Hastert is out

It's official, and it's imminent. Former Speaker of the House Jabba the Hutt Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is resigning. He's scheduled to give his farewell remarks this afternoon.

Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, Denny. Then again, how can it miss?

Today's Daily Schadenfreude: the Republican Party

It seems almost uncivil to select the Republican Party, or Republicans in general, for the Daily Schadenfreude award twice in one week. But, as you know if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, I'm fucking uncivil. So, let's point and laugh one more time at the disintegrating, rotting carcass of the Republican Party, represented today by two notable departures.

First, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is leaving Congress before the end of his term to die hit the buffet at Sizzler do something undisclosed.

The Illinois Republican had announced in August he would not seek re-election in 2008, but indicated he planned to finish his current term, which ends in January 2009. Republican aides, speaking on background only because Hastert had not publicly announced his new plans, said he now has told colleagues he intends to leave office late this year or early next year.

Also today, we've learned that batshit crazy fundie Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) (right, visiting fellow Republicans) will be pulling the plug on his failed presidential campaign tomorrow.

Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, the Kansas conservative who struggled to raise money and gain recognition in the 2008 presidential campaign, will drop out on Friday, people close to him said Thursday.

Money was a main reason for his decision, said one person close to Brownback who requested anonymity because the candidate had not yet announced his plans. Brownback is expected [to] announce his withdrawal in Topeka, Kan.

[...]

As recently as last week, Brownback indicated he would keep campaigning through Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses in January, saying he would exit the race if he finished worse than fourth there.

But his fundraising has sagged. Reports released Monday showed that of the eight Republican candidates, Brownback was seventh in fundraising from July through September and had a mere $94,000 cash on hand, less than any of his rivals. Brownback raised nearly $4 million overall and was eligible for $2 million in federal matching funds.

He spent a good chunk of his money on the Iowa straw poll, an early test of strength whose significance diminished after Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani decided not to compete. He finished third in the August contest behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Besides money, Brownback was hurt because he supports a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, an issue that angers conservatives who influence voting in Iowa and other states that are struggling to provide education, medical care and other services to an influx of immigrants in recent years.

So, we get to wave goodbye to a couple of truly odious wingnuts. Granted, we won't necessarily be rid of Brownback, but here's hoping the good people of Kansas, whose choice of a Democratic governor (Kathleen Sebelius) proves that they have some sense, will retain that sense when Brownback, as planned, runs for governor there in 2010.

Meanwhile, to the Republican Party, as you bid adieu to these two warts, I heartily congratulate you, for today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!

Daily Schadenfreude, weekend edition: Jabba the Hutt Dennis Hastert

The Mark Foley scandal continues to be front-page news - literally - here in his home county.

In an exhaustive exposé published today summarizing the House ethics committee report on the Foley matter, the Palm Beach Post reveals in detail how House Speaker Dennis Hastert deliberately turned a blind eye to the unfolding scandal, about which he likely knew as early as 2002.

Staffer says House speaker brought 'into the loop'

[Hastert counsel Ted] Van Der Meid wasn't the only top Hastert aide allegedly told about Foley.

[Assistant House clerk Jeff] Trandahl and [Foley chief of staff Kirk] Fordham testified that they agreed in late 2002 or early 2003 to approach Scott Palmer, Hastert's chief of staff, about Foley. Fordham said he called Palmer and set up a meeting in a Capitol conference room.

Fordham told Palmer he'd received calls from Trandahl's office and that "there seems to be a chronic problem with my boss's attention to pages and young staffers" and that he needed help dealing with the problem.

"My plea to him was sort of that we needed to figure out a way to send a message to Mark that would be clear, that there were other eyes keeping an eye on him when he was interacting with pages, so that perhaps if he knew ... that it wasn't just me calling him on this, that there were other people in the leadership that were aware, that this was in fact something that he needed to correct," Fordham testified.

Fordham said he asked Palmer if he or Hastert would speak to Foley about the issue.
"I knew that if one of them had talked to Mark that the message certainly would have gotten through to Mark. That it would have shaken him up a bit," Fordham testified.

A day or two later, Palmer told Fordham by telephone that he'd spoken with Foley and that Foley "understood the message," the report said. "Fordham testified that Palmer also said he had 'brought the speaker into the loop.' "

Later, Page Board chairman Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) met with Foley and advised him to stop his repeated inappropriate contact with pages. Shimkus deliberately kept the lone Democratic member of the Page Board unaware of the growing scandal:

Shimkus told fellow Page Board member Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., that he didn't involve her or the third member, Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan, in the discussions because Kildee was "a nice guy, but he's a Democrat, and I was afraid it would be blown out of proportion[.]"

But the buck stops at the Speaker's office:

[Rep. Rodney] Alexander [(R-La.)] said he warned [Hastert deputy chief of staff Mike] Stokke of the renewed media interest and in brief conversations on the House floor informed House Majority Leader John Boehner [(R-Ohio)] and Rep. Tom Reynolds [(R-N.Y.)], chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Alexander said Boehner indicated, "Okay, we will handle it."

Boehner testified that within a half-hour "he briefed Speaker Hastert on the matter on the House floor and that Speaker Hastert said that the matter 'has been taken care of,' " the report said.

Reynolds also told the panel that he personally told Hastert that Alexander had indicated a page had received some overly friendly e-mails from Foley, but the parents didn't want anything further to happen. He said he mentioned the matter in a meeting that included many other topics and that Hastert did not comment.

Hastert told the ethics panel he didn't recall the conversations with Boehner or Reynolds.

Harper's also decided against running the story, but the writer passed the e-mails "to several people who were in a position to share them with other media outlets," the report said.

The facts are clear. At the very least, Dennis Hastert obstructed justice, and his inaction in the face of the emerging scandal demonstrates an appalling lack of oversight and good judgment.

Hastert deserved to lose his speakership, and the ethics committee report shows that he also ought to lose his seat in Congress. So, Dennis Hastert, for your unmitigated hypocrisy and horrific leadership, this weekend's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!

If something that's nothing ends, does it make a sound?

The 109th Congress, the "most useless Congress in modern times" according to Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.), drew the curtain on its activity in the wee hours this morning.

As often is the case in the waning hours, the congressional session ended with a mad rush to deal with untended business.

In the long final day, ending around 4:40 a.m. EST in the Senate, the two chambers passed a massive tax and trade bill, prevented the government from shutting down and approved dozens of other bills. They included an important fisheries management measure; a bill allowing civilian nuclear technology transfers to India; and bills to fund programs to combat AIDS, pandemic diseases and premature births.

You think the Republicans are finally getting the message that they're not so "conservative" after all?

[One] bill also renewed, with increased federal contributions, a program dealing with abandoned coal mines and the health issues of former miners.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said the legislation would shift $4 billion in health care costs from the coal companies to the taxpayers, and criticized his own party for failing to check indiscriminate federal spending. "We're supposed to be the party of fiscal discipline and we haven't been," he said.

And the Quote of the Day goes to Rep. Obey, as I teased above:

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., who will become House Appropriations Committee chairman when the Democrats take over, said the bill was "a blatant admission of abject failure by the most useless Congress in modern times."

Democrats also pointed out that the House met only 102 days this session, fewer than the 110 days of the maligned "do-nothing" Congress of the Truman presidency.

Perhaps since Googling "miserable failure" brings you to Chimpy's bio, maybe "abject failure" should be, say, Dennis Hastert's bio.

At least Jabba got to hang with Carrie Fisher

Whither Dennis Hastert? Whatever shall he do?

[R]umors continue that despite his denials, Hastert is planning an '07 exit from the House. But if he stays, he would be the first former speaker of the House to do so after being relegated to the minority since 1955.

That's a half-century of history you'd be bucking there, Jabba. If I were you (granted, I'd have to be about three of me to be you, but just go with me on this one), I'd quit while the quittin's good.

Just sayin'.

OK, on to the House of Representatives, where nobody -- save Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) of California -- is planning on running for president.

Oh, really? Then I guess Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) is "nobody," eh?

Oh, yeah, he is nobody. Never mind.