Dennis Hastert & The Republican Culture Of Corruption

7:05 pm EST May 24th, 2006 | Politics | 15 Comments

Wonder why Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, has been so up in arms over criminal investigators raiding the House of Representatives?

Wonder no more.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI, which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress, ABC News has learned from senior U.S. law enforcement officials.

Federal officials say the information implicating Hastert was developed from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.

Of course, the right’s response will be Dennis who? Clearly the Speaker of The House is a minor political figure. At least as minor a figure as the man who is right behind the vice president in the presidential order of succession.

>> ABC video of the story in question
>> Hastert denies the story, of course, but the DOJ had already denied it to Ross who said his sources stood firm
>> Hastert’s connections to Abramoff

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15 Responses to “Dennis Hastert & The Republican Culture Of Corruption”

  1. z_adura says:
    May 24, 2006 at 7:05 pm

    Let me just say how excited I will be to see the list of logical fallacies that will usher from the keyboards of the esteemed conservative guests here at OW. Here’s the list I am expecting…

    Strawman
    Tu quoque
    Ad hominem
    Red herring
    False dichotomy

    Fact is, the Republican party is corrupt and incompetent. Have your conservative values if you must, but the Republican party is no longer the vessel for people with those values.

  2. Oliver Willis says:
    May 24, 2006 at 7:05 pm

    Investigating their own party? The ethics committee just got woken up this week, this is the FBI.

  3. SaveFarris says:
    May 24, 2006 at 7:05 pm

    Man, those Republicans are evil. They’re investigating high members of their own party!!!!

  4. factcheck says:
    May 24, 2006 at 8:05 pm

    z adura, let’s see if I understand the troll playbook: We will hear:

    “How can you criticize Hastert when Cynthia McKinney assaulted a cop”.
    “It’s the liberal media”
    “You can investigate a ham sandwich”
    “Joe Wilson will be indicted!”
    “I can’t get that worked up about Hastert, considering what the Khmer Rouge did”.
    “In a society that allows abortion at will, of course we should expect the FBI to investigate Republicans”.
    “We don’t know what he did, let’s wait until he’s convicted first. By the way, did you hear about Clinton taking the “W”‘s off of the Whitehouse keyboards?”
    and the number 1 stuck on stupid excuse:
    “Man those Republicans are evil. They’re investigating high members of their own party!!!!

  5. JWG says:
    May 24, 2006 at 9:05 pm

    Oops:

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday denied a report that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI in connection with a corruption probe.

  6. Leroy Brown says:
    May 24, 2006 at 9:05 pm

    Cue the “liberal media out to get conservatives” line in 3… 2… 1…

  7. frameone says:
    May 24, 2006 at 10:05 pm

    “…and the number 1 stuck on stupid excuse:  Man those Republicans are evil. They re investigating high members of their own party!!!!”

    LOL

  8. Mike says:
    May 24, 2006 at 11:05 pm

    z_adura:

    Apparently you left “bogus story” off your list.

    Better luck next time.

  9. phile says:
    May 24, 2006 at 11:05 pm

    If Oliver remains true to form, we won’t be seeing an update tagged to this post, explaining that the report is bogus. Fake but accurate.

    -phil

  10. Rheinhard says:
    May 25, 2006 at 12:05 am

    JWG, et al.

    Before we get too far into right-wing triumphialism…

  11. JWG says:
    May 25, 2006 at 5:05 am

    Before we get too far into right-wing triumphialism&

    Look at the original statement from ABC (even quoted by OW). Now compare it to what ABC now says in the original link. Originally, ABC reported that Hastert was “under investigation by the FBI.”
    Funny how the original report no longer says that.

  12. Jay C says:
    May 25, 2006 at 8:05 am

    The CBS bogus documents story was “accurately” reported as well.

  13. Rheinhard says:
    May 25, 2006 at 10:05 am

    From the article:

    “Whether they like it or not, members of Congress, including Hastert, are under investigation,” one federal official said tonight.

    You write:

    Originally, ABC reported that Hastert was  under investigation by the FBI.

    Guess all that college edjumacashun must have been wasted because I seem to miss the semantic difference between these statements.

    But, of course, it’s important to remember that Bush was told the levees would be “topped” and not “breached” so that makes doing nothing OK…

  14. SaveFarris says:
    May 25, 2006 at 12:05 pm

    Let’s remember that Brian Ross got his big break blowing up trucks on Dateline.

    http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/dateline_nbc2

    This wouldn’t be the first time he’s invented “news”.

  15. JWG says:
    May 25, 2006 at 12:05 pm

    Guess all that college edjumacashun must have been wasted because I seem to miss the semantic difference between these statements.

    Show me where the article states “The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI…” as quoted by Oliver. It is no longer there. Why not? There must be some semantic difference that required the rewrite. Your wasted education might be closer to the truth than you realize.