Another Conservative Editorial Page Calls For Hastert's Ouster

[WillyT]

New Hampshire Union Leader

Hastert’s inaction: Speaker, others must go

Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006

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With L’affair Foley threatening to ruin his plans for another two years in power, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert decided to play the victim. It is not the first terrible decision Hastert has made as House speaker, but it should be the last.

On Rush Limbaugh’s syndicated radio show, Hastert blamed the scandal on the Democrats. “The Democrats have — in my view — have put this thing forward to try to block us from telling the story. They’re trying to put us on defense.”

At this point, there is not one shred of evidence to back up that claim. Yet even if the release of Foley’s e-mails and Internet chats were the fruit of a partisan plot, that does not change the facts of what happened, or rather what did not happen, before their release.

In Washington, Foley was known to have a sexual interest in teenage boys. Pages were warned to avoid Foley at least since 2001, and reportedly since 1995 — the year Foley arrived at the capital. Last fall, Hastert and Reps. John Shimkus and Rodney Alexander knew of Foley’s inappropriate and suggestive e-mail exchange with a 16-year-old page. Shimkus and House Clerk Jeff Trandahal confronted Foley. Shimkus ordered Foley to stop contacting the boy.

That one exchange was the extent of the leadership’s effort to deal with Foley.

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More: http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Hastert%e2%80%99s+inaction%3a+Speaker%2c+others+must+go&articleId=a5600e06-374e-4a6c-b686-d016410b25fd

Apparently, it's not just the Dems and media keeping this scandal alive, tee hee... :evilgrin:

:shrug: