Is there ONE honest Republican Congressman?
Is there ONE honest Republican Congressman?
#0Is there ONE honest Republican Congressman?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 7:48am
Now Hastert's under the gun. Seriously, it's like a 50-car pileup on the 405.
Hastert Under Scrutiny in the Bribery Investigation
#1re: Is there ONE honest Republican Congressman?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 7:57amI'm not sure I can think of ONE honest Congressman, of any kind.
#2re: Is there ONE honest Republican Congressman?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 8:15am
Point taken. But I'd disagree, although I think we could amend it to say, "is there one 100% honest Congressperson?"
#3re: Is there ONE honest Republican Congressman?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 8:28am
In this 6-year period, corruption has NOT been bi-partisan.
The Republicans have been in complete power and the Republicans have abused that power. Their absolute power has, as the saying goes, corrupted them absolutely.
Add up the Republican corruption and the Democratinc corruption, and the Democratic corruption has been a fraction of the Republican corruption. Mostly because the Republicans wouldn't let them anywhere NEAR the available money.
If you want to make a bipartisan point, then look at previous periods when the balance of power was more equal--or ask if the situation would have been different if the Democrats had been in power.
But you cannot say that Democratic corruption under the Bush regime has been equal to that of the GOP. It hasn't.
#4
Posted: 5/25/06 at 8:56am
#5re: Is there ONE honest Republican Congressman?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 8:59amIf the democrats had this much power, it would be the same story, PJ. Political weasels are all the same. When they are in power, it's like they're drunk with it, and they start making bad decisions. You'd be suprised what I've seen firsthand in local politics alone.
#6re: Is there ONE honest Republican Congressman?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 9:08am
Well, I'm Certainly hoping for a Democrat-led Congress come the fall, and I would love to see Republicans continue to decline over time enough to have a Democrat president again come '08, but it's hard to deny that the checks and balances in our governmental setup are at their best when one party doesn't have a lockhold on the executive and legislative branches.
We have Cheney acting like Emperor Palpatine, Bush is Darth Vader (You know, all of the power, none of the intellect of the Emperor) and Frist and company are the Clones, doing and saying what they are told without question.
#7re: Is there ONE honest Republican Congressman?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 9:30am
What makes this era of Republican corruption worse is that Bush and Cheney have been determined to destroy the oversight power of the other two branches of the government, the legislative and the judicial. They have also worked hard to undercut the critical role of the press and the media. In the Bush/Cheney world, "balance of power" is a bad thing, because we "a nation at war" and there are "boo! there are evildoin' terr'ists out there" and yada-yada-yada.
When you add typical American money-taking corruption to this un-American neo-totalitarianism, what you come up with is a kind of abuse of power that the United States has never known before.
Let's hope for all our sakes that the American voters begin to take this apart in November.
#8is there one honest reporter?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 9:42amhmm, the doj says he's not under investigation and hastert is demanding a retraction...ever heard the term canary trap?
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
#9Are All Republicans Targets or Just Subjects?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:00am
Hastert and DOJ are just parsing sentences. Republicans used to complain that Clinton parsed the definition of what "is" is--but Karl Rove and all the other corrupt Republicans have turned parsing the definition of "targert" vs. "practice" into a dull art.
Update from ABC News:
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Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and a number of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope of the investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff’s information.
"You guys wrote the story very carefully but they are not reading it very carefully," a senior official said....
ABC’s law enforcement sources said the Justice Department denial was meant only to deny that Hastert was a formal “target” or “subject” of the investigation.
"Whether they like it or not, members of Congress, including Hastert, are under investigation," one federal official said tonight....
Officials said the next logical investigative step would be for the FBI to seek a wide range of documents from the members of Congress named by Abramoff, including letters and business documents.
#10Are All Republicans Targets or Just Subjects?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:44amPoliticians---masters of misdirection
#11is there one honest reporter?
Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:48amahhh, yes, those anonymous officials.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
#12Search and Seizure
Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:53am
This is twisted, but Hastert's aides think the DOJ is retaliating against Republican Hatsert for coming to the defense of Democrat Jefferson, whose office was raided by the FBI.
PalJoey says string up ALL the corrupt legislators. There won't be a single Republican left but enough Democrats to get things done.
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NewsTrack
Hastert aide: Probe rumor is retaliation
WASHINGTON, May 25 (UPI) -- An aide to U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., claims news reports Hastert is being probed in a lobbying scandal is payback by the Justice Department.
Wednesday night, ABC News reported sources at the Justice Department said Hastert was among those involved in a probe of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In an unusual move, the department very quickly issued a denial.
Speaking to The Chicago Sun-Times, Hastert's deputy chief of staff Mike Stokke said he didn't blame ABC News for bad reporting but rather questioned the timing of the "leak." He referred to a stinging challenge Hastert and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made on Sunday that the FBI surrender documents it seized during an unprecedented weekend raid on the office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La.
"We've been in discussion with them since Sunday, with the Department of Justice, on this other matter of unconstitutional search and seizure." Stokke told the newspaper. "I don't recall any threats being made, but this is what is called in baseball a brushback pitch. ABC News got this from somewhere. I don't think they made this up."
Hastert aide: Probe rumor is retaliation
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