It does add an extra shot of Schaden to the Schadenfreude cocktail, doesn’t it?
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He had sex with an underage student. That’s really the only thing I can think of that would make you pay someone millions of dollars to keep quiet about. If he had an affair way back then with an adult no one would really care now and it wouldn’t hurt his job. I’m guessing sex with a minor.
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Why is there no mention of Hastert’s notable notoriety? All this wide-eyed disbelief and moral consternation is Pollyanna on steroids.
We all read about it back then, the truncated whispers about his bad habits, he was the overseer of Mark Foley’s access to all the boys in the back room of Congress.
Those innuendos and accusations were flying around back then, long before the Sandusky sad affair opened more than a few cloudy eyes to the fact that some of Bush’s Best were perverts in coaches clothing.
Hastert was always suspected of and surreptitiously accused of exactly what everyone knows this is all about, but it was kept so secret by the sharkpack he swam with, including the media, that few people in the public ever had the chance to calculate the likely probabilities.
The way he was protected and revered by those who were NOT his victims usually means he put on a great act in front of everyone BUT his victims. Sandusky did it for decades, committing his sins in plain sight even as everyone around him pretended they saw nothing.
There are more than a few people out there who could put more than a few of our icons away for their perversions, but anyone who’s watched “House of Cards” knows that sometimes, that can be dangerous, if not deadly.
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Hastert has been a lobbyist since leaving Congress. Lobbyists aren’t public servants and can make a lot of money.
So the list of “youthful indiscretions” was longer than Hastert previously admitted…and to think he was the “clean” Republican during the awful Gingrich/DeLay era.
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…and now he’s paying for that sex with a minor… 3.5 mil is an awfully expensive trick. Maybe he should have spent $50 somewhere else at the time, and he’d have saved a bundle.
Sorry to be so antagonistic about this, but I remember well the accusations floating around Hastert back then, and this “what a big surprise!!! this is jaw-dropping!!! the sky is falling!!!” perspective is just tedious. Almost as if the media is attempting to inject a purified naive innocence onto this fat old pervert, they’re putting lipstick on this pig by acting shocked.
My first reaction was more like “There’s Gambling at Ricks Place”.
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Illinois’ statute of limitations on sex crimes is complicated, but the short answer is the clock has almost certainly run out for “A” to file criminal charges.
But, taking your speculation a step further, if it resulted in a baby…
My guess is a 5 gallon bucket of mayonnaise, several farm animals and a couple of underage boys. Oh, also someone with a Polaroid.
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Sex with a feather is imaginative. Sex with a whole chicken is pervy.
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As a lobbyist, Hastert traded off his time as a public servant. This is part of the corrupt system, and to my mind, it’s worse that it’s perfectly legal than if it were illegal. Here in New York we have seen the Assembly Speaker (a Dem) and the Senate Majority Leader (a Repub) indicted this year (and it’s only May). Some have claimed this unique to NY, but it isn’t. The entire system is dirty from top to bottom and from Washington to state capitals to local govs.
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While I personally agree, Hastert is hugely well-regarded in conservative Christian circles. For example, check out this pdf brochure from the J. Dennis Hastert Center at Wheaton College.
http://www.wheaton.edu/~/media/Files/Centers-and-Institutes/Hastert-Center/Newsletters/HastertNewsletter_Winter09.pdf
“Market Capitalism: Can Godly Values Make the Difference?”
It doesn’t matter about the statute of limitations, that’s not the point of the payoff. It’s about Hastert’s “reputation”. If something like this comes out, it would destroy his “legacy”.
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Let’s all speculate about what Hastert’s possible indiscretion is. It would be irresponsible not to! I believe it involves sex with an underage boy, and there are pics.
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Former hill staff lobbyists bill out at around $500/hr. I imagine Hastert makes at least twice as much.
He didn’t trust the banking system to hide the money he wanted to be hidden.
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I imagine Individual A hasn’t been named because they’re currently being investigated or the feds are seeking an indictment. I’m assuming for extortion.
GTFOOH. Hastert is not gay. I smell rats, because they are coming out of the woodwork over the [s]election and the patriot act. Denny must have drawn the short straw to be the distraction of the month. It is not the crime, it is the cover-up.
if it resulted in a baby…
It would be a miracle.
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Umm, yes, there is. Obviously. If the person being paid doesn’t ask for the money, it’s not blackmail. If the person paying offers the money, it’s hush money.
This would seem to be rather self evident, surely.
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You ought to report the crime you have detected to the police - clearly they missed it.
They’ll be very grateful, I’m sure.