Over the past few weeks, understandably so, we have heard more about J. Dennis "Denny" Hastert then we have since most of his run as speaker. It's understandable as Tom "The Hammer" Delay was always both the real power behind the throne and the lightning rod for criticism.
What I want to know, is why on every post mentioning the Speaker of the House are we not mentioning our fantastic candidate John Laesch? A Veteran Naval Intelligence Analyst, carpenter, progressive patriot and the son of missionaries. Specifically I see all of these stories about Denny Hastert, and I don't see:
and links on them.
This needs to change.
John is a dedicated Democrat, a progressive patriot even (as a self indentified title, and recipient of the Progressive Patriots fund).
He could easilly write the book for candidate involvement in yearlykos, where he was practically ubiquitous, and sitting with the rest of us at many of the panels and lectures, soaking it all in.
His Brother Peter Laesch works for all of us "somewhere in Baghdad" and has written some damn incredible diaries that should be required reading.
his Campaign (usually the tireless Kristen Lash) posts all the time.
And, yes Virginia, the man himself is a regular poster.
John's signature says it all:
"Why yes, yes I am running against the Speaker of the House :)"
And he was doing it before Hastert was even under the fire he is in now for covering up Foley.
I met John at yearlykos, he's a great dude, and he's going to take Hastert out and be the next representative for that district. Plain and simple.
As long as we get behind him.
Hastert wasn't even opposed in 2004, which is shameful.
Outright shameful.
Anybody remember George Nethercutt? The guy that ran and lost against Patty Murray in '04? 10 years ago he took out former Democratic speaker of the house Tom Foley. There is precedent for this, and let me tell you this, I know John Laesch and if anybody can do it he can. Hastert, and all his power and pork are on the run, as long as we have his back.
Granted I would have said that this is probably Hastert's last term as Speaker anyway, BEFORE Foley, but taking him down and out of his seat just sends a huge message beyond having him step down as speaker.
Plus John is awesome, which I don't have to tell anybody already familiar with the man or campaign, among many other great issues just take a look at his principled stance on verified voting
Short story, John Laesch is one of us.
Yet I see all of these stories about Denny Hastert, and I don't see:
and
links on them.
Why not?
So the candidates can all run against Hastert too?
Great, let's have everybody run against Denny AND send him to the unemployment line.
-C.