Hastert: Asshole

Hunter has this one. Prepare your stomach.

Simply amazing. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, on Rush Limbaugh's show, says it's all the Democrats' and the kids' fault:

SPEAKER HASTERT: There were two pieces of paper out there, one that we knew about and we acted on; one that happened in 2003 we didn't know about, but somebody had it, and, you know, they're trying -- and they drop it the last day of the session, you know, before we adjourn on an election year. Now, we took care of Mr. Foley. We found out about it, asked him to resign. He did resign. He's gone. We asked for an investigation. We've done that. We're trying to build better protections for these page programs.

But, you know, this is a political issue in itself, too, and what we've tried to do as the Republican Party is make a better economy, protect this country against terrorism -- and we've worked at it ever since 9/11, worked with the president on it -- and there are some people that try to tear us down. We are the insulation to protect this country, and if they get to me it looks like they could affect our election as well.

In two thin, mean paragraphs, Hastert manages to say that it's all a conspiracy by Democrats and/or by Foley's victims, and he says the kids who dared report the child sex predator the GOP had been shielding in their ranks are trying to "tear down" efforts to protect this country against terrorism. He says he's the "insulation" to protect this country -- when all the press reports out there say America would be stupid to trust Dennis Hastert to protect a Boy Scout troop.

This guy is just sick.

He doesn't get it, even today -- he thinks having a sex predator in Congress, knowing about it for at least a year and doing flatly nothing to even investigate how bad it was, not after Alexander knew about it, not after Shimkus knew about it, not after Reynolds knew about it, not after Boehner knew about it, not after Hastert himself was told about it, not even informing the Republican or Democratic members of the Page Board itself, is just another political thing to be "handled" on the Rush Limbaugh Show. And so now he's attacking the victims who finally did come forward, after nothing else worked, and saying that exposing the predator is all a plot against him and Republicans.

Hastert needs to go. It's done. He has no compass for leadership -- or even for remaining in Washington.

I'm with Hunter on this one. This isn't about Foley, it's about leadership and responsibility. Yet again, a set of Republicans has completely, totally failed at his reponsibility to protect the public. And this time it's with children. Children. This is not about partisanship - when Cynthia McKinney "hit a cop" she lost her primary. William Jefferson is still rattling somewhere under the bus having lost a massive amount of Democratic support.

Hastert has already been called to resign by Michael Reagan and even the Moonie Times - he should be toast.

But...

Apparently he got his wing-nut talking points this morning because Sean Hannity is singing the same sick self-absorbed tune.

Worse, some Conservatives, regardless of Newt Gingrich's claim that they might have been accused on "Gay bashing" are proceeding to do exactly that even though being a pedophile has nothing to do with being gay. Suddenly they've all turned into arm-chair psycotherapists - like Bill Frist with a videotape on Meth: Just look...

Ben Stein, American Spectator:

On the one hand, we have a poor misguided Republican man who had a romantic thing for young boys. He sent them suggestive e-mail. I agree, that’s not great. … I hope it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that a big part of male homosexual behavior is interest in young boys.

Linda Harvey, WorldNetDaily:

Open or suspected homosexuals should never be elected. The problem with homosexuals is that they frequently don’t have common sense and don’t acknowledge appropriate boundaries. Weird sex, public displays of “affection” and nudity, and sex with youth are built into the “gay” sub-culture.

Jonah Goldberg, National Review:

The funny thing is that you would think the left — particularly the gay left — would be a bit more interested in not having 16 and 17 year old teenagers classified as young children for legal/sexual/political purposes. If that were the case, then a whole lot of dirty old men would need to be prosecuted for felonies when they pick up street hustlers.

Wall Street Journal, editorial:

But in today’s politically correct culture, it’s easy to understand how senior Republicans might well have decided they had no grounds to doubt Mr. Foley merely because he was gay and a little too friendly in emails. Some of those liberals now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert’s head are the same voices who tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices, and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys.

I'm so glad to see some Republicans are as informed and sensitive as ever. They're ready to blamed the abused at the drop of a hat, yet Foley is this "poor lonely man".

Here's an accurate Profile of Pedophile:

Pedophiles don't have signs on their backs or neon arrows pointing over their heads.

It's easier to believe that the "dirty old man in the park", rather than the clean-cut bus driver down the street, is a pedophile.

Pedophiles aren't confined to our Catholic churches. They are in Protestant churches, synagogues, and mosques. Some of them are teachers, counselors, scout leaders, truck drivers, factory workers, and youth ministers. In fact, they are wherever children can be found, irrespective of age, race, education, occupation, class, social standing, or income.

Celibacy isn't the reason priests prey on children. Sexual attraction to children, and sexual gratification from children, are the reasons.

The Exclusive type of pedophile is attracted to children only. The Non-Exclusive is attracted to both children and adults.

A pedophile will not stop on his own, and will not turn himself in, because he does not take responsibility for his behavior and denies that he's doing anything harmful. He will abuse until he's caught.

If a child tells us he or she has been sexually abused by someone, be it family, friend, or trusted adult, we are obligated by law to report it to a child abuse hotline, police, or local children's services agency.

This wasn't political, it should've have become political. Now it is.

Sack the lot of them.

Vyan




Update:Surprising almost no one except the GOP, ABC Now reports that Foley had internet sex with a page, which finally explains why Mark made such an hasty exit from Congress just hours after being initially interviewed. He knew there was a lot more dust under that rug - I'll bet.