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Tin Foil Hats

ArchPundit October 16, 2006 1 Comment

It’s nice to see Democrats helping the Republican fantasy talking points along:

Last spring Mahoney was a country club Republican believing in none of our values and sharing in none of our dreams. Then Rahm, knowing full well that Foley was an out of control pedophile who might slip up, promised him a good shot at a cushy, lucrative congressional seat. And all he’d have to do would be to make a switch on a piece of paper at the registrar’s office and declare that he’s a registered Democrat instead of a registered Republican. That’s Rahm Emanuel’s kind of candidate.

Let’s remind everyone that there is no evidence that Rahm knew anything about Foley until after the press hit the story–and in fact, Hastert kept the information from even the Democratic members of the committee overseeing the Page program….

Criticizing Rahm is fine. I’m critical of some of his decisions and I understand many who are far more critical. However, doing the Republicans bidding is usually what many progressives argue the DLC is doing. Explain to me how Klein isn’t doing it.

Hastert’s National Numbers Steady

ArchPundit October 12, 2006 No Comments

Survey USA shows just abotu the same numbers as in previous days. The issue then being that his numbers are pretty stable and pretty bad and he’s largely sidelined for the campaign.

Speaking of Kooks and the Speaker

ArchPundit October 12, 2006 No Comments

His meeting with this televangelist is hysterical.

That Crack Kerry Team

ArchPundit October 12, 2006 2 Comments

Missing something John?

Dear Larry,

It’s like a meeting of the “no accountability” caucus of the Republican Party. Tonight in Chicago, George W. Bush and House Speaker Denny Hastert will appear side-by-side campaigning for Republican candidates.
And, if you think Republicans can’t dance, wait until you see 2006 candidates waltz away from the dreaded prospect of being caught in a photo op between the President and the Speaker of the House.

“Woulda. Shoulda. Coulda.”

That was Denny Hastert’s instinctive response to questions about why the Republican leadership hadn’t done more to protect young congressional pages in the Mark Foley scandal. Those are the words of a politician and a party who have made a habit of ignoring the facts, ducking responsibility, and avoiding accountability.

Woulda stopped the corruption of Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, and Duke Cunningham. Coulda forced President Bush to abandon his destructive “stay the course” policy in Iraq. Shoulda cared about something other than cynically holding onto power.

Too late now, Denny. We’ve had enough. That’s why we’ve added John Laesch, your Democratic opponent and a former Navy intelligence analyst, to our October slate of veterans running for Congress.

Rush a contribution to our veteran candidates right now.

What better way to respond to the Bush-Hastert get-together in Chicago than rushing contributions to five veterans running in races that can finally break the Republican grip on power. This isn’t the October Denny Hastert and George Bush had in mind.

They thought they’d have Democratic candidates on the run… burying our hopes in an avalanche of special interest money… stealing our momentum with bogus “soft on terrorism” charges.

Speaker Hastert was planning a victory march from one congressional district to another. That’s until one Republican candidate after another begged him to stay home and not bring the debate about his shameful failures of leadership into their races.

Now, with your help, John Laesch can bring that debate into Hastert’s own congressional race. Make Denny Hastert explain himself to the people of Illinois’ 14th District. And help our four other veterans running in some of the closest, must-win races in the country.

Rush a contribution to our veteran candidates right now.

Don’t just support John Laesch’s run against Hastert. Tell Patrick Murphy in Pennsylvania that you won’t tolerate Republican attempts to “swift-boat” him by disparaging his service to our country.

Tell Leonard Boswell in Iowa that you won’t let him be thrown off course by hundreds of thousands of dollars in ads funded by the Texas millionaire who was behind the Republicans’ 2004 “swift-boat” attack strategy.

Help Lee Ballenger in South Carolina stand up to the flood of special interest money pouring into his opponent’s campaign from powerful oil and gas interests. And help Colonel Mike Weaver continue his surge in Kentucky with a campaign that tells the truth about the Bush fiasco in Iraq.

Rush a contribution to our veteran candidates right now.

Denny Hastert has been the longest-running Republican speaker in history. But in 25 days, we can take the gavel out of his hands — and the smirk off George W. Bush’s face. Don’t back down. Don’t stop working.

Rush your support now to as many of our five veteran candidates as you possibly can.

Together we’ll win.

John Kerry

I think I can name another relevant veteran candidate related to this fundraiser….

Gee, how did this guy lose.

Click on the link above to correct John’s stupidity.

Will on Hastert

ArchPundit October 9, 2006 6 Comments

Beautiful:

“We have a story to tell, and the Democrats have — in my view have — put this thing forward to try to block us from telling the story. They’re trying to put us on defense.”

It is difficult to read that as other than an accusation: He seems to be not just confessing a coverup but also complaining that the coverup was undone by bad manners. Were it not for Democrats’ unsportsmanlike conduct in putting “this thing” forward, it would not be known and would not be disrupting Republicans’ storytelling.

What if a Principal Had done the same as Shimkus?

ArchPundit October 7, 2006 No Comments

Patty Wetterling’s whole address is here

Foley sent obvious predatory signals, received loud and clear by members of the congressional leadership, who swept them under the rug to protect their political power.

If a teacher did this and the principal was told but did nothing, once the community found out, that principal would be fired.

If this happened in a church and the minister received information and he did nothing, he?d be fired.

Congressional leaders shouldn?t be held to a lower standard than what we expect of our community leaders.

And these two clowns were high school teachers. There is no excuse.

Secrecy is the common ingredient in all child sexual abuse. When we have reason to believe someone is sexually abusing a child, we must act. When a child has the courage to come forward, we must not become part of the secret. We must make the protection of our children the highest priority.

Having worked worked with young people who were preyed upon and having to stop doing that for my own mental health as I got too angry everytime, this is what anyone who works with kids this age knows. You also know the warning signs and Foley, even in the most innocuous e-mails released, clearly demonstrates several.

It’s one thing to make the initial mistake though. It’s horrible, but people are human. The problem is we don’t have the full story and no one seems to interested in telling us what that is. The odd timing of the House Clerk’s departure and his silence had certainly be for some reason I cannot discern becuase if it inolves Shimkus and this situation, Shimkus is going to be in very deep hot water.