Well, it appears that I was three steps behind the news regarding House Speaker Dennis Hastert's presumed (read: alleged) role in the Foley scandal. I got some bad gauge, and I should have known better than to act so hastily on it. No excuses there, folks. Just an apology.
I have been a passionate advocate for the return of ethics to the halls of Congress. My anger toward Hastert has smoldered since his stupidity last May (the defense of a corrupt congressman and the protests of the FBI searches of Jefferson's chambers as provided by the Constitution) and I have intensely disliked the man ever since. I allowed that anger to cloud my judgment on this issue and I reasoned that since Hastert was willing to protect a corrupt Democrat congressman six months ago, why should he not protect a man like Foley now?
Now it turns out that the Democrats claim that the Republicans knew about Foley's improprieties for three years. This begs the question: if the Democrats are saying that they knew the Republicans knew, doesn't that implicate them also? Think about it: They must have also known, and yet they did nothing about it either. So how can they accuse the Republicans and deny their own culpability?
The more I consider the new findings, the more pissed off I am that I allowed these jackasses to snooker me. I won't let that happen again.
Posted by ERNurse at October 03, 2006 10:24 PM | Email ThisThat said, one thing Hastert has said that bothers me is that "We have taken more measures to protect the pages".
Who are we protecting them from? Who do we need to protect them from? Muggers? Rapists? Drug Dealers? Murderers? Prostitutes? ?????
NO! We have to take extra measures to protect them from OUR VERY OWN ELECTED OFFICIALS! (and their staff)
What does that say about us? What does that say about our government?
We should have term limits for politicians - including their staff. Something to breakup their ability to gain and garner "power".
If Hastert is shown to know more than he claims, he should resign his leadership position. If it is discovered that any Democrat knew of this problem and "sat" on it - they should be made to resign as well (or forego a leadership role if offered) for they all contributed to the loathesome situation.
Posted by: SouthernRoots on October 4, 2006 09:18 PM