Step Aside, Speaker Hastert

National Review Online ^ | October 4, 2006 | Lawrence Kudlow

[drellberg]

"I’ll deal first with the Washington scandal du jour. In 2002, Foley thanked that year’s class of congressional pages with a bizarre, tearful speech that smacked of a guilty conscience and hypocritical emotions. According to the ABC blotter, “some of the very same pages in the chamber that day would months later receive Foley’s sexually explicit messages.” Clearly, Foley has acute problems.

But Republican staff warned congressional pages five years ago to watch out for Foley, now the former representative from Florida. Yet Mr. Hastert took no action."

[drellberg]

Here's what does it for me: How could Hastert have not known of something his aides were taking action on 5 years ago? Kudlow is right.

Kudlow is one of a dozen or more conservatives calling for Hastert's resignation. Hastert is done, almost certainly today.

Still, I believe that nearly everyone is reaching the wrong conclusions about the implications of this for the Republicans. Ousting the Speaker of the House is huge, and will be treated as such. But (to his credit) Hastert was not in the mold of most of his predecessors. The general public barely knew him, and as such he will not be especially missed. Instead, the public will view this as the Republicans have standards, and holding their leaders accountable. No one is above reproach, even the Speaker. The Republican base will respond well. Moreover, this will backfire on the Dems. Double standards at this level are simply not sustainable. It can not be the case in the long run that Republicans will hold their leaders to one benchmark, while Dems hold theirs to an objectively lower one.

Moreover, Republican failings are not at the level of ideas or of policy. Get rid of Foley and Hastert, and the problem is "addressed." The Dems win this battle, but they have advanced not one new idea or proposal. Their problems remain.

[metesky]

Bed wetter.

[drellberg]

????

[Dane]

This scandal has jumped the shark and Hastert ain't going anywhere, despite Kudlow and Blamkley's thumbsucking.

[Just mythoughts]

Better check your facts, the warning is not what it appears to be.

Do liberals have sex patrols following their guy Barney Frank?

[frankjr]

Kudlow should stick to what he does best...making uninformed and inaccurate economic predictions.

[dawn53]

I don't think anything about the "scandal" will affect Republicans in the upcoming elections.

What I'm sort of amazed at is where the Dems are coming from in their logic of exploiting the situation.

They're playing up this scandal so much, in hopes of discouraging Republicans from voting Republican (I guess that's their motive.) But if the House or Senate should gain a majority of Dems, they won't be able to "blame it on Bush and his policies," because the defeat will now be attributed to Foley and the scandal. I always thought they were looking to "blame" Bush for losing seats, but this scandal would distract from that reason.

[Dane]

Btw, there are conflicting reports about what interns were told and it seems that the original page who made the charge of being warned is being debunked as a publicity hound.

WASHINGTON - At least one former congressional page is disputing another former page's claims that pages were warned five years ago to beware of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fort Pierce. Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office. Loraditch, the president of the Page Alumni Association, said the pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff." But another page, who asked not to be named told The Palm Beach Post, "The program in no official capacity warned us about it," and he said that Loraditch had posted an explanation for his comments to ABC on the college social network, Facebook.com.

Kudlow is using this as smokescreen to grind his own axe.

[drellberg]

Go to NRO ... It's not just Kudlow. It's the editors, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Mark Levin. It's Blankley at the Wash. Times. The ice is broken. Others will soon join in.

When everyone around Hastert knew 5 years ago, Hastert just can't claim ignorance. Doesn't wash. He's done.

[mewzilla]

This scandal has jumped the shark and Hastert ain't going anywhere, despite Kudlow and Blamkley's thumbsucking.

And the reports about more IMs from Foley and at least two other pols doing something similar?

[thelastvirgil]

Yep, ALL Republicans should resign in disgrace immediately. Even the few, if there are any, that have done nothing to resign over. This simple, knee-jerk solution would leave the congress to those fabled men and women of honor, the Democrats. Folks that are calling for Hastert's head should consider the alternative and the consequences of caving -- yet again -- to those that would destroy this country.

[Dane]

Go to NRO ... It's not just Kudlow. It's the editors, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Mark Levin.

Mark Levin has been defending Hastert, as for NRO, I could careless what those DC metrosexual thumbsuckers think.

[frankjr]

What's a "Ramesh Ponnuru"?

And Levin is backing Hasert: http://levin.nationalreview.com/

Hasert will continue to be Speaker of the House during the next Congressional session.

[drellberg]

Ah, the facts. If you are right, then Hastert still has some hope. It's always hard to get the facts from the MSM, and if I have fallen for a trumped up charge, then shame on me.

But if aides were warning pages years ago, Hastert's done.

Kudlow shouldn't be bringing other issues into this, though I don't know that he has any axe to grind. (Where do you draw that conclusion?) But the bulk of the article is about Hastert/Foley, and as I've written, others are also calling for Hastert to resign.

[Alberta's Child]

The louder these calls for Hastert's resignation get, the more likely he'll be there for the long term.

Rumsfeld is still the Secretary of Defense, despite years of incessant calls for his resignation. Heck -- he couldn't even get the President to accept his resignation when he tried to submit it.

[mewzilla]

Also, on Hannity and Colmes last night, Dick Morris said that a reporter told him, Morris, that the reporter had knowledge that Dems in the leadership knew about Foley and sat on the info. The reporter has yet to report that story.

This has got legs.

[BelegStrongbow]

You know if we still had the Patriot Act, we might have been able to find out who recorded those IMs and why they're being released now.

[mewzilla]

That's two issues. A pox on both their houses. Foley and the Pubbies, for what Foley did and the Pubbies not riding him out of town on a rail. And on the Dems for sitting on the info for political purposes.

Congress is a cesspool.

[beyond the sea]

Hope you're right.

[Miss Marple]

I have an ever-enlarging group of people whose writings I will not purchase and whose names will never get my vote. These people have their own axes to grind and show extreme disloyalty and selfishness during a time of great danger for our nation.

I am sorry to see Kudlow become one of the hysterical handwringers. His opinion is based on faulty information, and he would have been better off to write about the Dow's high numbers yesterday. In fact, one wonders why he didn't, since he has been bullish on the market for some time, and it was a golden opportunity to say neener-neener to all of those who disagreed with him.