The Warning Signs about Hastert’s Leadership Were There

[babylonsister]

http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.24981/pub_detail.asp

The Warning Signs about Hastert’s Leadership Were There

By Norman J. Ornstein
Posted: Thursday, October 5, 2006

My deep dismay and disillusionment with Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) began with the 2003 House vote on the Medicare prescription drug plan--the infamous three-hour vote, from 3 to 6 a.m.

Resident Scholar Norman J. Ornstein
Resident Scholar Norman J. Ornstein

The Speaker engineered the time and length of the vote, despite the House norm of finishing votes within 15 minutes. Going against tradition, the Speaker went to the floor to lobby during the vote. Even more shocking, he escorted a Cabinet officer, the secretary of Health and Human Services, onto the floor to twist arms.

Those acts showed that he was a Speaker who put raw partisan politics above the dignity and constraints of a constitutional office that makes him leader of the entire institution and only secondarily the leader of a party. This was not a passive Speaker, an amiable glad-hander who was a puppet to then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas); this was an aggressive Speaker who took charge, with an ends-justify-the-means, win-at-any-cost mentality.

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It has been fascinating to watch Republicans and conservatives rally behind the Speaker the past few days, especially after The Washington Times called for his resignation. From President Bush to Rush Limbaugh, the defense of the Speaker has ranged from “he didn’t know” to “he has been a good Speaker--the good cop to Tom DeLay’s bad cop” to “even if he knew, rally behind him and the others anyway, because the Supreme Court is at stake.”

How foolish and misguided. Where are minimal standards of acceptable conduct by the people who lead Congress? Whatever those standards may be, neither the Speaker nor the other lawmakers who sat on the Foley revelations measured up. Period.

[NVMojo]

1. you can see why Pelosi wants to "drain the GOP swamp"