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.
[…]
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.”
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.








