Hastert is Surely Going Down

[Doug]

The Moonie-owned Washington Times, a conservative newspaper, is going to have an editorial calling for Dennis Hastert's resignation as Speaker of the House. As pundits noted today, when your own base calls for you to step down, that's not a good sign:

================
House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once. Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week's revelations -- or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away. He gave phony answers Friday to the old and ever-relevant questions of what did he know and when did he know it? Mr. Hastert has forfeited the confidence of the public and his party, and he cannot preside over the necessary coming investigation, an investigation that must examine his own inept performance.

Here.
===========

[JD Allen]

The Daily Show on the Foley scandal (youtube)

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

At least the Washington Times isn't falling back on the "a few bad apples" type excuse and taking the buck up to the Speaker. Of course, the supposed leader of the Rs is W, and nobody (in the media) ever holds him responsible for anything.

Actually, the Moonies will always raise a stink about this kind of thing. It's a very patriarchal religion and appropriate care of children is very high on their list of imperatives. That a person in a patriarch position did this or permitted it to happen/continue would enrage them. (Their take on "original sin" is teenage sex - Adam and Eve weren't old enough to do what they did & everything would have been fine if they'd just waited until daddy-god decided they were ready and gave them the "birds and bees" lecture. I went to one of their "weekenders" once.) Call it the virtue of their vices.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Of course, the fact they call upon Henry Hyde to replace Hastert indicates there's not much virtue there.

[Doug]

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."

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Hopefully this is the "tipping point" for R control of Congress (both Houses). Most of the Senate races were moving towards "neck and neck" and some 50 of the House races (scary, when you realize all 435 seats are up every two years) are also dead even or leaning Dem. This could put it over. Maybe even of real Progressives who will actually clean up the mess, rather than just talking about it.

[Doug]

John Laesch, who is running against Denny Hastert in IL, said:

"On page 186 of Dennis Hastert‘s book, he says that he listens to everything, and, you know, he knows everything that is going on. Use his words. Apparently he forgot, but on page 186 of his book, he says he listens to everything and he remembers everything.."


See here.

DOUG
Remember, this is the same Hastert who forgot the words to the National Anthem as shown here.

But of course, Hastert's memory is at its worst when the safety of children is involved:

Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the majority leader, said in a radio interview on Tuesday that he discussed Mr. Foley’s communication with a page with Mr. Hastert last spring, joining Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York in insisting they had raised the matter directly with Mr. Hastert. Mr. Hastert has said he had no recollection of the Foley matter before it exploded last week.

See here.

[Doug]

An ad the Republicans will no longer be using.

The worst part: Some Republicans KNEW the ad was hypocrisy with pictures.

Newsflash: The worst of the scandal has not even hit yet. On TV, one pundit said that Foley was not the only one...

More later?

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Remember how many Rs went down the tube for infidelity after they totally insisted on nailing Clinton? (They had to rewrite some laws to get him, but rewriting laws to their benefit seems to be a GOP special talent.) I haven't found a synonym for Hypocrisy that starts with a G, so maybe the GOP needs to become the HOP.

[Dardedar]

Remember how many Rs went down the tube for infidelity after they totally insisted on nailing Clinton?... I haven't found a synonym for Hypocrisy that starts with a G, so maybe the GOP needs to become the HOP.

DAR
It's all about the hypocrisy. A rightwinger sent me an article saying demo's were hypocrites because they have had sex scandals too. It gave four examples. Here was my second response to him:

***
> Monday, Oct. 2, 2006 10:21 p.m. EDT
> Democrats Hypocrites on Sex Scandals
>
> While they react with fury over the scandal
> involving former Rep. Mark
> Foley, Democrats maintain a discreet silence
> over the numerous sex scandals
> that have rocked their own party....

snip

> Congressman Mel Reynolds received a....

snip

> More notorious was the case of Rep. Barney
> Frank, D-Mass.,...

snip

> When former Rep. Gerry Studds admitted having
> sex with a teenage page,...

DAR
Gee, that's four. So when I stumbled upon this
list, of course I thought of you:

***
LIST OF REPUBLICAN SEX SCANDALS

http://hammernews2.com/scandals.htm

(in alphabethical order)

* Edison Misla Aldarondo, Republican
legislator, was sentenced to 13 years in prison
for molestation of his daughter and her friend
for eight-year period starting when they were 9.
[1]

* Randal David Ankeney, Republican activist,
arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a
child with force. He faces 6 charges related to
getting a 13-year-old girl stoned on pot and then
having sex with her. [2] Also accused of sexually
assaulting another girl. [3]

* Jim Bakker, televangelist with Pat
Robertson at Robertson's Christian Broadcasting
network. Committed adultery with Jessica Hahn [4]
and then used charitable donations to pay her
hush money[5]. Fellow televangelists say he's
gay. [6][7] Indicted on 23 federal charges of
fraud, tax evasion, and racketeering [8].

* Merrill Robert Barter, Republican County
Commissioner, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual
contact and assault on a teenage boy. [9]

* Robert Bauman, Republican congressman and
anti-gay activist, was charged with having sex
with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
[10]

* Parker J. Bena, Republican activist and
Bush Elector, pleaded guilty to possession of
child pornography (including children as young as
3 years old) on his home computer and was
sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and
fined $18,000. [11]

* Louis Beres, chairman of the Christian
Coalition of Oregon. 3 of his family members
accuse him of molesting them when they were
pre-teens. [12]

* Howard L. Brooks, Republican legislative
aide and advisor to a California assemblyman, was
charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and
possession of child pornography. [13]

* John Bolton Bush's appointee ambassador to
United Nations, corroborated allegations that Mr.
Bolton’s first wife, Christina Bolton, was forced
to engage in group sex have not been refuted by
the State Department. [14]

* Mike Bowers Former State Attorney General,
prosecuted the famous Bowers vs. Hardwick case,
based on Georgia anti-sodomy laws. Admitted to a
10-year adulterous affair. [15]

* Andrew Buhr, Republican politician, former
committeeman for Hadley Township Missouri, was
charged with two counts of first degree sodomy
with a 13-year old boy. [16]

* Ted Bundy campaigned for the Republican
Party. Infamous serial rapist who murdered 16
women. [17]

* Jim Bunn Congressman of Oregon: With his
success due in great part to support from the
Christian Coalition, Bunn won his congressional
seat, then left his wife (and mother of his five
children), married a staffer, and put his new
wife on the state payroll with a salary of
$97,500. [18]

* John Allen Burt, Republican anti-abortion
activist, convicted of sexually molesting a 15
year old girl at the home for troubled girls that
he ran.[19]

* Dan Burton, Republican Congressman who,
while married, fathered a child by another woman.
[20]

* George W. Bush, Republican president,
accused in a criminal complaint and lawsuit of
raping Margie Schoedinger, who later committed
suicide. Accused by Tammy Phillips, a former
stripper quoted in the National Enquirer in 2000
saying she had an affair with Bush that had ended
in 1999.[21][22]

* John Butler, Republican activist, was
charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage
girl.[23]

* Ken Calvert, Congressman (R-Ca), champion
of the Christian Coalition and its "family
values." Sued as an alimony deadbeat by his
ex-wife. Said "We can't forgive what occurred
between the President and Lewinsky." In 1993 he
was caught by police receiving oral sex from a
prostitute and attempted to flee the scene.[24]

* Helen Chenoweth, Congresswoman (R-Id.).
Admitted to a six-year adulterous affair with a
married associate. In 1995, Chenoweth had denied
the affair when asked about it by The Spokane
Spokesman-Review, but now she claims a pardon
from a higher authority: "I've asked for God's
forgiveness, and I've received it," she revealed.
[25]

* Keola Childs, Republican County Councilman,
pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the first
degree for molesting a male child.[26]

* Kevin Coan, Republican St. Louis Election
Board official, arrested and charged with trying
to buy sex from a 14-year-old girl whom he met on
the Internet.[27]

* Dan Crane, Republican Congressman, married,
father of six. Received a 100% "Morality Rating"
from Christian Voice. Had sex with a minor
working as a congressional page. [28] On July 20,
the House voted for censure Crane, the first time
that censure had been imposed for sexual
misconduct.[29]

* Paul Crouch Televangelist, Former President
of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Paid
$425,000 in hush money in an attempt to cover up
a gay affair.[30]

* Richard A. Dasen Sr., Republican benefactor
of conservative Christian groups, convicted of
sexual abuse of children, promotion of
prostitution and several counts of solicitation,
enough to add up to a sentence of 126 years in
prison. [31][32][33]

* Richard A. Delgaudio, Republican fundraiser
and Bush pioneer, was found guilty of child porn
charges. [34]

* Peter Dibble, Republican legislator pleaded
no contest to having an inappropriate
relationship with a 13-year-old girl. [35]

* Nicholas Elizondo, Director of the Young
Republican Federation molested his 6-year old
daughter and was sentenced to six years in
prison. [36]

* Larry Dale Floyd, Republican Constable in
Denton County, Texas Precinct Two. Arrested for
allegedly crossing state lines to have sex with
an 8-year old child and was charged with 7
related offenses. Age 62 at time of arrest.
[37][38]

* John Fund, of the Wall Street Journal, a
prominent anti-abortion columnist and GOP fund
raiser. He lost his position after it was
revealed that he impregnated the daughter of an
old girlfriend and then encouraged her to abort
his child. [39]

* Jeff Gannon Partisan blogger with no
journalism credentials and a fake name who got
invited to Bush's Press conferences. Is also a
pimp and a gay prostitute.[40]

* Jack W. Gardner, Republican Councilman, had
been convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.
when the Republican Party, knowing of these
crimes, put him on the ballot.[41]

* Richard Gardner, a Nevada State
Representative (R), admitted to molesting his two
daughters. [42]

* Newt Gingrich, married three times.
Gingrich campaign worker Anne Manning admitted
that she gave Newt oral sex while he was still
married to his first wife. Informed one wife he
was filing for divorce while she was in the
hospital recovering from cancer treatments.[43]

* Philip Giordano, Republican mayor sentenced
to 37 years for forcing two 8 and 10 year old
girls to perform oral sex on him in his City Hall
office. [44][45]

* Rudy Giuliani, had an adulterous
affair.[46][47]

* Matthew Glavin, president and CEO of the
Southeastern Legal Foundation, big player in the
Clinton Impeachment, and many anti-gay jihads,
has been arrested multiple times for public
indeceny, one time fondling the crotch of the
officer who was arresting him. [48]

* Mark A. Grethen, Republican activist,
convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving
children.[49]

* Jon Grunseth, Republican businessman and
candidate for Minnesota governor, withdrew his
candidacy after allegations surfaced that he went
swimming in the nude with four underage girls,
including his daughter, and tried to grope one.
[50]

* Dr. W. David Hager Bush appointee, member
of Focus on the Family's Physician Resource
Council, player in movement to ban the
morning-after-pill. Had an adulterous affair,
before divorcing his wife he sexually abused her,
including sodomizing her in her sleep.[51]

* Mark Harris, Republican city councilman who
is described as a "church goer," was convicted of
repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl
and sentenced to 12 years in prison.[52]

* John Hathaway, Republican Senate candidate,
was accused of having sex with his 12-year old
baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the
allegations were reported in the media. [53]

* Howard Scott Heldreth, anti-abortion
activist who gained fame during the Shiavo
media-circus, was convicted of two charges of
raping a child in 2002. [54]

* Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth
pastor, introduced by Bush on the campaign trail,
and promoted his policies.[55] Says he supports
Bush's values. Two months later, this married
father of four turned himself into police,
charged with the sexual exploitation of a child.
[56][57]

* Neal Horsley has called for the arrest of
all homosexuals. Admitted on the Fox News Radio's
The Alan Colmes Show, that he's had sex with
mules.[58][59]

* Tim Hutchinson, divorced his wife of 29
years to marry a congressional aide he was having
an affair with.[60]

* Henry Hyde, Judge who oversaw Clinton's
impeachment proceedings, prominent opponent of
reproductive rights, who had an extramarital
affair with a woman who was married and had three
children, during the course of which she and her
husband were divorced. [61]

* Don Haidl, Assistant Sheriff of Orange
Country, in violation of California's rape shield
law, led a smear campaign against the child his
son poisoned and then violently gang-raped on
videotape, adding up to 24 felony counts. He said
that his son "acted accordingly" because the
child was a "slut". [62]

* Paul Ingram, Republican Party leader of
Thurston County, Washington, pleaded guilty to
six counts of raping his daughters and served 14
years in federal prison.[63]

* Earl Kimmerling, sentenced to 40 years in
prison after he confessed to molesting an 8-year
old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple
from adopting her.[64]

* Lewis Libby, former Assistant to the
President and Chief of Staff to Vice President
Dick Cheney. In 1996 published a novel containing
bizaree sexual content, including beastiality and
pedophillia. [65]

* Bob Livingston, former Congressman (R-La.)
resigned from the House in the wake of
revelations about his past adultery.

* Donald Lukens, Republican Congressman, was
found guilty of having sex with a minor - a girl
he was accused of sleeping with since she was 13.
[68]

* Pat McPherson, Douglas County Election
Commissioner. Arrested for fondling a 17-year-old
girl. [69]

* Jon Matthews, Republican talk show host in
Houston, was indicted for indecency with a child,
including exposing his genitals to a girl under
the age of 17. [70]

* Jeff Miller, (R-Cleveland), Senate
Republican Caucus Chairman in Tennessee and the
sponsor of Tennessee’s Marriage Protection act,
getting divorced (as of April 2005) because of an
affair he was having with an office aid. Miller
described the Tennessee Marriage Protection Act
as a means of preserving the sanctity of
marriage. He opposed an amendment, however, which
stated that “Adultery is deemed to be a threat to
the institution of marriage and contrary to
public policy in Tennessee.” [71][72]

* Nicholas Morency, Republican anti-abortion
activist, pleaded guilty to possessing child
pornography on his computer and offering a bounty
to anybody who murders an abortion doctor [73].

* Sue Myrick, Congresswoman (R-NC), describes
herself as a "devout Christian." Committed
adultery with a married man.

* Bill O'Reilly Right-wing conservative talk
show host on Fox News, sued for sexual
harrassment by his producer.

* Bob Packwood, Senator (R-Ore.), resigned in
1995 under a threat of public senate hearings
related to 10 female ex-staffers accusing him of
sexual harassment.

* Jeffrey Patti, Republican Committee
Chairman, was arrested for distributing what
experts call "some of the most offensive material
in the child pornography world" - a video clip of
a 5-year-old girl being raped. [74]

* John Paulk, lied about prowling for gay sex
while running a fundamentalist group to cure
gays.

* Brent Parker Utah State Representetive.
Arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover
officer posing as a male prostitute. [75][76]

* John E. Peterson, Congressman (R-Pa),
accused of sexual harassment and creation of a
hostile work environment by six women. Peterson
has refused to admit a crime, saying only "I may
have been an excessive hugger."

* Harvey Pitt, SEC Chief under George W. Bush
until he was forced to resign in 2002. Worked for
New Frontier Media, a firm which distributed teen
sex videos.

* Mark Pazuhanich, Republican judge, pleaded
no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was
sentenced to 10 years probation. [77]

* George Roche III, carried on a 19 year
affair with his son's wife, while serving as
president of , which "emphasizes the importance
of the common moral truths that bind all
Americans, while recognizing the importance of
religion for the maintenance of a free society."

* Beverly Russell, County Chairman of the
Christian Coalition, sexually molested his
step-daughter, Susan Smith, who later drowned her
two children. [78][79]

* Jack Ryan, 2004 Republican nominee for US
Senate from Illinois, pressured his wive, actress
Jeri Ryan, to have sex with other men. Tricked
her into visiting sex clubs, where he asked her
to have sex with him while others watched.[80]

* Joe Scarborough, former Republican
Congressman, currently a conservative talk show
host. Resigned his congressional seat abruptly to
spend more time with his family, amidst
allegations of an affair. His intern, Lori
Klausutis, was soon after found dead in his
office. The medical examiner, who had his license
revoked in for falsifying information in an
autopsy report, and suspended in for six years,
ruled the case an accident, after giving
conflicting information about her injuries. He
said he lied about them because "The last thing
we wanted was 40 questions about a head injury."

* Ed Schrock, two-term republican
congressman, with a 92% approval rating from the
Christian Coalition. Cosponsor of the Federal
Marriage Amendment, consistently opposed gay
rights. Married, with wife and kids. Withdrew his
candidacy for a third term after tapes of him
soliciting for gay sex were circulated.

* Dr. Laura Schlessinger, right wing
conservative radio host. Promotes family values,
estranged from her mother, opposes birth control,
has had her tubes tied, espouses saving oneself
for marriage, admits to having had sex before she
was married, opposes adultery, has committed
adultery while she was married, and has slept
with a married man, opposes divorce, is divorced
and remarried, has posed for nude photos which
are available online.

* John Scmitz, right-wing republican
congressman, who had had his committee chairship
taken away from him in the California State
Senate after issuing a press release attacking
Jews, feminists and gays. Forced out of office in
1982 for having an adulterous affair and
fathering two children out of wedlock with one of
his students. He was caught because his baby was
admitted to hospital for having hair tied so
tightly around his penis that it was almost
severed. His daughter, Mary Kay LeTourneau, was
convicted of having an adulterous affair with one
of her students, and giving birth to two of his
children. [81]

* Larry Jack Schwarz, Republican parole board
officer and former Colorado state representative,
fired after child pornography was found in his
possession. [82] With his political career over,
he went to work in the hard-core pornography
industry for Platinum X Pictures, owned by his
daughter, porn starlet Jewel De'Nyle (Stephany
Schwarz).[83]

* Jim Stelling, Seminole County Republican
Party chairman who believes in "family values",
as he told a judge. Filed a defamation lawsuit
againt Nancy Goettman, a former county GOP
executive committee member, for falsely claiming
he had been married six times. Stelling has been
married 5 times. [84]

* Don Sherwood, Republican member of the U.S.
House of Representatives. Eventually admitted to
an affar with a woman 30 years younger than him,
after she accused him of physical abuse and
attempting to choke her. [85]

* Tom Shortridge. Republican campaign
consultant, was sentenced to three years
probation for taking nude photographs of a
15-year old girl. [86]

* Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr., Republican City
Councilman, pleaded no contest to raping a 15
year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.
[87][88]

* Craig J. Spence, Republican lobbyist,
organized orgies with child prostitutes in the
White House during the 1980s. [89][90]

* Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist, said during
a sermon "I'm trying to find the correct name for
it … this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic
stupidity of men marrying men. … I've never seen
a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna
be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like
that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died."
Had an affair with a prostitute.

* David Swartz, Republican County
Commissioner, pleaded guilty to molesting two
girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8
years in prison. [91]

* Randall Terry, Right to Life activist,
founder of Operation Rescue, involved in the
Terri Schiavo protests. Once imprisoned for
sending former President Bill Clinton an aborted
fetus. His son Jamiel is gay; his daughter Tila
had sex outside of marriage, became pregnant, had
a miscarriage - she is no longer welcome in his
home; his daughter Ebony had 2 children outside
of wedlock and became Muslim. He has campaigned
against infidelity and birth control, gays and
unwed mothers. Terry himself was censured by his
church after committing adultery.

* Bill Thomas Republican congressman, had an
affair with Deborah Steelman, a health care
lobbyist who steered huge campaign gifts to
Thomas' war chest.

* Strom Thurmond, republican senator and
racist, raped and impregnanted a 15-year old
African American maid. [92]

* Robin Vanderwall, Republican strategist and
Citadel Military College graduate, director of
Faith & Family Alliance, (a Christian Coalition
spin off), former student of Pat Robertson's
Regent Universtity, member of Ralph Reed's inner
circle who funneled money to from lobbiest Jack
Abromoff to Reed [93], convicted in Virginia for
soliticing sex from a 13-year-old-boy[94] and on
four other counts of soliciting sex from boys and
girls over the internet. [95]

* Jim Wesr, Spokane Mayor. Had a sexual
affair with an 18 year old. Supported a bill,
which failed, would have barred gays and lesbians
from working in schools, day-care centers and
some state agencies. Voted to bar the state from
distributing pamphlets telling people how to
protect themselves from AIDS. Proposed that “any
touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of
a person” among teens be criminalized. boy.[96]

* Keith Westmoreland, a state representative
(R), was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd
and lascivious exhibition to minors under 16
(i.e. exposing himself to children). [97]

Stephen White, Republican preacher. Was arrested
after allegedly offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy
for permission to perform oral sex on him