unfit for command
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert took to the podium, praised William Jefferson, and said a prayer attacking the FBI for violating the sanctity of the Congress, saying that the raid was not “God’s way” . . .
Oh wait. That was a different scandal and a different Speaker. It was Tennessee Senate Speaker John Wilder who embarrassed himself, his party, and his chamber by heaping scorn on the cops instead of the criminals–almost exactly one year ago today. Sorry. It was hard to tell them apart, since Hastert and Wilder are both amply demonstrating why they’re no longer worthy of retaining the power entrusted to them by the people.
Even if you’re not troubled by the ethics problems in this story (in which case, you’re probably not a frequent visitor to this site, since we so heavily focus on questions of governmental ethics here), you should be troubled by the sheer stupidity of Hastert’s comments. Here you have a guy who was handed a golden opportunity to make an example of a corrupt Democrat in Congress, but he didn’t take it. He took on a hanging curve over the middle of the plate. He missed an easy layup on a two-on-one breakaway. He punted on third and one. Whatever sports analogy you want to use, this was just stupid.
After all, the public already thinks that the Republican leaders in Congress are big government free spenders. (They unfortunately are). However, proving corruption is another thing. Trying to explain Jack Abramoff to people is yawn inducing.Â
But Democratic Congressman Jefferson took a bribe (allegedly). That’s easy to understand. Especially when the FBI has the New Orleans Democrat on tape counting the money. Each of the one thousand $100 bills! And then they found $90 thousand of that in his refrigerator. And he’s the same guy who right after Hurricane Katrina, commandeered a National Guard boat and some soldiers to help move crates out of his house–including one box that was described at the time as (wait for it) ”the size of a small refrigerator.”Â
This scandal was so easy for Republicans to exploit to their benefit that you’d be forgiven for thinking that William Jefferson was really a Karl Rove Republican plant.
So, even if ethics is irrelevant to you, if for nothing else, Dennis Hastert should be fired from his leadership position for sheer political stupidity.
UPDATE: (For a roundup of more links on this story, check out Instapundit here, here, here, and here. And keep checking back with him, because Glenn is all over this.)
May 25th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Both parties are at the lowest approval level in recent decades. The immigration issue has blown the field wide open, as there is no clear left-right position on the issue. The climate is ripe for a 3rd party to come in in 2008 and cofuse the hell out of the electorate. Read this fascinating article.
May 25th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Hastert’s action is so surprising, that there must be a motive you haven’t thought about. How aboutthis possibility: Hastert and/or half the republicans in the house have bundles of money hidden in their freezers and the FBI is about to serve subpoenas on them too?
May 25th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Here’s another possibility: Hastert is worried that documents taken from
Jefferson’s office will incriminate him or other congresscritters.
May 25th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
No one has questioned why Congressman Jefferson felt it necessary to keep his cash on ice. I mean, it’s one thing for a Louisiana politician to be caught taking a bribe. There is a culture of corruption down there with a long pedigree. But where Jefferson kept the money should give one pause.
In the fridge, not an office safe? Such placement should make people uneasy as well as other more mundane questions. Do bribes spoil? Do kickbacks have a shelf-life? Does the Congressman take the term “cool hard cash” literally?
May 25th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Absolutely unfit for command, regardless of party or positions. Hastert is an incompetent boob.
May 25th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
I think the cash was in Tupperware containers in his freezer in the hopes that agents simply wouldn’t look there.
May 25th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Face it, Congress is where you send somebody to make $140,000/year who couldn’t possibly earn it any other way.
May 25th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Most everyone knows, especially those from the deep south, that bribe money needs to be kept on ice. Unlike fish it doesn’t take three days to begin to smell bad.
May 25th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
Yeah, and Wilder is a Democrat too. A senile one, I think.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:34 am
What Speaker Hastert is hiding in his own freezer is his brain!
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:35 pm
[...] I said five months ago–even before these most recent scandalous revelations in Washington–that Dennis Hastert is unfit for command. Even then he had shown that he will tolerate egregious behavior by his peers. Now we learn of this latest scandal that he and his staff ignored, and I reiterate my call for Republican Members of Congress to oust Speaker Dennis Hastert and to support new leadership in the House. [...]