The Irony and the Awfulness

[Surya Gayatri]

What is worth remembering is that Hastert's improbable rise to the pinnacle of political power in Washington was a direct consequence of Republican party efforts to exploit and eventually criminalize Bill Clinton's extramarital sex life in order to overturn the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections. The chain of events is clear and straightforward.

First, before reviewing the history, lets stipulate that sexual abuse of minors is a category greater offense than marital infidelity, which is inherently private and really no business of the state's one way or another. Still, Hastert's rise is so inextricably tied to sexual hypocrisy and political moralizing they inevitably become part of a single story.

...

It was the legal maneuvering over the Jones lawsuit combined with the double-dip, wildly partisan and almost infinitely wide-ranging Independent Counsel investigation of Ken Starr that led to the revelation of Clinton's sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, which finally led to his impeachment, the first in 130 years, in 1998.

Now, as Hillary Clinton's campaign gathered steam in 2015, there was a reevaluation of this whole sordid history. Absent much of the political context of the 1990s and with different attitudes toward accusations of sexual harassment and rape, many now think that Jones', Juanita Broaddrick's and Kathleen Willey's accusations against Clinton are presumptively true. I have no desire or ability to litigate these claims here. I will simply say that I think the quality of the evidence, the extremely politicized context of each accusation and the wildly abundant evidence of consensual liaisons leaves little reason to believe that Clinton was or is more than a serial cheater on his wife.
...

As ironic as it seems today, Hastert was suddenly thrust forward by a House GOP caucus, which had spent the last six to seven weeks decapitating itself, on the belief that he assured steadiness, colorlessness, zero controversy and a total lack of any surprises. Speaking to veteran Republican aides after the initial Hastert revelations last year, I could not find anyone who had the remotest inkling there was even anything very interesting in Hastert's private life, let alone such a shocking revelation. Indeed, for eight years Hastert provided just what Republicans had hoped from him - colorlessness and non-controversial leadership of the House which was, in procedural terms, fairly effective.

And that is the whole story. Without the unending hunt into Bill Clinton's sex life, you never would have heard of Denny Hastert. It also seems highly unlikely he ever would have had to answer, even in this limited way, for his own past.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-irony-and-the-awfulness

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Very interesting time line and dot-connecting about the genesis of Hastert's downfall, and how it ties in with the Clinton witch hunt.

[rock]

1. Two questions

1) Why did you mention "sexual abuse of minors"?
2) How old was Monica at the time of the incident?
Just asking?

[Surya Gayatri]

2. Everything except my remarks at the very bottom are from the author's pen.

I think he was trying to draw a clear distinction between Hastert's molestation of his high school wrestling team boys (minors), and Clinton hitting on the 21-year-old Lewinsky (an adult).

What Hastert did was a crime; what Clinton did was unscrupulous and stupid, but not illegal.

[Rex]

3. So the two main guys pushing for Clinton's impeachment; one getting a divorce

from his first wife as she lay in bed with cancer and the other was hiding the fact that he raped 4 young men?

WOW. Just...WOW.

[Surya Gayatri]

4. When the MSM dares to say that "both parties do it", you just want to scream.

Where the hell are the essential background stories like this in the major media outlets? TPM is just some minor, mostly ignored website.

The Hastert scandal has barely got a mention, and yet it has a DIRECT bearing on the political scene today.

[Rex]

5. The ugly truth is that the M$M does everything possible to prop up the GOP, even to the point

of lying for them and then turning around to make the Democratic party look weak and indecisive. They've been doing it since Nixon left office in disgrace, it accelerated under Reagan and then the bottom fell out in 2000 and 2004 imo.

We barely survived a second Great Depression in 2008 and still the M$M refuses to put the blame where is squarely belongs - 50 years of GOP rule.

Whenever someone gives me the 'both parties are the same' I ask them to cite where a Dem is cutting food stamps and credits for essentials like heat and electricity. Where a Dem is trying to cut VA benefits or the WIC program.

Uh...uhmm...nowhere, that is where! If it was not for Dems...we would not (and still have) have SocSec, Medicare, Medicaid, WIC, food stamps, credits to help the poor!

SO where are all the Reps out there fighting for food stamps and WIC? They don't exist. There is only one party that actually fights for the working class, only an idiot would be blind as to which one imo.

[Surya Gayatri]

6. Sadly, your analysis is only too accurate. Old Raygun, may his name be cursed in perpetuity,

knew the decades of injustice that his quashing of the Fairness Doctrine would entail.

And, until some rich Liberals put their money where their mouth is to establish legitimately left-leaning outlets, or until the Fairness Doctrine is restored in full, this will only continue.