Only 5 months until child molester Hastert gets out of jail

[Wakie77]

Just a friendly reminder that there are only 5 months until admitted child molester and former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert gets out of jail.  One has to wonder if his former Congressional colleagues will throw him a welcome back party.  I'm sure Rep Peter King who actually said, "the only victim here is Dennis Hastert" will be thrilled to see him.  Maybe they will take in a high school basketball game together.

[Frodo]

Donald Trump (who ogles his own daughter, and fantasizes about having sex with her) will welcome him with open arms. 

[Maxwell]

still a more successful house speaker than Paul Ryan.

[Suburbia]

still a more successful house speaker than Paul Ryan.

Sadly, this. The 2001 tax cuts, the Medicare 2003 program. I still want to know how Hastert became Speaker in 1998. The GOP should have chosen someone else.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Hastert was the real victim. That is extraordinarily obvious to anyone with a brain. Sad that this new Democratic Party is so blinded by partisanship - not the one I knew my entire childhood.

[SteveRogers]

Hastert was the real victim. That is extraordinarily obvious to anyone with a brain. Sad that this new Democratic Party is so blinded by partisanship - not the one I knew my entire childhood.

Uh, he admitted at sentencing to sexually abusing children that he coached...

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Hastert was always a crook and willingly served as a front man for another crook.


Hastert and Delay should spend 30 years in Jail for selling the GOP's soul and the country out to the K Street Project.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

still a more successful house speaker than Paul Ryan.

Sadly, this. The 2001 tax cuts, the Medicare 2003 program. I still want to know how Hastert became Speaker in 1998. The GOP should have chosen someone else.

When Gingrich was ousted, his likely successor was Bob Livingston, but it was revealed that he also had an affair and was forced to resign.

That left a power vacuum. The two highest ranking Republicans were Dick Armey and then Tom Delay, but neither was in a position to become Speaker. Hastert was put forward as sort of a popular front man everyone could get behind, while Delay consolidated power, excluded old Gingrich allies and 1994 Revolutionaries

Make no mistake, it was Delay pulling the strings and it was Delay that secured passage of those bills, through a combination of favorable dispositions with big donors/bundlers/lobbyists, bribes, threats and arm twisting. The Medicare Part D (or maybe it was NCLB) vote was held open for hours while Delay twisted enough arms to get to a passing vote.

Delay finally got nailed in 2005/2006 for funneling illegal corporate donations to help the TX GOP take over control of the State House of Representatives in 2002, so that they could enact an infamous mid-decade redistricting plan to oust the Democratic majority in the state delegation.

Another interesting thing to consider in hindsight is the way Hastert handled the Mark Foley situation, considering his own past.

[Santander]

Good friends with John Podesta, too.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Hastert was the real victim. That is extraordinarily obvious to anyone with a brain. Sad that this new Democratic Party is so blinded by partisanship - not the one I knew my entire childhood.

Uh, he admitted at sentencing to sexually abusing children that he coached...

"So much for the tolerant left."

I am the sole occupant of the tolerant left on this entire forum, it would appear.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

He was jailed for utterly unjust reasons. Trump should pardon him if he has concern for justice.

[SteveRogers]

He was jailed for utterly unjust reasons. Trump should pardon him if he has concern for justice.

Do explain

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

He was jailed for utterly unjust reasons. Trump should pardon him if he has concern for justice.

Do explain

-Why should withdrawing money in increments of less than $10 thousand for the purpose of paying blackmail be a crime?

[Devout Centrist]

Good friends with John Podesta, too.

Of course

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I'm uncertain about the circumstances of the case - I don't think paying hush money should be a crime, and it's obvious the judge sentenced him for reasons unrelated to the crime he pled guilty to - but he's such a monstrous person that I don't really care. A good argument for ending statute of limitations for more severe crimes.

[Beet]

Yeah, this was a trumped up phony charge. I'm no fan of Hastert, but would certainly would be outraged if Trump tried to prosecute his political opponents for something so minor.

[SteveRogers]

He was jailed for utterly unjust reasons. Trump should pardon him if he has concern for justice.

Do explain

-Why should withdrawing money in increments of less than $10 thousand for the purpose of paying blackmail be a crime?

Paying blackmail isn't a crime. Every American has the right to pay hush money to their blackmailer. But that does not give one the right to structure their transactions for the purpose of evading bank reporting requirements in order to pay that hush money. That's a form of money laundering, and there's no more a right to it than there is a right to sell drugs or rob a bank to pay hush money to your blackmailer.

[pbrower2a]

Hastert was the real victim. That is extraordinarily obvious to anyone with a brain. Sad that this new Democratic Party is so blinded by partisanship - not the one I knew my entire childhood.

1. It is criminal to have sex with a youth under the age of consent.

2. It is criminal to have sex with someone that you have a teacher-student relationship, for which abuse of power is the offense.

3. It is criminal to use money in illegal transactions that include paying hush money to avoid being charged wit a crime.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes that poor, poor child abuser

wtf atlas

[EnglishPete]

Yes that poor, poor child abuser

wtf atlas

[Wakie77]

It is kind of amazing when you consider how angry the GOP got about Bill Clinton having consensual sex with a grown woman but they rush to defend child molesters and people who openly brag about grabbing and assaulting women.

[Santander]

It is kind of amazing when you consider how angry the GOP got about Bill Clinton having consensual sex with a grown woman but they rush to defend child molesters and people who openly brag about grabbing and assaulting women.

Lewinsky was legally an adult, which to most people is not the same thing as "grown woman", especially in the context of being an intern working in proximity of the President. It doesn't excuse the hypocrisy, but I'm just saying... it was inappropriate all things considered.

[Beet]

It's quite possible that if Lewinsky could undo one thing in her life, talking to Linda Tripp would rank higher than fellating the president. Republicans act like Lewinsky champions when they were the ones who victimized her by dragging everything out in public ad nauseum. Now some of the other women with Bill, that's another story. There's no way Democrats should tolerate this kind of behavior, as I've always argued.

[Antonio the Sixth]

ITT people are defending a child molester. Amazing.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

ITT people are defending a child molester. Amazing.

Its totally ridiculous. #Keephimlockedup