Posted on 10/03/2006 5:29:08 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
Washington Times Calls for Hastert's Head: A McCain Move
WASHINGTON TIMES ON TUESDAY WILL CALL FOR SPEAKER HASTERT'S RESIGNATION, NEWSROOM SOURCES TELL DRUDGE... DEVELOPING... Editorial titled: 'Resign, Mr. Speaker': 'House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once... Mr. Hastert has forfeited the confidence of the public and his party, and he cannot preside over the necessary coming investigation, an investigation that must examine his own inept performance'... -- Washington Times, October 3, 2006
Forgive me if I think this seems a bit unfair. We don't know yet exactly what Hastert knew and when he knew it. There is an investigation underway, and we will find out. Can we wait until then to start calling for the guy's head? From what we know so far, it sounds as if Hastert knew about the existence of "overly friendly" e-mails, not the more explicit IMs.
You know what this feels like to me? This is a classic McCain Move on the part of the Times. Get a jump on the moral high ground, condemn someone in the severest terms before the evidence necessarily justifies it. Result? You end up looking like an unassailable saint and you get a whole lotta press out of the deal. Sweet.
Update: Lest anyone thinks I'm going easy on child sexual predators, here's my other post on the controversy. The first one is linked above. There's nothing to be said for Foley, but I just think Hastert is getting a bad deal, here, before all the evidence is out.
Allah makes this find, in the Democratic playbook. The Times must have gotten the same memo, which has, like, never, ever happened before:
Update: The Democratic playbook — literally:
1. Pay no heed to the distinction between the e-mails and IMs. There’s no evidence (yet) that any Republican leaders knew about Foley’s cybersex IMs. There’s plenty of evidence that they knew how uncomfortable the “overly friendly” e-mails made at least one page. So the Dems will press the GOP on what they knew about the former and will constantly, in their press releases, refer to the “GOP’s knowledge of the sexually explicit e-mails.”
There are always up and comers waiting in the wings, coveting a Speaker's position and looking for a chance to mount a coup (even those in one's own party).
Newt Gingrinch survived such a coup and those up and comers are no longer walking in the halls of Congress.
It will be interesting to see if Hastert has the support and the moxie to survive. I think he's a tough nut to crack.
This was dying until DC insider Tony Blankly(editorial editor of the Wash Times) decided to throw nancy pelosi a lifeline.
While I believe Hastert is innocent of any wrongdoing, I do believe the Foley situation could have been better handled by the GOP leadership when the e-mails first came to light and, because it wasn't, is another one of the reasons that we probably will lose the House next month.
Bookmarking to prove you wrong.
There is much to ask re the Demrat contribution to this 'October Surprise'.
Adding McCain into the latest mix; if not earlier.. . is plausible; given his 'Demrat sensibilities'.
Find it incredible; with what we 'do not know' at this time; to see WSJ and now Wash/Times and other Repubs. . .go 'red' on Hastert; particularly given the staying power of any tainted Democrat whereas, Foley was gone in less than 24 housrs.
Who is likely to replace Hastert? Somebody less conservative? Less confrontational? The Republicans need a leader with some backbone, who has actually led something. I'd suggest somebody with some military experience; there are several that come to mind.
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http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0906/364718.html
Newspaper HR Director Faces Internet Sex Charges
WASHINGTON (AP) - The human resources director of The Washington Times has been arrested on charges of soliciting a teenager for sex on the Internet.
D.C. police say 53-year-old Randall Casseday of Dobbs Ferry, New York, was arrested Tuesday night in Northeast Washington. He had allegedly arranged to meet what he believed was a 13-year-old girl he had been corresponding with in an online chat room. The person he was communicating with was a detective with the department's Internet Crimes Against Children branch.
Casseday, who rents a room in the Washington area, was charged with attempted enticement of a minor and was due to appear Thursday in U.S. District Court.
Brian Bauman, a spokesman for the Times, says the company is cooperating with authorities and that Casseday has been suspended without pay pending the results of the investigation.
****
A FReeper wrote earlier:
There is another dimension (above) to this editorial to dump Hastert ---- and it has to do with the Times worried about their own image with regard to a recent in-house scandal (above) involving a sexual predator.
I have heard from reliable sources at the Times that management is in near panic mode over the in-house scandal and fears that this will be used against them, tainting their image as a "family values" paper. . .etc. They are in the extreme overreacting mode and are not thinking clearly.
There is a McCain on the staff at Wash Times, I bet that's the reference, not the Senator.
Should he have asked Foley to resign because he thought he might be gay? What clues should he have seen? How do you think this would have played with Foley's constituents, and in the nation as a whole?
Should he have hired a detective to follow Foley around and spy on him? Who do you think should pay for something like that?
Should he have turned this over to the DOJ three years ago, using his psychic powers? Should the DOJ, even though no law was violated based on the evidence available, have started monitoring Foley's IM's and e-mails?
Should Hastert have called all GOP members in and told them that if they were gay they had to immediately resign?
Exactly WHAT do you think Hastert should have done?
Who is likely to replace Hastert? The way things are going right now I would say Nancy Pelosi and the Republicans have no one but themselves to blame.
There is no reason why Hastert should resign.
Newt was voted out of his speaker position and was so upset that he resigned from office and left Washington. The GOP needs to get back to the basics of being the party of Strong Moral Values and quit acting like they can get away with the same things the Democrats get away with. The elected GOP members must answer to us. Not the media and not those on the other side of the aisle. They must answer to us, and we don't stand for having a perverts in any GOP positions. If Hastert knew about it and did nothing until it blew up last week, he should step down.
What is with Tony? He used to be with us!!!
I think they are pig-piling on Hastert simply because Foley resigned immediately, taking the wind out of their sails. They were looking forward to flogging a dead horse for a couple of months. Now all they have is anger with no target. Again.
Maybe the libs could just riot in the streets. That's what the Muzzies do with their unfocused rage.
That's a clever answer and unfortunately true. My question however, regarded which Republican would likely replace Hastert.
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