Hastert Vigil: House Leadership Still Getting Along As Well As Ever (Not)

Nothing like an investigation under oath to jar the memory.

The contradiction between the staff aides [Reynold's Kirk Fordam and Hastert's Scott Palmer] is almost outdone by Hastert's conflicts with statements by two members of his leadership team: Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the House Republican campaign chairman, Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y.

Longtime conservative leader Paul Weyrich said Tuesday that Hastert had assured him that Boehner was wrong when he said that he had told Hastert months ago about the page problem with Foley.

"As to Congressman Thomas M. Reynolds, the speaker said, 'If he had mentioned this problem to me, I surely would have taken notice,'" Weyrich said in an e-mailed account of a phone conversation with Hastert.

Weyrich quoted Hastert as saying that Reynolds often came to him with numerous requests to help incumbents in trouble. "The speaker said he signs off on the majority of requests and only listens with one ear because the requests are repetitive," Weyrich said.

"Did Reynolds during such a session drop the bombshell about Foley in the speaker's lap without the speaker's comprehending what was being told to him? 'That is possible but unlikely,' the speaker said. In any case, he has absolutely no recollection," Weyrich said.

Boehner's spokesman, Kevin Madden, said slightly different accounts were not surprising because the events took place four months ago.

A spokesman for Hastert had no comment. A Reynolds spokesman, L.D. Platt, said Hastert had already said he didn't recall the conversation.

So now Weyrich is taking sides, and in the process documenting conversation claims for the FBI and Ethics Committee probes. The only legal jeopardy these people have is lying under oath, so that part of it may or may not be significant. But having leadership position themselves in public is hardly a vote of confidence in Hastert, and surely not a vote of confidence in Boehner and Reynolds.

So if they're working on this, who is doing the resource allocation decisions for the NRCC? That's Reynolds' job. Will he spend a lot of the NRCC's money on himself? How will that go over? And what kind of support will Boehner have when this is wrapped up, now that Weyrich is stabbing him in public? Inquiring minds want to know.

What's putting so much pressure on them? This:

Voting Preferences

Fifty-nine percent of likely voters in the Oct. 6-8, 2006 poll say they would vote for the Democratic candidate in their congressional district if the election were held today, while 36% prefer the Republican candidate. In the previous reading, taken just after the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, voting preferences were evenly divided.

Moreover, nearly half of likely voters, 47%, say they are certain to vote Democratic in the House elections. Just 26% are committed Republican voters, leaving 25% of voters up for grabs (the remaining 2% plan to support third-party candidates). If the current political environment does not change dramatically before Election Day, Republicans are looking at a situation where they would need to win almost all of the swing voters to win the majority of the congressional vote.

Yeah, Gallup's likely voter model is not infallible (see comments), and we take it with a large chunk of sea salt. But that's what the House leaders are hearing. It's not going to help them get along any better.

Comments

[RevDeb]

Denny wrote a book. John Leasch read it. John quoted from p. 186

" On page 186 of Dennis Hastert‘s book, he says that he listens to everything, and, you know, he knows everything that is going on. Use his words. Apparently he forgot, but on page 186 of his book, he says he listens to everything and he remembers everything.."

Did Denny lie then or is he lying now?

[emptypockets]

off-topic -- NYTimes headline: "Bush says no plans to attack North Korea"

like not having a plan ever stopped him before...

[Meteor Blades]

Exactly, ep. This sounds so very very much like the district attorney who says s/he has "no plans to seek higher office at this time."

But, in this case, I think Mister Bush may, unlike Hastert, be telling the truth. What exactly would an attack look like - stealth bombers pulling off an Osirak-style attack against NK's nuclear facilities? Would that involve the same problem as attacking Iran's nuclear facilities, which is that the U.S. doesn't know where they all are? More to the point, would it push North Korea to fire up its prodigious rocket batteries and torch Seoul to the tune of several tens of thousands of casualties?

[freepatriot]

yo, MB, China ain't gonna allow a bombing run in North Korea, much less a few hundred bombing runs over North Korea

lets speak the truth for a while

george bush doesn't have any military options here

any attack on North Korea is going to be percieved as a threat to China, and China ain't gonna allow that to happen without retaliation

so an attack on North korea means the destruction of Souel, and probably the loss of Tiawan

not exactly something you could hand a "Mission Accomplished" banner for