Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Second rate reporter says what?

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

You are here: Home / Politics / RIP Henry Hyde

RIP Henry Hyde

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Conservative stalwart Henry Hyde is dead:

Former Rep. Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican who steered the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton and championed government restrictions on the funding of abortions, has died. He was 83.

The death of the Illinois Republican was announced Thursday morning on Capitol Hill by the office of House Minority Leader John Boehner.

There was no immediate word on the cause of his death.

RIP.

Reader Interactions

42Comments

  1. 1.

    Blue Jean

    Well, they say you shouldn’t speak of the dead unless you’re saying something good, so…

    He’s dead. Good.

  3. 3.

    Punchy

    Really Insensitive Prick?

    Rabidly Incessant Partisainship?

    Rarely Invoked Politeness?

    Radically Impeached’a Preznit?

  8. 8.

    tim serbo

    the world is well shut of that loathesome prick. and if by “conservative stalwart,” you mean “fat, devious, malicious hypocrite,” well, then, yes, that’s an apt term. he was so bloated i figured that if anyone ever punctured his stomach, he’d release enough hot air to melt the arctic ice cap. they’re gonna have to bury him in a piano case. hope the family bought two adjacent plots.

  9. 9.

    Psycheout

    Hmm, you know, I don’t think I want to come back to this thread, if you guys are going to stomp on his corpse and urinate on his grave.

    Ghouls.

  10. 10.

    sevenleagueboots

    Death sucks. On the other hand….
    Bad Sex Award 2007 shortlisted passages
    Example:
    She cracks me across the face with the back of her hand, grips my throat, spits in my eye and scrapes her nails across my scalded flesh. And that’s when I come. Oh yes. That’s when the core of my soul spasms and snaps, spilling out its filthy pips.

    http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2217735,00.html

  11. 11.

    tim serbo

    don’t let the door hit your fat pasty ass on the way out, psycheout, dear.

    you grotty little man.

  15. 15.

    gypsy howell

    Psycheout, this whole “never speak ill of the dead” thing is highly over-rated. Why would I not speak ill of him now when I had no problem speaking ill of him when he was alive? Why should I pretend to be sorry and sad that someone whom I considered to be a flaming hypocritical asshole who tried his best to foist some awful crap on America has now died. I’m not sorry to say I’m glad he’s dead. Just like I’ll be hap-hap-happy when pretty much everyone in today’s republican party is dead and gone, hopefully (though, sadly, not likely) to be replaced on this earth with nicer human beings who will leave the world a better place, not a more horrible place than when they entered this life.

  16. 16.

    Catsy

    There are some people whose contributions to the world are so noxious and destructive that their passing can only be celebrated as a net benefit to humanity. Hyde qualifies. I won’t be popping champagne the way I will when monstrous creatures like Limbaugh or Bush finally exit this world, but I feel neither shame nor guilt at metaphorically pissing on Hyde’s grave. He was a piece of shit and the country is healthier without him.

  17. 17.

    Jake

    Back in the 80’s Hyde sponsored a bill that would have made it much harder for people to avoid making their child support payments.

    There. I said one nice thing about him. Now I can indulge in a full day of skull fucking kittens.

  18. 18.

    tim serbo

    what scarshapedstar, gypsy howell, and Catsy said. i was just rereading hunter thompson eulogy for richard nixon, and two lines in it seemed apposite to the deceased congressman from illinois:

    “He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time.”

    and

    “He was a flat-out, knee-crawling thug with the morals of a weasel on speed.”

    R-I-fucking-P, indeed.

  19. 19.

    neil

    What I want to know is: Was he found in a wet suit with a dildo us his ass?

    When a mean rattlesnake dies, it doesn’t morph into a dead pussy-cat. It’s a dead rattlesnake.

  20. 20.

    Pb

    I’m with Jake, it wouldn’t hurt to try to say one nice thing about him, so here goes–I’m glad he passed The Hyde Amendment (1997):

    The purpose of the statute is to allow federal courts to award attorneys’ fees and court costs to criminal defendants “where the court finds that the position of the United States was “vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith”.[1] In such cases, the federal court may allow victims to recover some of the costs they incurred in fighting the government’s investigation and prosecution by authorizing an award of attorneys’ fees and court costs to a criminal defendant when the prosecution’s evidence is so baseless as to be “frivolous”.[2] Compensation awarded under this statute would come out of the budget of the specific federal agency involved, most likely the United States Attorney’s Office.[3]

    …ok, that’s all I got.

  21. 21.

    D-Chance.

    ”Henry Hyde was a credit to public service and to the House of Representatives,” said Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. ”He practiced the old school values like civility…”

    Something lost on the dim bulbs of the internet… if I didn’t know better, I’d think this comment section was from the Phelps family website.

    But, hate is a highly cherished thing in today’s society…

  22. 22.

    Tom

    “But, hate is a highly cherished thing in today’s society…”

    Yes, conservatives have dominated public discourse for quite some time now. How typical of cowards to get the vapors when their own rhetoric is turned against them.

  24. 24.

    clone12

    Maybe it’s just me, but I thought John Cole thinks relatively well of Henry Hyde as he called him a “Conservative Stalwart” instead of a “Republican Stalwart”

  25. 25.

    grumpy realist

    R.I.P. That’s all I can say, following “de mortuiis nihil nisi bonum est.”

    Am sorry for his family.

  26. 26.

    The Pale Scot

    @Blue Jean,

    That quote comes from Betty Davis when asked about the death of Joan Crawford, ” Well, they say you shouldn’t speak of the dead unless you’re saying something good, so lets just say she’s dead dear”

  29. 29.

    Ron W.

    I lived in his state for many years.

    Hyde used to be a quiet, thoughtful conservative. But became more and more strident and self-righteous, until one of the Chicago newspapers (I can’t remember which) uncovered the fact he had an affair for years with a married woman.

    Then he became quiet again. Being exposed to your own hypocrisy can be a humbling thing, I guess. Too bad it didn’t happen sooner.

  31. 31.

    A1

    Hyde was instrumental in denying funding to 3rd world family plannning efforts. How does it feel denying condoms to a country with an aids epidemic you evil f–k?
    Rot in hell. You deserve it.

  34. 34.

    Tax Analyst

    I think victory dances are a little much, but hey, to each their own. I certainly disliked Henry Hyde’s hypocrisy and most of what he appeared to stand for over his time in Public Life. But he was pretty much out of public life so his death (or for that matter, the latter part of his life) means little or nothing to me or anyone but his family and whatever “friends” the little weasel had managed to accumulate. Ultimately we all do the dance and I’m guessing we do it without Party Affiliation affixed.

  35. 35.

    DrJohn

    I had the displeasure of seating next to him on an airplane with him 20 years ago.. I’ll never forget the asshole. May god or whatever have mercy on his soul.

  36. 36.

    TR

    Let’s see… Say something nice about Henry Hyde…. Something nice…

    Oh, I know. Remember when he was leading the torch-bearing mob against Bill Clinton, and raging on and on about the evils of adultery, and the news came out about the affair he had that ruined the woman’s marriage? And then he had the balls to call the affair — which happened in his mid-40s — a “youthful indiscretion”? Yeah, that made me laugh my ass off.

    So, thanks for the laugh, Henry. Thanks a lot.

  38. 38.

    Free At Last

    Henry Hyde, paraphrased, during Iran Contra:

    ….statesmanship and higher principles sometimes require presidents to lie and break the law.
    (Michael Kinsley in Slate, Dec 25,1998)

    Henry Hyde, paraphrased, during Clinton impeachment:

    Rule of law! Rule of law! A lie is a lie is a lie!

    Sorry, I can’t mourn anyone who was such an eager promoter of the Clinton Impeachment.

  39. 39.

    TenguPhule

    Hmm, you know, I don’t think I want to come back to this thread, if you guys are going to stomp on his corpse and urinate on his grave.

    A Twofer Win for the Thread!

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