October 05, 2006

What Would it Take?

My irritation with the current GOP leadership is a worse kept secret than Mark Foley's wierd sexual proclivities. And, like any other rational conservative/libertarian, my willingness to criticize the GOP leadership is tempered by the knowledge that the Democrats (a/k/a "The Evil Party") would almost certainly make a mess of things in the House of Representatives if they took control from the Republicans (a/k/a "The Stupid Party"). God forbid they take the Senate as well. That would be very bad.

How bad?

Well, try to imagine every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light and all life as we know it ceasing to exist.

Well, okay, maybe not that bad, but pretty bad, nonetheless.

Even so, I think each of us needs to ask himself how far he is willing to carry water to save Dennis Hastert. What revelation would be too much? I'd imagine we'd all be willing to bail on Hastert if, for example, a cop found a dead hooker in the back seat of Hastert's car.

I'm pretty sure there is a point, for each of us, somewhere on the continuum between "completely ignorant of any problem" on the one end, and "no, officer, I do not have a valid permit for that dead hooker," at which each of us would be willing to withdraw support for Hastert.

For me, that point lies somewhere around "Well, we kinda knew Mark Foley had a habit of getting 'wierd-ish' with the young boys, but we were busy with other stuff at the time, and we hoped it would just go away." Yes, that's a dramatization, but I predict the facts will ultimately bear it out. (I'm sure I'll get beaten up for that one.)

If (<<< note the word "if") Dennis Hastert knew that Mark Foley had a tendency toward the wierdness (a la Jacko) with the young boys, and Hastert took no action to address the problem, that says an awful lot to me about the man's character and the quality of his leadership. Then again, it's not as if we NEEDED more evidence of the quality of Hastert's leadership. We've already had eight years to observe the man in action. This is only the latest chapter in a long story. At which point does one say "enough is enough?"

Some are characterizing opposition to the current leadership as "spineless," and asserted that Hastert's critics are "pissing themselves" in fear, and need some Midol. Think this through, folks. We're opposing the leadership and what presently appears to be the majority of the Party... and yet we're the ones who are "spineless?" We're unwilling to accept the position that a Democrat-controlled House would not be exactly the same thing as the coming of the Apocalypse, and yet we're the ones who are "terrified" and "pissing" ourselves?

I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.

UPDATE: Darth Misha answers thusly:

The moment any actual concrete evidence (as opposed to rumors, innuendo and speculation, which is all we have at this point) surfaces proving that Hastert knew but chose not to do anything, His Majesty will throw Dennis under the friggin’ bus so bloody fast that the theory of relativity may come into play.

Posted by: Ragnar at 11:09 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 402 words, total size 3 kb.

1 "Well, try to imagine every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light and all life as we know it ceasing to exist."

Actually, the quote is:

"Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."

Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon Ragnar.

;-)



Posted by: Good Lt at October 05, 2006 11:30 AM (lvyez)

2 I have this dream, every so often, that every incumbent running for reelection loses - either in the primary or the general (I know, we're at a point where there is only one option).  Every time the thought crosses my mind, I smile.

And no, I don't really care, much anyway, which party controls the House or the Senate.  Neither seems all that interested in winning, let alone winning the right way.

Posted by: KG at October 05, 2006 11:51 AM (AC0TE)

3 I'm much more concerned with the War on Terror than I am with this latest October Surprise. For that reason, I actually am concerned about Democratic control of the House and Senate. That's because Dems have made their intentions very clear: attempted impeachment of Bush and endless investigations are the least of it. The real damage will come with suspension of interrogations of captured al Qaeda, suspension of NSA surveillance programs, and worst of all, return to the pre-9/11 mentality of treating terrorism as a criminal matter, to be referred, no doubt, to the local police.
 
Forgive me for not sharing your-oh-so-fashionable cynicism, but one party has proved they're serious in protecting this country; the other has proved the opposite.

Posted by: The Dread Pundit Bluto at October 05, 2006 12:05 PM (vBK4C)

4 I'm with Misha I on this one.

Posted by: Good Lt at October 05, 2006 12:30 PM (lvyez)

5 There is always a cleaning bill to be paid when a house is kept dirty.  What counts is the verifiable actions Hastert took when he got word Foley was a potential perv. It appears he can't verify any action. Just as Foley thought he was untouchable, so too it appears did Hastert which now can really hurt the GOP and most likely will. I bet there isn't one shred of evidence that Hastert even made any inquiries, let alone any action. If the Dems prevail, we can't cry.

Posted by: goesh at October 05, 2006 12:36 PM (1w6Ud)

6 Oh, please.

There is nothing we know Hastert was advised of which would have allowed any significant action under House rules.  Fordham is attempting to cover his own butt after carrying water for Foley for years.

Is Hastert weak and ineffectual?  You betcha!  And we more or less knew that going in, didn't we?  He was never supposed to be more than a caretaker-compromise Speaker after the fall of Gingrich; the matter of succession just didn't get resolved as it should have, and he settled in for the longest service of any GOP Speaker.

We can get rid of him as soon as another candidate builds enough support, BUT to throw him to Democratic wolves five weeks before an election would be the worst possible way to do it.  The nation would suffer greatly if Democrats are allowed any grip on power during these times of war.

Sheath the long knives for a few weeks, win the damned election, and then dump Hastert.  Never throw red meat to the moonbats.

Posted by: Jim Addison at October 05, 2006 01:30 PM (+5cfd)

7 Yeah, it's the Democrats who are the predators!

All this talk about "accountability" and "protecting minors" from "known offenders" is just traitor talk for Democrat appeasement of the Islamo-fascist socialist liberal threat.

Posted by: Rhyleh at October 05, 2006 02:14 PM (Q+ifs)

8 What evidence do you have that democratic controlled congress would be such a terrible thing beyond mere speculation?



Dont you cretins know what checks and balances mean?  That the
root of the US's problems occur when one party controls every branch of
goverment?



Think beyond your reptilian brainstem for once and see what a freaking
mess our country is in because of brilliant republican
leadership.  What have they accomplished in these last 6 years
beyond a back breaking war, failed negotiations with Korea, failed
domestic policies, corruption, attacks on civil liberties and privacy
and now pedophilia? 



The catholic church has a better record than your piggish republican leaders.

Posted by: WormSplat at October 05, 2006 04:55 PM (heS+8)

9 Bluto sez: Forgive me for not sharing your-oh-so-fashionable cynicism, but one
party has proved they're serious in protecting this country; the other
has proved the opposite.

Gleep! sez: Now if only the "one party that's serious" could give us unwashed masses even the slightest indication they were up to the task. But alas, witness the continually failing record on display, most recently by the NIE revelations that we are actually LESS safe now than we were on September 12, 2001.

Posted by: Gleep! at October 05, 2006 06:07 PM (RqYFa)

10 Those NIE reports were forged by Democrats! You're a traitor! Never forget 9/11!

Posted by: Rhyleh at October 05, 2006 07:43 PM (Q+ifs)

11 Oh, also add to that House Armed Services Chair John Warner (R) just returned from Iraq ... he calls the situation "far worse than several months ago — which wasn't good." Another traitor, I suppose. Looks like they'r everywhere, tinfoil hat.

Posted by: Gleep! at October 05, 2006 09:28 PM (RqYFa)

12 9/11, 9/11, 911!

Posted by: Rhyleh at October 06, 2006 01:01 AM (Q+ifs)

13 Flag, flag, flag, flag, flg, flag, flag!!!!!!!

Posted by: Gleep! at October 06, 2006 08:29 AM (UHKaK)

14 I would like to see a new option or choice when voting. In addition to the canidates running for elective office I would like to see as a choice.

Making that selection would state that in that race for elective office I have chosen to exercise my right of franchise and decided that none of the selections offered are worthy to occupy that position of elective office. (which would be truly interesting if the incumbent was running unopposed for example)

If gets more votes than the next contender, or even the sole person running for that office then that election must be held again within 30 days and in that re-election anyone who was on the ballot and 'defeated' by would be ineligible to be on the ballot of the new election.

Certain safeguards would have to be enacted. Changing your legal name to None of the Above for example would be ruled out. But it would still be an interesting commentary about the political system and fun to watch as the various campaigns tried to nominate or bring out a new candidate in the short period of time before the new election.

And it just might get folks out to bother to vote.

Posted by: Mike Boelter at October 06, 2006 09:43 AM (MQCR1)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Comments are disabled. Post is locked.
39kb generated in CPU 0.0148, elapsed 0.0921 seconds.
34 queries taking 0.0839 seconds, 169 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.