Discussion for article #236893
$3.5 million is a HELL of a lot of money, so the “misconduct” would have to have been pretty serious. The fact that a life-long “public servant” was in a position to pay such an amount speaks volumes about the corruption that is endemic in the political system.
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From the Washington Post:
The indictment did not spell out the exact nature of the “prior misconduct” by Hastert, but it noted that before entering state and federal politics in 1981, HasÂtert served for more than a decade as a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois.
I’m betting it involves a prior male student. It may or may not be the actual student doing the blackmailing. The real shocker is that a former high school teacher and coach can enter politics, then become a lobbyist in Washington, and then have the means to pay a 3.5 million dollar bribe in cash without apparently crimping his lifestyle. FIFA has nothing on American politics, our bribery is fully legalized and wired into the system.
If you’re a banker and cheat, a small fine is all that will happen. The fine is often a small portion of the illegal gain.
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Also, Dennis Hastert helped cover up the crimes of Mark Foley.
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He was second in line to the presidency during those years after the vice president.
W, followed by Cheney, and then Hastert.
I had a lot of sleepless nights during those years.
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“…$3.5 million…”
Don’t all teachers call that “pocket change”?
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Oh, bullshit.
The real question is when I’m going to get the first Reich-wingnut email from the Noise and Rage Factory™ telling me how Hillary/Obama forced the new attorney general to go after Hastert to divert our attention from Benghazi, the Mooslims, abortion factories, forbidding prayer in schools, immigration, the IRS, and/or destroying the Constitution to bring the United States under the Caliphate, and to make Sharia the supreme law of the land. Huh? Huh?
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“The Sharia law”, as Pam Geller coins it.
The … indictment … accuses Hastert …of agreeing to pay the money to … “Individual A,” to “compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against” that person.
Well no, it doesn’t. The indictment alleges that that’s the reason behind the cash withdrawals. But agreeing to pay Individual A to keep quiet is not a crime. Hastert is not “accused” of doing that. This is an important distinction to make. Hastert’s alleged crimes, the only things of which he has actually been accused, are one count of structuring and one count of lying to the Feds.
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Hastert’s best option at this point is to run for the GOP nomination: he’ll just blend in with the crowd.
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It’s a crime for Individual A to blackmail Hastert. Is there a difference between blackmail and hush money?
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Well…one of the arguments against the Patriot Act was that if granted the unconstitutionally broad surveillance would not be limited to anti-terrorism. Concerns about use of the Patriot Act to nab Americans with no ties to or suspicions of terrorism were rejected by folks like Hastert although the rest of us knew the inevitable abuse was coming. And voila.
If it was 3.5 million he was willing to pay it must be a biggie. If you need 3.5 million to smother something that something is huge.
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And yet, Individual A hasn’t even been named, to say nothing of being indicted.
Hastert won’t be charged for being the victim of a crime.
I’m guessing that he’s cooperating. If it’s hush money, he’s not doing anything illegal.
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“Hastert was picked after favored Louisiana Rep. Bob Livingston resigned following his admission of several sexual affairs.”
…sometimes that lesser of two evils thing comes back to bite you in the buttocks.
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The first name shared by the most ignorant teacher in every school?
Coach.
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Really, god damn I’d like to get on that gravy train!
The $3.5 million pay off is extraordinarily large given Denny Hastert’s previously low key, apparently squeaky clean image. I wonder whether Denny was funneling the money to protect other possible co-conspirators. Were George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Tom Delay and others part of his conspiracy?
Caught in a trap of his own making. Poetic.
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