# A scummy child-molesting Republican. What a shock. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 9, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738 "2016-04-09T23:43:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/21 "2016-04-10T03:48:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ll admit this completely catches me by surprise. Whatever faults I thought Hastert had, I never suspected he was having sex with teenage boys. Was I out of the loop or did this surprise everyone? By all accounts, this surprised almost everyone EXCEPT the boys he raped. The news reports implied heavily that he was into performing oral sex on straight teenage boys. (vomit smiley) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/22 "2016-04-10T05:30:36Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The random moral failings of politicians don’t reflect on their party unless it’s specifically related to their actions as politicians. Like when those anti-gay crusaders get caught soliticiting gay sex, that’s noteworthy. Or if they used their political power to cover up their crimes, and their party helped them, that may be noteworthy too. But this thread feels like “this guy is a scumbag! see! republicans bad!” which is just lame. And I’m as anti-republican as you can get on these boards. Not necessarily. I think that’s true if considering a particular case in isolation. But if there’s a systematic pattern of a particular party having more than its share of immoral reprobates, and furthermore if that happens to be the party that bills itself as the champion of morality and family values, then one might get the impression that there is something about that party that attracts cynical, unprincipled opportunists. Which is actually quite a satisfying theory for those trying to figure out what the hell is happening in this election cycle! ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/23 "2016-04-10T07:45:27Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > By all accounts, this surprised almost everyone EXCEPT the boys he raped. > > The news reports implied heavily that he was into performing oral sex on straight teenage boys. (vomit smiley) And yet for the same thing Oscar got a posthumous sainthood and consecration as Gay Hero for the Ages. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/24 "2016-04-10T08:14:29Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The random moral failings of politicians don’t reflect on their party unless it’s specifically related to their actions as politicians. Like when those anti-gay crusaders get caught soliticiting gay sex, that’s noteworthy. Or if they used their political power to cover up their crimes, and their party helped them, that may be noteworthy too. But this thread feels like “this guy is a scumbag! see! republicans bad!” which is just lame. And I’m as anti-republican as you can get on these boards. Emphasis mine. Dennis Hastert was heavily involved in the Bill Clinton impeachment. See here - > **[Dennis Hastert Is Being Treated Fairly, According to Dennis Hastert](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/06/dennis-hastert-should-be-prosecuted-the-former-house-speaker-impeached-president-clinton-on-the-same-logic.html)** > > Is Dennis Hastert being unfairly prosecuted? And here - > **[Dennis Hastert, Impeachment, And Why The Clintons Might Not Trust The Press](https://www.mediamatters.org/new-york-times/dennis-hastert-impeachment-and-why-clintons-might-not-trust-press)** At the time that Hastert was molesting these boys, he insisted that the President be impeached for lying under oath. He announced that he would be be moving forward with the impeachment because the President was not above the law and because Clinton’s misconduct was too important to sweep under the rug. Hastert was also involved in covering up for Mark Foley, the Republican congressman who was the head of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children and who was later drummed out for sexually harrassing and propositioning the male House pages. > **[Mark Foley scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Foley_scandal)** > > The Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September 2006, centers on soliciting emails and sexually suggestive instant messages sent by Mark Foley, a Republican congressman from Florida, to teenaged boys who had formerly served as congressional pages. Investigation was closed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) on September 19, 2008 citing insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges as both "Congress and Mr. Foley denied us access to critical data," said FDLE Commissioner... Hastert claims that he wasn’t told about the scandal until September, 2006. However John Boehner and RNC Member Tom Reynold are sure that they’d discussed it months earlier, in 2005. Reynold’s chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, has claimed that he told Hastert’s office back in 2003. > **[Mark Foley scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Foley_scandal#Dennis_Hastert)** > > The Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September 2006, centers on soliciting emails and sexually suggestive instant messages sent by Mark Foley, a Republican congressman from Florida, to teenaged boys who had formerly served as congressional pages. Investigation was closed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) on September 19, 2008 citing insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges as both "Congress and Mr. Foley denied us access to critical data," said FDLE Commissioner... There are dozens of links about this at Wiki, here’s a few more: [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-08-foley\_x.htm](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-08-foley_x.htm) > **[Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's indictment resurrects Mark Foley...](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-hastert-foley-20150608-story.html)** > > Allegations that J. > **[Allegations Cast New Light on Hastert’s Time as Speaker](https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/allegations-cast-new-light-hasterts-time-speaker-n370691)** > > Allegations of sexual misconduct against former House Speaker Dennis Hastert are bringing controversial moments from his time under renewed scrutiny. An interview with one of the pages involved: [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/the-page-who-took-down-the-gop-mark-foley-dennis-hastert-213378](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/the-page-who-took-down-the-gop-mark-foley-dennis-hastert-213378) Hastert is absolutely the latest in a long line of Republican family values candidates who turn out to be indulging dark vices. If you think an anti-gay crusader gettering caught enjoying gay sex is noteworthy, then a congressional child molester caught covering up for another congressional predator is absolutely headline news. Hastert, by the by, denied any wrong doing in the Foley scandal and refused to resign. The Republicans, while censuring him in their report on the mess, never called for his impeachment. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/25 "2016-04-10T09:36:34Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The random moral failings of politicians don’t reflect on their party unless it’s specifically related to their actions as politicians. Like when those anti-gay crusaders get caught soliticiting gay sex, that’s noteworthy… But this thread feels like “this guy is a scumbag! see! republicans bad!” which is just lame. And I’m as anti-republican as you can get on these boards. Your complaint would make more sense if it weren’t for the fact that _ **Hastert did indeed actively push anti-Gay legislation as a Congressman.** _ And if felony rape and molestation — albeit with the statute of limitations now expired — doesn’t go beyond your “random moral failing”, then what would? Murder? Treason? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/26 "2016-04-10T10:17:32Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The random moral failings of politicians don’t reflect on their party unless it’s specifically related to their actions as politicians. Like when those anti-gay crusaders get caught soliticiting gay sex, that’s noteworthy. Or if they used their political power to cover up their crimes, and their party helped them, that may be noteworthy too. But this thread feels like “this guy is a scumbag! see! republicans bad!” which is just lame. And I’m as anti-republican as you can get on these boards. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > That’s pretty much my thoughts as well. Hastert was a schmuck, and now it turns out he was a molesting schmuck, but I don’t think that’s related to his party affiliation. This one of the guys who impeached Bill Clinton for sexual misconduct. Let’s see… Clinton got his weenie sucked by an adult woman old enough to consent to sexual contact. It was skeevy, but not illegal. Meanwhile, Hastert was _molesting underage boys_. Something not only skeevy (to put it mildly) but also illegal. Under current laws that makes Hastert a sexual predator as well as a hypocrite. Let Hastert rot in jail, where he belongs. Screw him and his “I’m old I’m feeble” bullshit. The man is scum. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/27 "2016-04-10T10:49:35Z")
Well the OP sure could’ve made a better case for it. The title of this thread is a tribalistic shitpost (it doesn’t even say Hastert, it just says a republican) and no context was provided by the OP. We rate the quality of pittings, right? I’m sure you could make a good pitting out of this, but this OP did not do so at all. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/28 "2016-04-10T11:12:45Z")
The ironic part is that Hastert became Speaker almost directly due to the GOP’s impeachment of Clinton over his (consensual, adult) liaison with Monica Lewinsky. Once they committed to impeaching Clinton, the adulterous affairs of Newt Gingrich and Bob Livingston (the initial candidate to be Newt’s successor as Speaker) were a problem, so they got ditched, and they brought in Hastert to be Tom DeLay’s figurehead as Speaker. And then a few years later, as noted by **Merneith** , Hastert tried to keep the lid on GOP Congresscritter Mark Foley’s sexual harassment of House pages. And as a side effect, when Bob Livingston’s resigned from the House, the man we now know as ‘Diaper Dave’ Vitter was elected to his House seat, and later to the Senate. Is either party worse than the other with respect to stuff like this? I have no idea. But (a) only one party holds itself up as the ‘family values’ party (and sexual morality is what that label is all about), and (b) that was a hell of a lot of rather un-family-values shit going on in a small space. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/29 "2016-04-10T11:17:38Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > At the time that Hastert was molesting these boys, he insisted that the President be impeached for lying under oath. Ford? Or Carter? 🙂 Hastert needs to go to jail, for a long, long time. It’s too bad that his crimes when he was a wrestling coach cannot be prosecuted. I agree that his actions as a politician show hypocrisy of the highest order. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/30 "2016-04-10T11:48:50Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > Hastert was blowing the teenaged boys, no? Yes, in the rape sense of blowing. But he’s sorry for his “transgressions,” says his lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/31 "2016-04-10T13:41:29Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Of course, I’m sure I’ll be told he’s not a “true Republican”. > > Or this is “old news, never mind, look away” > > Or, it’s all OK, since he said “sorry” > > Or that since he’s not actually being convicted of having the little boys suck his old wrinkled phallus, then that never actually occurred. Because someone has to be actually convicted of a crime, and exhausted all appeals before it ever actually happened. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Are you pitting Hastert, or some imaginary posters on the MB? I can get behind (ha!) the pitting of the former. Yes, apparent scumbag. You lose, though, when you throw out a whole series of straw men complaints. Wait until someone actually makes those arguments before you go off on them. > [@dropzone](#): > > Why, **John**? They’ll be along soon, anyway. The first three are questionable enough in predictability that I agree with **John** that we shouldn’t strawman them. But the last one is quite predictable and is fair game IMO. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/32 "2016-04-10T14:42:11Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > This one of the guys who impeached Bill Clinton for sexual misconduct. Ugh, not this again. No one impeached Clinton “for sexual misconduct”. You need to let that meme go. > [@Ludovic](#): > > The first three are questionable enough in predictability that I agree with **John** that we shouldn’t strawman them. But the last one is quite predictable and is fair game IMO. You could be right, but is once you put it out there like that, you can’t claim to have predicted it if someone does come in with that comment. You invited it in. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/33 "2016-04-10T15:16:16Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > And yet for the same thing Oscar got a posthumous sainthood and consecration as Gay Hero for the Ages. Who’s Oscar? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/34 "2016-04-10T15:22:03Z")
Wilde. And it’s true that I don’t think people feel the same need to put a “Eww, that’s gross, everyone notice I think that’s TOTALLY DISGUSTING” disclaimer in front of accounts that someone was having coercive sex with teenage girls, and that vaguely bugs me. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/35 "2016-04-10T15:47:14Z")
Jared Fogle was a liberal who met Obama & Michelle at the White House!! All Democrats are Pedophiles!!! My team wins!! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/36 "2016-04-10T15:52:32Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Jared Fogle was a liberal who met Obama & Michelle at the White House!! > > All Democrats are Pedophiles!!! > > My team wins!! Jared Fogle was the esteemed Congressman from where, again? :rolleyes: Does your team know you escaped from the basement without permission again? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/37 "2016-04-10T16:12:40Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Jared Fogle was a liberal who met Obama & Michelle at the White House!! > > All Democrats are Pedophiles!!! > > My team wins!! I mean… I was criticizing that the OP was dumb, and here you come making an even dumber post than the OP strawmanned. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/38 "2016-04-10T16:14:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Jared Fogle was the esteemed Congressman from where, again? :rolleyes: > > Does your team know you escaped from the basement without permission again? None of them are home on Sunday mornings, because Jeebus. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/39 "2016-04-10T17:36:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Are you pitting Hastert, or some imaginary posters on the MB? I can get behind (ha!) the pitting of the former. Yes, apparent scumbag. You lose, though, when you throw out a whole series of straw men complaints. Wait until someone actually makes those arguments before you go off on them. I prefer to think of them as predictions of future behavior… Based on past performance on this very message board. Along the lines of “don’t try this shit, because we’ve seen it before” Of course,that did not stop someone from trying that exact shit anyway. (waves at **Stringbean** ) So think of this as a multi-purpose pitting; Hastert for being a judgemental hypocritical child-abusing asshole, while at the same time pretending to be a family values politician, And Those posters here who use the aforementioned tactics to “defend” judgemental hypocritical child-abusing assholes. I guess I’ll add another type of poster to the list; Those who try to ignore the issue with the judgemental hypocritical child-abusing assholes, while trying to focus instead on the failings of the original pit-post in the first place. Sorry to have missed that one. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738/40 "2016-04-10T17:44:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Ugh, not this again. No one impeached Clinton “for sexual misconduct”. You need to let that meme go. You need to let go of your insistence. Just like you need to let go of your incessant, and useless and boring and wrong, both-sides-ism. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scummy-child-molesting-republican-what-a-shock/751738.md?page=3)