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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Foley Update

CNN just previewed the Republican argument why Hastert should stay.

If he goes, the Democrats could well take Congress and that would mean higer taxes, etc, etc.

So, the argument for keeping Hastert is, loosely, "sure the kids are at risk of being cyber-molested by Congressmen, but that's still better than Democrats in control of the House."

I want to see that on a campaign button.

Hastert is not resigning. Apparently, he delayed his event because he wanted to hear whether there would be a House Ethics Investigation announced (40+ subpoenas issued.) Hastert wanted to announce a separate investigation led by Louis Freeh, but apparently Pelosi responded, "No, that's not good enough."

Want to take bets on who will be the first not to "comment on an ongoing investigation?"

Also: Is the primary purpose of the page tip line to bring the revelations to the Republicans rather than to the media?

Hastert has cancelled all his fundraisers for the next two weeks.

Foxnews: "House Republican candidates will suffer massive losses if House Speaker Dennis Hastert remains speaker until Election Day, according to internal polling data from a prominent GOP pollster, FOX News has learned."

Denny lied today about his exchanges with Shimkus.

(I may rewrite/update this post.)

11 Comments:

  • It's obvious, to me anyway, that the Hastert presser is part of a new coordinated circling of the wagons. The new offensive will focus on ("investigate") the page program and not on the leadership's cover up of a Repub perv.

    While talking tough, any directive of any "investigation" will carefully rope off any inquiries into the leadership's management of the Foley issue specifically.

    By Blogger -epm, at 1:07 PM  

  • It will also be "ongoing" (as in "we do not comment on an ongoing") through the election.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:10 PM  

  • I just got home, turned on CNN and Joe Johns (possibly the dumbest motherfucker working at CNN and that's saying something) had some fat republican with three chins in his taped story lecturing democrats about how they will be held responsible by the law for holding this info about Foley and then unleashing it in a political attack right before the election.

    No counter from Johns, no counter from anybody on the other side saying "Hey, a Republican leaked the info to ABC." Just the Republican charge that Dems are behind this Foley scandal and its all political in nature.

    Joe Johns, today's example of the stupidest motherfucker on CNN. The longer Ed Henry stays on vacation, the more times Joe Johns is going to win that award.

    By Blogger Reality-Based Educator, at 2:25 PM  

  • Ahh... So the typical neo-Republican mode of operation: Start with a bang then drag it out in an open-ended, directionless and hopefully forgotten investigation.

    I'm reminded of the scene in This is Spinal Tap, where the band trying to get from their dressing room to the stage and up wandering endlessly through a maze of underground passageways never getting anywhere.

    By Blogger -epm, at 2:28 PM  

  • Reality, I don't know if you saw the Drudge bit I added, but that's obviously the strategy, to try to turn this into a partisan debate somehow.

    The Dem Senators and Congressmen have not played along, so now the Republicans are looking for a proxy fight through which they can turn the whole thing into a Dem Repub debate rather than a truth about a coverup story.

    EPM, We still haven't gotten the SSCI phase II report on prewar Iraq intelligence.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 2:37 PM  

  • Mike, the Repubes need the media to play along w/ this R v. D storyline and so far other than a few idiots like Joe Johns, they're not doing it. And as you say, Dems have been smart enough to stay out of it. Although as my friend Joe Johns notes on CNN, if a Dem even mentions the scandal, it means they're "politicizing a serious matter" and may be "overplaying their hand."

    Jesus, what a dumb fucking goober. it just sticks in my craw that guys like him and Ed Henry actually have jobs that matter.

    By Blogger Reality-Based Educator, at 3:07 PM  

  • We still haven't gotten the SSCI phase II report on prewar Iraq intelligence.

    Exactly!

    Not to mention the War on Terror™ and the Bungle in Baghdad™, both started with great fanfare but nonetheless, directionless, no end in sight, and managed only for political affect.

    By Blogger -epm, at 3:17 PM  

  • Reality, I know. I generally only watch CNN in the Your World Today hour at lunch or if something is really happening. Their day to day coverage of politics is very poor, although they do the better Iraq stuff when they actually cover it. Nick Robertson, Michael Ware, Burns, the NYTimes guy.

    MSNBC has alot of problems, but their politics folks are far better. I have some problems with them all, but for Pentagon, Congress and Whitehouse, they're better. The problem is, on stuff like today, you have to sit through Matthews and Buchannon who add nothing. But the "field" politics people are pretty good.

    EPM, definitely. The one that always stuck in my craw was the strong resistance to the 9-11 commission.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 3:28 PM  

  • Just like a republican - it all comes down to taxes. People dying, rights disintegrating, no big deal. But god forbid they should pay their fair share of taxes.

    By Blogger abi, at 9:48 PM  

  • True. I hadn't isolated it down that far.

    But, that is their donor base. Without the low taxes claim, the Republican machine would grind to a halt.

    And then power for power's sake would be over.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:38 PM  

  • By Blogger 柯云, at 7:19 AM  

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