# It's all over for Hastert but the funeral dirge
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 6, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472 "2006-10-06T04:42:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/1 "2006-10-06T04:42:31Z")
With a little help from his friends…
[Internal Poll Suggests Hastert Could Devastate GOP](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,218043,00.html)
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/2 "2006-10-06T04:47:21Z")
Yup. If he doesn’t resign, he’ll get fired from the speaker gig. Hoping for a good fight, and a GoP meltdown…
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/3 "2006-10-06T04:56:22Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> Yup. If he doesn’t resign, he’ll get fired from the speaker gig. Hoping for a good fight, and a GoP meltdown…
I’m sure there’s some _serious_ arm-twisting going on behind the GOP scenes right now. Hastert will resign within a week.
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### Author:  [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/4 "2006-10-06T05:03:06Z")
Foley has to be one of the biggest idiots ever for doing what he did. Nevertheless, as soon as it all broke he didn’t initially proclaim innocence, string it out and then resign after his position became untennable (like so many others have).
Hastert, on the other hand, is an even bigger idiot. He can’t see that this isn’t going away and he is trying to save himself. He’s doomed, too stupid to see it and won’t cut his losses. He’s going to choke on his own vomit.
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/5 "2006-10-06T05:34:09Z")
> [@Spartydog](#):
>
> Foley has to be one of the biggest idiots ever for doing what he did. Nevertheless, as soon as it all broke he didn’t initially proclaim innocence, string it out and then resign after his position became untennable (like so many others have).
Actually, he did try to weasel out of it. He knew that ABC had the emails, and tried to write them off as “overly friendly” communications. ABC then produced the IM’s, and Foley folded. Don’t give him credit he doesn’t deserve.
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/6 "2006-10-06T07:17:22Z")
At the moment, the thread right below this one is titled: “Help me use a chainsaw correctly”.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/7 "2006-10-06T08:30:30Z")
Bush came out today in support of Hastert.
Usually, that means the guy is toast. However, in this administration, normal rules need not apply…
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/8 "2006-10-06T08:46:34Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> [Internal Poll Suggests Hastert Could Devastate GOP](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,218043,00.html)
You know that the pesky Liberal media will say anything to discredit Republicans 😉
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/9 "2006-10-06T10:44:26Z")
> [@link](#):
>
> “And the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss.”
**Blissful sigh**
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### Author:  [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/10 "2006-10-06T11:05:23Z")
They were talking about this on NBC last night. The thought amongst the republicans seems to be that if Hastert resigns, it would magnify the scandal. I think that’s true to a point. If he resigned, it would be a major media event and the story would stay in the news for a little while longer. On the other hand, if Hastert resigned the republicans could say that all parties involved had been punished and they could try to move on.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/11 "2006-10-06T11:14:50Z")
I think there’s a kernel of truth in each of the arguments Harborwolf referred to. But it seems to me there isn’t just handwriting on the wall, there’s flashing neon lights surrounded by strobes saying “Hastert cannot continue as Speaker”. What is going to devastate the Republicans isn’t the actions of Foley, it’s the continued denial by Hastert that he knew about it for years. If the investigation reveals this not to be true, then the Republicans are going to have to pay for Hastert’s stubbornness.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/12 "2006-10-06T11:34:02Z")
I think Hastert is simply praying that something else will happen to dominate the news.
Where is a runaway bride when you need one?
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/13 "2006-10-06T12:34:09Z")
> [@dalej42](#):
>
> I think Hastert is simply praying that something else will happen to dominate the news.
>
> Where is a runaway bride when you need one?
[He loves the smell of toxic fumes in the morning.](http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/06/plant.fire/index.html)
Daniel
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/14 "2006-10-06T14:49:23Z")
> [@Spartydog](#):
>
> Foley has to be one of the biggest idiots ever for doing what he did. Nevertheless, as soon as it all broke he didn’t initially proclaim innocence, string it out and then resign after his position became untennable (like so many others have).
>
> Hastert, on the other hand, is an even bigger idiot. He can’t see that this isn’t going away and he is trying to save himself. He’s doomed, too stupid to see it and won’t cut his losses. He’s going to choke on his own vomit.
And now Hastert’s waited too long; Foley’s used up all the good excuses. Hastert will be stuck with, “um…the dog ate my…integrity.”
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### Author:  [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/15 "2006-10-06T15:28:43Z")
Yeah, :rolleyes:
I’m no Republican, but this whole “scandal” is such obvious posturing and mock outrage it makes me physically ill.
They’ve shown Hastert knew about the NON-SEXUAL emails, to my knowledge no one has shown he knew anything about the IMs until ABC got them.
And of course it’s HORRIBLE that a Congressman traded explicit IMs with a page, but actually fucking one in the ass is okay. Oh but that was 20 years ago! Because that means something? If anything social acceptance of homosexuality has grown in that time. But it was consensual! Oh, I guess that training I got in sexual harassment about there being no such thing as consensual sex when one person holds all the power was bullshit.
Foley is a despicable piece of shit but let’s not hang the entire Republican Party over behavior that only offends those of the opposite political party when it is convenient for them.
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### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/16 "2006-10-06T15:56:29Z")
> [@August West](#):
>
> Foley is a despicable piece of shit but let’s not hang the entire Republican Party over behavior that only offends those of the opposite political party when it is convenient for them.
Oddly enough, all the Republicans I know are offended by the entire Republican Party because their brain-dead supporters (Rush, Drudge, etc.) keep waving around _completely unrelated_ incidents of other scandals – as if that makes _this_ scandal any less despicable.
Oooh! Other congressmen once had sex with pages! Bill Clinton got a BJ in the Oval Office! Look! Ninjas!
Foley harassed minors who were working for Congress, and in so doing he violated a law that _he_ passed. Hasturt knew that Foley had questionable contact with a minor, so much so that the minor’s parents had been involved – and Hasturt did _nothing_. And there’s no point in addressing scandals and events that have no bearing on what is going on now.
What really gets my goat is suggestions thatthat Democrats somehow planned all this scandal. Please. No matter how the Republican spinmasters and talking points try, no one in this country is going to believe that the Democrats managed to get their sh\*t together to do _anything_ effective. We’ve all _seen_ how effective they’ve been over the last 6 years.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/17 "2006-10-06T16:14:20Z")
It ain’t over until the fat [del]lady[/del] man sings.
Um, ah, it ain’t over until the fat man sings [well](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7KSGzI-_V8) !
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/18 "2006-10-06T16:18:28Z")
> [@August West](#):
>
> Yeah, :rolleyes:
>
> I’m no Republican, but this whole “scandal” is such obvious posturing and mock outrage it makes me physically ill.
>
> They’ve shown Hastert knew about the NON-SEXUAL emails, to my knowledge no one has shown he knew anything about the IMs until ABC got them.
The nonsexual emails:
1. Involved a grown man asking a teenager for his photograph (would YOU ask a teenager you weren’t related to for a photograph?)
2. In a way that really creeped out the teenager,
3. and referenced a second teenager who had also been hit on by the grown man,
4. and referenced a third teenager who had warned the first one about the grown man.
Hastert knew about all of that. He didn’t:
-Call law enforcement,
-Talk to the folks who headed up the page program, or even
-Talk to the teenagers.
Instead, he called the grown man, got his story, and left it at that.
> [@](#):
>
> And of course it’s HORRIBLE that a Congressman traded explicit IMs with a page, but actually fucking one in the ass is okay. Oh but that was 20 years ago!
Thirty three, but who’s counting? (It was revealed 23 years ago).
> [@](#):
>
> Because that means something? If anything social acceptance of homosexuality has grown in that time. But it was consensual! Oh, I guess that training I got in sexual harassment about there being no such thing as consensual sex when one person holds all the power was bullshit.
Uh, yeah, it was bullshit. Nonconsensual sex is rape, not sexual harassment. If that’s actually the training you got, the trainers should be fired.
Daniel
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### Author:  [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/19 "2006-10-06T16:25:43Z")
> [@Lightray](#):
>
> Oooh! Other congressmen once had sex with pages! Bill Clinton got a BJ in the Oval Office! Look! Ninjas!
Leave me out of this! I never even hit on teenage boys when I was a teenage girl!
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### Author:  [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-over-for-hastert-but-the-funeral-dirge/375472/20 "2006-10-06T16:31:47Z")
> [@August West](#):
>
> Yeah, :rolleyes:
>
> I’m no Republican, but this whole “scandal” is such obvious posturing and mock outrage it makes me physically ill.
>
> They’ve shown Hastert knew about the NON-SEXUAL emails, to my knowledge no one has shown he knew anything about the IMs until ABC got them.
Have you read those “non-sexual” emails? [Citizensforethics.org](http://Citizensforethics.org) has them online, and while it’s true that they are non-sexual, it’s also true that they are very very very creepy, as the response of one of the pages shows: “sick sick sick sick sick”.
> [@](#):
>
> And of course it’s HORRIBLE that a Congressman traded explicit IMs with a page, but actually fucking one in the ass is okay.
Gerry Studds was censured by the House in a vote 420-3. The Democratic leadership did not ignore potentially incriminating evidence with Stubbs; when the revelation of sexual transgression came to light, they joined the Republicans in the censure vote.
> [@](#):
>
> Foley is a despicable piece of shit but let’s not hang the entire Republican Party over behavior that only offends those of the opposite political party when it is convenient for them.
I don’t know of anybody trying to hang the entire Republican party. It’s the Republican leadership that is going to hang, and rightly so. This is hardly the worst of their sins, but if their lack of scrutiny over their own sexual predators is finally what takes them down, then so be it.
And on preview, **Dorkness** once again describes everything best.
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