Bush Joins Hastert at Rally, and Lavishes the Praise
By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: October 13, 2006
CHICAGO, Oct. 12 — President Bush came to the home turf of the House speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, on Thursday to give him a resounding pledge of support before a revved-up group of Republican donors, activists and leaders who were clearly glad to witness a presidential lift for the buffeted dean of their state party.
Appearing at a fund-raising event for two local Republican House candidates facing competitive races, David McSweeney and Peter Roskam, Mr. Bush bounded onto the stage alongside Mr. Hastert, whose Congressional district is several miles outside Chicago. Standing beside the speaker, Mr. Bush, wearing a smile that lasted for minutes, gave him a hearty handshake as Mr. Hastert, beaming, patted him on the back.
Mr. Bush came here with a far larger retinue of photographers and reporters than usual for such campaign trips. It was evidence of the anticipation surrounding his visit as questions continued to swirl about what Mr. Hastert’s office knew, and when, about former Representative Mark Foley’s e-mail to male pages.
Mr. Bush seemed more than happy to oblige....“Before I liberate the speaker so he doesn’t have to stand up here for that long, Speaker, I want to say this to you,” Mr. Bush said. “I am proud to be standing with the current speaker of the House who is going to be the future speaker of the House.”...
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Mr. Bush’s appearance completed what has appeared to be a gradual but now unmistakable White House embrace of Mr. Hastert since news first surfaced that Mr. Foley had sent risqué e-mail to Congressional pages. The visit reflected in part a calculation by the White House and party leaders that providing a protective phalanx for the speaker would help cool some of the heat from the controversy and press ahead on the party’s election-year message on terrorism and taxes....
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/us/politics/13bush.html