But then I see Rep. Jack Kingston (R-FL) and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) on MSBNC’s Hardball (here is the transcript and the gory details), and who they really want to subpoena are Rahm Emmanuel and Nancy Pelosi, so that they can clear their names. Because, you see, in the corrupt party, up is down, down is up, and it is the Democrats who need to clear their names. I don’t thnk I am being too jaded to think that the only reason they agreed to allow the Ethics committee to expedite their investigation into the Foley affair was to attempt to pin this Republican scandal on the Democrats.
This spring, Dick Cheney made it fashionable for high-profile Republicans to shoot (excuse me, the term is “pepper”) people and face no consequences. In an odd twist, House Republicans have decided to follow his lead- only this time, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight is content to aim their rifles at their own heads.
*** Update ***
What did the media and the Democrats know, and when did they know it, LSD (GOP?) edition:
Earlier this week, Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH) sent a letter to the clerk of the House requesting a probe into rumors that a drunk Mark Foley was turned away from the House page dormitory.
That part got a lot of attention, and for good reason. But Pryce repeated a second allegation in her letter, something she also heard during a GOP conference call on Oct. 2, that didn’t get much play: Jeff Trandahl, onetime House clerk at the time of much of Foley’s newly-revealed transgressions, had been warned about Foley by the director of the page program.
“[A]nother claim was brought forth that the director of the Republican pages brought specific concerns about then-Congressman Foley’s behavior to the attention of the then-Clerk of the House,” Pryce wrote.
Our attempts to reach Trandahl were unsuccessful, although we learned he has hired a lawyer to represent him. An assistant in his office was unable to tell us his lawyer’s name.
You can read the letter for yourself here. We checked in with Pryce’s office this afternoon; so far they’ve heard no response.
I can’t believe I supported these jackasses.
Should be working
Amazing. It’s good to see they haven’t lost their touch after the last however many attempts to blame the Dems, Liberals and George Soros fell flat on their face.
Great posts this week BTW..
Face
Ah….those crazy GOPers. I love the party of Personal Responsibility. Always making sure the other party is personally responsible.
jg
Damn good posts lately. I feel like I’m back in the glory days of the Sciavo affair. So is Tim F still nescessary here? :)
Richard 23
Yep. Gotta find out what the Democrats were hiding about Foley. Also need to find out who held onto those IMs for so long — media, CREW, Soros, democratic operatives. Gotta get those former pages too who held onto those IMs and any others who haven’t come forward yet (or maybe get them to shut up). They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.
Anything less would see justice not being done. Hastert already took responsibility — now it’s time to see that somebody else mans up and takes the blame.
Geek, Esq.
I think it was because of a Vitamin B12 syringe he got from Miguel Tejada.
Anon
John, you’ve failed to TOS’s original query, so this really needs to be asked again:
Are you going to be delinking instapundit and Pajamas Media for breaking the Online Integrity Pledge?
And, why do you continue to assosiate yourself with Pajamas Media?
craigie
Good for Hastert. The longer he stays, the more seats we win.
And by all means, let’s subpoena people from now until November, and make sure this thing never gets off the front page.
Man the GOP is good at this stuff!
John Cole
Pajamas media pays me money to write whatever I want and advertise for circuit city. I have never once been told to write anything, and fail to see why it is that big of a deal to you. But I will make you a deal- come up with 15k and mail it to my paypal accont, I will break my contract.
I have wholly given up on the entire online integrity campaign pledge. No one ever adhered to it, and I spent all my time dealing with people pretending their ‘integrity’ had been violated so I would delink people they didn’t like. I pay no attention to it whatsoever.
Additionally, my links in general are a disgrace- half of them don’t even work anymore.
Punchy
Nobody delinks to Instapundit, for fear they’ll return the favor. And since they get wicked traffic…well…I doubt Mr. Cole will go that draconian.
As for Bras and Panties Media…they host him, so he’s helpless, I’m guessing.
Where the HELL is Tom in Texas, yo?
Anon
So, it’s all about the Benjamins. Can’t say I blame you, but where do you draw the line? If Stormfront paid you 15K for your writing, would you take it?
And, do you still consider Glenn Reynolds to be a “pretty nice guy?”
Punchy
I just tried two of them that I thought were quite relevant nowadays: The Fat Guy, and The Political Teen.
You’re batting 0.500, champ. No link to Dkos?
jg
So the Online Integrity Pledge was another piece of right wing ‘vaporware’? Shocking. Once again a lot of noise and pretend action to give the impression to the flock that one side is full of values and the other is just unhinged. Schiavo, border fences and Online Integrity Pledges, the right wing machine in action. Pretending to care for what the values voters want.
John Cole
If you know someone at Stormfront willing to pay me to write that I think they are racist scum, send them my email address. I will take their money to call them human filth.
I think Glenn is a nice guy. I dont agree with much of his politics, but I think he has been nice to me.
And Dkos is linked under group blogs, where it always has been.
capelza
punchy..DKos has always been linked here. If your gonna get snippy, at least make sure it’s the right snip.
Personally i don’t care if John gets a ton of money for PJ Media. All the better in fact. Rather he gets it, says what he thinks, than them giving it to someone who’ll tow the party line…
Dreggas
Links aside
looks like ol Kenny Boy (of the Mehlman variety) is out trying to change the spin on Denny Boy and what REALLY happened in the neo-con universe:
Via Atrios and Think Progress
caroline
Jack Kingston is from GA I believe. I think it’s GA’s first congressional district. I’ll check and get back.
Vladi G
I’m guessing Texas.
caroline
Here’s Kingston’s website:
http://kingston.house.gov/
Anyhow, I think he is the idiot that came up with the “pimp tax” that the Daily Show parodied. He’s one of those people that make the statement “truth is stranger than fiction” live on.
ThymeZone
Good find, Dreggas. Mehlman just Flat.Out.Lied.
Hastert did no such thing, the thing never happened. By the time Hastert heard about it, Foley had already resigned publicly.
Tsulagi
And the surprise is…? Gotta give them this, they are consistent.
I really liked the “peppering” incident. On cue the Pavlovian apologists changed lead shot to pepper while just about singing a chorus of a day spent hunting without a little pepper is like a day without sunshine.
Cheney didn’t shoot him, he just tossed his friend a little pepper love. Here’s hoping during hunting seasons they season the shit out of each other. Darwin at work.
Dreggas
Thymezone,
This one needs to be beat (pun intended) to death with regard to Mehlonhead
Pb
Yeah, it’s really got to suck to be seasoned to within an inch of your life–and then to apologize to the guy who did it!
Tsulagi
I’d like to see the First Couple, Cheney and Bush, go hunting together for the laugh factor. Also, Secret Service would be shitting their pants. “Okay, which one is the real president so we keep a bead drawn on the other guy.”
Andrew
It’s hard to tell the truth when you’re being whipped at a Dupont Circle S&M club.
Pun-chay
Ah…you went THE Daily Kos, while my peepers were squinting in the “D” section.
Looking for the damn adjective and Mr. Cole throws me an article.
(gnashing teeth….)
mrmobi
Mehlman is a professional liar. Hastert is a professional liar. Cheney is a professional liar.
Say it with me. How do we know they’re lying?
THEIR LIPS ARE MOVING.
Face
Nice. Probably hanging a gun rack, hitting on his cousin, and brushing his tooth.
Matt
What’s interesting is, you know, that these guys are generally good at politics, but it seems like their response to this has just been abyssmal, even from a political standpoint. I mean, there are a lot of people out there who have been more put off by the house GOP’s reaction–the predictable shifting of blame, the conflicting accusations, the scapegoating, the possible coverups–than by the scandal itself, which really isn’t all that interesting.
Pb
Either they’re imploding on purpose (?!), or they’ve finally lost it, someone finally threw a wrench or three into the noise machine…
ThymeZone
It appears that the veil of nonsense around the Iraq strategy may be unraveling alongside the veil of morality bullshit that Foley pulled down.
The Warner statement may be just the first in a series of rivets that will pop in the coming days.
Maybe there are a few Republicans left who still care more about the United States of America than they care about George Bush and the GOP.
Maybe.
Pb
You know… does the Bush administration have any core principles or indeed care about anything or anyone apart from their own party, the arrogation of power, and exercise of more power to further their own political ends? I don’t think that they do, and I think that reality will become even clearer once they are finally forced to change course on Iraq the same way they’ve been forced to change course on anything else–when it finally becomes too politically deadly for them and their party as a whole to not do so. That’s the only reason we ever even had a 9/11 Commission, or more funding for Tsunami victims, or perhaps even an effort to go to the UN first before invading Iraq.
Jackmormon
A couple of days ago I read somewhere that Republican-sponsored pages were warned about Foley but that Democrat-sponsored pages weren’t. That rumor seemed too awful to be true; did it ever get reliably sourced?
Or was it always a moot question? In other words, maybe Foley only interested himself in the Republican pages?
Mike
I don’t know why you supported them either John, but I am glad you rejoined us in reality.
Beej
Thymezone,
Did you read the whole post? The polling numbers don’t sound all that good for the Dems. I agree with the post that the vast majority of the public thinks the strategy of the Bush administration was wrong, but that same majority wants to wind the war, not withdraw. What did you think about the call for a Democratic conference on the Iraq war? Thanks for the link. Interesting reading.
Beej
win, not wind. Sorry
Steve
Of course people would like to win the war. I’d like to win the war too. Sadly, no one has presented a plan to win the war, other than by sending thousands of troops we don’t have, or by similar legerdemain.
The Democratic Policy Committee has been conducting substantive hearings on Iraq for some time now… too bad the media doesn’t pay attention, cause you know, actual policy is so boring.
I’d love to see the Dems convene hearings on options for victory in Iraq. Invite experts from both parties, let them testify about whether they think there’s a realistic path to victory, get it all out in the open. Even if the verdict is that the American people feel the cost is too high, that there’s no real way to get there, at least it will all be on the table in a way that everyone can understand.
My sense is that this would be the best thing for the future course of the war, and that people would also respond well to seeing the government run in an adult manner rather than through demagoguery and sloganeering.
Jess
I’ve had similar dating moments. Blame the booze and the loud music.
rachel
I can think of a couple reasons why Democrat pages mightn’t have been warned: 1) if Democrat pages didn’t work with Republicans–and I can think of a dozen reasons why the wouldn’t, Foley wouldn’t have gotten to know any of them well enough to “cut them out of the herd”, and 2) Foley wasn’t dumb enough to give even a lowly page in the opposition ammo against him. In either case, there would have been no need to warn them about Foley.
Pb
Good call, Steve. Even from the military’s public statements, you hear a lot about how “we have to win” and not a whole lot about how that’s going to miraculously happen. Theoretically ‘more troops’ and ‘more training’ is a start, maybe even something of a necessary precondition, but even given that, you have to know how to use them, and not lose all the Iraqis to militias and whatnot.
DecidedFenceSitter
I thought the certain popular excuse was that you were in the closet and molested by a priest?
Jill
Remember back just a few short months ago…the press and the Republicans were talking about a permanent Republican majority…
Here’s a great scenario, even better than if Kerry had been elected:
1.Dems take control of house and Senate
2. Impeach Bush
3. Impeach Cheney
4. Speaker Pelosi becomes President
ThymeZone
Yes, we’re in that season where polling is going to get crazy. There are going to some numbers here and there that are the ones we want to see (like the D candidate opening up a can of Premium WhupAss on the R candidate).
But I wanted to to spotlight the collapse of Bush’s support on the Hill among old guard, solid Republicans. I think Bush’s insane “stay the course” policy is toast now no matter what happens in the election. At this point I’m not sure that we can say for sure that he isn’t just sticking with it until the election is over, and that even he doesn’t really subscribe to it any more. We have to wonder at this point just how deluded and crazy the guy really is.
ThymeZone
Crap, I butchered that first paragraph. I’d like to have it cremated, and the ashes scattered in the Grand Canyon.
What I meant was, we will see unfavorable numbers come and go, but that’s grist for another topic. Meanwhile, Bush’s GOP buds are getting restless.
The Other Steve
Thank you for being honest about that.
When that Online Integrity thing first came up, it was clear from the language and whatnot that it was a giant fraud. There were just way too many loopholes to make it enforceable.
It’s just another example of Republican bullshit. Maintain the perception of sainthood while legalizing bad behavior.
The Other Steve
Sadly there are still people in this world who vote Republican because they don’t understand things the way you do John. They listen to Rush Limbaugh every day and are convinced that what the Republicans say is honest.
Ohwell.
I’d rather see the Democrats win because people trust their ideas better, rather than their spin.
Zifnab
The problem I have with the election cycle is the new crop of GOP legislators gets to have about a year of free-for-all before they need to rein themselves in. Even with restless buds, you can only vote these guys out of office once every two years, which means you only really need to rile your base during the six months leading up to even numbered years in November.
After all, if you’re white and Christian and don’t want to be ruthlessly slaughtered by Is-muslo-lamo-faci-nistas, who else are you going to vote for?
Jay C
Y’know, beej; I think you may have right, after all, with your first formulation: I just assumed you forgot to type in “down”, as in “wind down the war”. Yeah, brain-man; we all want to “win” the war, but the sad fact remains that “winning” remains a very poorly-defined concept, and an ever-more-distant possibility. Bascially because the Bush Administration and its incompetent lackeys, through their badly-planned and botched policies, have stuck the US in a position in Iraq where “victory” and “withdrawal” are not exclusive options: but, in fact, look to be drawing ever closer day by day.
“Win”?
Grow up, man: this ain’t a video game!
Darrell
Wow John.. What’s next, Bush planned 9/11?
Rudi
ThymeZone – Warner’s statements imply that the Iraqis have untill after the November election to straighten up their house. Seems good for the Republican that the Repug’s “cut and run” doesn’t happen before November.
ThymeZone
Shorter Darrell: Five and a half years into this clusterfuck of a government, and look at me … I can still sit here and pretend that criticism of Bush is ridiculous or crazy! And John Cole will defend my right to do it!
It’s great being me!
Zifnab
I thought this was “Shorter Darrell: Dick Cheney didn’t shoot a 78-year-old man in the face! That was a vast left wing conspiracy! Also, Bush was completely irresponsible for 9/11!”
Steve
I respectfully decline to spend the next 200 comments arguing over whether John’s rhetoric goes beyond some arbitrary Darrell-imposed line of propriety. Y’all will have to do it without me.
ats
“that same majority wants to win the war, not withdraw”
Fine, but winning isn’t in the cards and hasn’t been since late 2003.
That “same majority: also wants to win the lottery, which is now roughly as likely.
BTW, will someone PLEASE tell the media that Foley is a prederast, not a pedophile. The former target pre-consent boys (statutory rape). The latter target pre-pubescent children
The Other Steve
This is good faith?
RSA
This line of attack is pretty hilarious. I’ve even heard some calls for Pelosi to be put on a lie detector. If I were a Democrat in Congress, I’d try to up the ante: “I’d be happy to testify under such conditions, in order to respond to the testimony of Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, etc. under the same conditions. The line is pretty long at this point, though. . .”
The Other Steve
The majority of Americans recognize that Iraq is not a part of the war.
It was a strategic battle mistake. Imagine if FDR decided to fight the Germans by invading Mexico. that’s what this is.
chefrad
Oh I forgot. DC is awash in rumors about Hastert’s alleged proclivities. See the Wayne Madsen Report if you care. I don’t.
The big issue, as I see it, is the leadership’s possible complicity in a coverup. In Washington it always seems to be the coverup, not the initial infraction.
When JFK said “my bad” about the Bay of Pigs that was pretty much the end of it. This crowd doesn’t get that. Bush couldn’t even recall a single mistake. Delusional would be the only word for him, but that assumes he has an inner life.
ThymeZone
I agree. Their pattern of grotestque inconsistency is well established.
“No nation building.” Bush, 2000.
“Democracy is on the march.” Bush, 2003.
And who can forget “Wanted dead or alive?”
Or “In my economic plan, more than $2 trillion of the federal surplus is locked away for social security. For years, politicians have dipped into the trust fund to pay for more spending. And I will stop it.” Only to declare the Trust Fund worthless “paper stuffed into boxes” four years later.
There’s nothing that Bush builds up better than “full faith and credit of the United States government.”
Like a rock, is Bush.
A rock of crack cocaine, that is.
Pb
Glenn Greenwald has an interesting quote up from Bill Kristol:
Then, of course, Glenn goes on to note how Kristol was falsely conflating gay men with “people like Mark Foley”…
Pb
ThymeZone,
Well of course they didn’t–what he did violated the Constitution, so why would the media bother to point it out, and risk angering the Unitary Executive?
Just add it to the long, long list of reasons in the articles of impeachement that Republicans in Congress will never bring against Bush–and that cowardly shills in the media will never bring up, period–if they can help it…
Mike
Who could have guessed that when Bush said “no nation building” that he meant the U.S as well?
Richard 23
Pb, I liked this bit from the Greenwald post about the reasoning behind an investigation into whether “Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Rahm Emanuel and others — knew about Foley’s IMs with pages long before last week.”
Sure, why not?
Pb
Richard 23,
Heh, nice catch. I’d take that bargain, and I can think of a few other things that could use some investigation besides…
Richard 23
Sadly, No! points out this bit of quackery by J-Pod. And it’s simply awesome. The fact that there is no evidence proves that the Democrats were behind it! Wow, talk about mental gymnastics!
Pb
…because they’re so sneakily competent, yes. Similarly, Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (but just hid them all), and he also planned and executed 9/11 along with al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden controls all US elections. Say it loud and say it proud: we know this *because* we have no proof! Welcome to the wonderful world of crazy conspiracy theorists, GOP!
CaseyL
“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
These people are, to put it plainly, completely insane.
By which I mean: utterly fucking loco.
No wonder they championed Terri Schiavo. Their brains work about as well as hers did.
We’ll be lucky to get Bush out of office before he starts a nuclear war just for grins and giggles.
ch2
When I read the passage you quoted, I just kept shaking my head thinking: this is just insane — Not funny insane, not making-me-mad insane — just plain, weird, throw-up-my-hands insane.
scs
Two wrongs don’t make a right John. So you’re saying if both Republicans AND Democrats knew about Foley, and both didn’t do anything about it, only the Republicans should be blamed? Why? Because Foley was a Republican?
So you’re saying, even if the IM’s were held onto for months by Dem operatives, and then passed to some Soros supported front blog, timed to make maximum political hay, then that’s fine and dandy by you? Even if those months could have been used to bring the situation to the attention of the House Ethics Committee and could have spared another potential page from being harassed? Come on. Since when do Dems get a pass on wrong doing.
First of all, if the Dems did this, they had in their possession and knowledge of the very graphic and incriminating emails, which was way more than Hassert or Boehner ever had. But that’s okay then for the Dems to have that incriminating knowledge and stall- just not okay for the Republicans to have even less evidence and stall.
Let’s be mature here and realize that just because Republicans did something wrong doesn’t then give a free pass to Democrats to also do something wrong. Let’s walk and chew gum at the same time here.