Denny Hasdirt retires from Congress

By: presidentialman
Published On: 8/16/2007 8:56:00 PM

Denny Hastert, who among other things has dirt on his hands from protecting a gay Republican bachelor by betraying the trust of parents everywhere-talk about the party of family values-by talking dirty through email to young idealist naive high school pages who have no concept that to get a law passed, there's a you scratch your back and I'll scratch yours mentality, is set to retire from Congress. I'm surprised that this isn't up on RK but anyrate. Denny Hasdirt was thrust into the Speaker position ironically due to a sex scandal involving Newt Gingrich, a former Speaker and possible presidential candidate, forced Grich's resignation.  Gingrich had brought the GOP into power through the election of 1994 and was Speaker from 95-98.  Hasdirt was a disgraced former Speaker who chose not to run  after Democrats kicked his party's ass in the 2006 mid terms, in which he handed the Speaker's gavel to House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi. The first woman to be elected to that position.


Leading The News 

Hastert to retire 
By Jackie Kucinich and Aaron Blake 
August 14, 2007 
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will announce his plans to retire from Congress after 11 terms of service on Friday, according to sources familiar with the announcement. 

It is unclear whether Hastert, the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history, will retire after serving out his current term or whether he will leave Congress prematurely. The distinction is important given that the latter would cause a potentially expensive mid-year runoff in a district that President Bush won by 55 percent, further straining the National Republican Congressional Campaign's (NRCC) remaining deficit.
 

Hastert was reelected with 59.7 percent of the vote last year, beating Democrat John Laesch despite his role in the Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) page scandal.

The NRCC declined to comment on whether Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) had discussed the details of his announcement, which Hastert has stated he will make on Friday, and deferred to the former Speaker to announce his plans.

In previous interviews, Cole has said he encouraged Hastert to stay in the House but added he would respect whatever his future decision might be.

While Hastert has brushed off insinuations that he is calling it a career, recent fundraising data tells a different story. After raising $290,000 in the first quarter, Hastert pulled in $150,000 in the second quarter - far less than the half-million dollars he raised in the second quarter of 2005.

Anticipating his departure, would-be GOP candidates have begun talking quietly about potential runs, while Democratic challengers prepare to position themselves as the most viable candidate.

On the Republican side, local operatives expect a battle between Illinois state Sen. Chris Lauzen and former Senate and gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis. Both candidates have filed paperwork that indicate that they would run if Hastert retires.

http://thehill.com/l...

Cry me a river. The tragedy in all this is not that Hasdirt is forced to retire...no, the tragedy is that he'll come back as a lobbyist.  One hopes that since the Democrats are the ones in power and not the Repugs, is that his lobby won't be able to influence as much. 

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