What did Dennis Hastert know? Did he ignore or coverup information about a pedophile to help the election?
Senator Reid:
[E]qually as bad is the possibility that Republican leaders in the House of Representatives knew there was a problem and ignored it to preserve a Congressional seat this election year.
So troublesome is this question we can now witness Mr. Hastert on the one hand shouting "look, the Queen!" as loud as he possibly can, even provoking the Presdent to pause from his weekend brush-clearing to remark about how very, very hands-on and "aggressive in pursuing this investigation" Hastert is being. Aggressive! Hands-On! That's our Hastert!
But on the other we see Hastert trying to paint a "hands-off" picture of his own involvement in the earlier Foley investigation and coverup. But the "hands-off", Mr Magoo picture he's painting is at odds with the Hands-On-Hastert we know. Because the one thing we know about Hastert is he is an almost obsessively Hands-On® kind of guy.
But perhaps it's Denny's particular brand of Hands-On leadership that is precisely the problem. So let's review: What does Hands-On mean to Dennis Hastert?
Here's Hands-On-Hastert® On Congressional Corruption - January, 2006:
After months of staying on the sidelines, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is taking a more forceful and hands-on approach to end the political damage after a wave of bribery and public corruption scandals that are threatening the Republican majority in Congress.
His Hands-On®
Approach?
Just a few weeks later, the rush to reform has slowed significantly, particularly in the House. Since those days in mid-January, House leaders have heard a barrage of concerns from representatives about going too far, particularly from those who don't want to give up privately funded travel and those who want to continue the practice of "earmarking," setting aside money in spending bills for favored projects...Plans for a bill by the House leadership that would go directly to a floor vote were quickly shelved.
So, Hands-On-Hastert® got aggressive and shelved ethics reform. Well, what about lobbyists? Here's Hands-On-Hastert®on Pay-to-Play Politics:
"Speaker Hastert has built up a great deal of goodwill and has a reputation among the business community as a get-it-done guy," said Scott Hatch, executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. "From health care to financial services modernization, the business community likes Hastert because he's a hands-on kind of guy."...
"He is being exceedingly active, even more than Newt," said Jack Abramoff, government affairs counselor for the firm Preston Gates, who has helped raise money for Gingrich and Hastert and has noticed donors' eagerness to meet the new speaker and his aides.
Hands-On-Hastert takes care of business. So, "aggressive", "more active than Newt" Hastert didn't actually see any emails from Foley, emails so troubling Hastert's staff asked for advice from Hastert's own attorney? Think they'd tell the attorney but not say anything to Hastert?
The bottom line is that Hands-On to Hastert means doing what wins elections.
It's true that since DeLay's untimely demise Hands-On-Hastert® and his chief of staff, Scott Palmer, "have taken a more hands-on role in shaping the legislation and working for votes before the bill comes to the floor." Hastert has even "taken on a role as conference disciplinarian since DeLay stepped aside," the Hill noted. And we all know how well that has worked out...
The number of federal pork projects increased from fewer than 2,000 annually in the mid-1990s to almost 14,000 in 2005, as measured by Citizens Against Government Waste...The problem starts at the top: Republican leaders have shown no personal restraint on the budget. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is a champion at bringing pork home to Illinois...
The lack of principled GOP leadership has a corrosive effect on members who may be willing to support restraint but who will not put their necks on the line without sacrifice at the top. Why should rank-and-file Republicans restrain themselves when their leader is the porker-in-chief?
Hastert has taken absolutely every golden opportunity to use the Speaker's chair to promote our nation's best interests and turned it into the lead of pure politics. That's always been the problem with Hastert's "leadership" - he looks at everything in purely political terms. And so it should be no surprise to learn that this is exactly what he did with the information about a pedophile roaming the halls of Congress propositioning pages.
In June, Hastert single-handedly killed a bipartisan immigration reform bill, taking even Boehner by surprise:
Boehner on Tuesday was upbeat in addressing a breakfast forum at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which supports a guest worker program. He indicated he would resolve differences between the restrictive House bill and the much more liberal Senate bill by the Fourth of July.
But at a closed luncheon Wednesday at Charlie Palmer's restaurant, attended by financial contributors to House Republicans, Boehner declared that the immigration bill was all but dead. That change followed Boehner's conversation late Tuesday with Hastert, who made clear he did not want to pursue the issue that splits the Republican Party.
Then, as now, Hastert was happy to ignore what's best for our nation in order to preserve his cushy job.
Hastert knew a well-connected, powerful pedophile was roaming the halls of Congress, and he "handled it" the way he handles every serious matter that has come before him: like a corrupted, jaded, "hands-on" politician. Is anyone really surprised?
Hastert's "hands-off", I-didn't-know alibi is a lie, a lie undone by his own history of being an almost obsessively "hands-on" political handler, the "get it done" guy. And for him to have known and done nothing more than "handle it" politically is both a tragedy and, he may find, his own political undoing.
cross-posted at Fireside 14