Denny Hastert just sent a letter to Soros in which he writes that groups that support drug legalization, which Soros has helped fund, are “the drug groups that I referred to in my comments on the Fox News Sunday program. Chris Wallace said, ‘drug cartels.’ I did not.”
A couple problems with this comment. First of all, Hastert spoke of where Soros gets his money, not which groups he funds — a rather important distinction, and not an accidental one, given what Hastert was trying to imply. If Hastert doesn’t recognize the distinction, I’m not sure we want him voting on the nation’s economic policy. More seriously, this was not an accidental slip, but clearly an intentional one. See the original exchange.
What’s more, Hastert quite clearly responded with the same ‘who knows?’ response when Wallace put him on the spot, forcing him to stand by or not stand by what he was clearly implying. From the exchange …
WALLACE: You think he may be getting money from the drug cartel?
HASTERT: I’m saying I don’t know where groups–could be people who support this type of thing. I’m saying we don’t know. The fact is we don’t know where this money comes from.”
Again, ‘where this money comes from’. The nugget of this one is really clear. Hastert goes on Fox raising questions about the source of Soros’s money; and when he’s called to account he responds by pointing to groups to which Soros gives his money. Hastert was trying to be cute with his words but that’s the way slimesters always operate.
And in his letter there’s even more dreck like this: “I also believe that 527 political organizations set a dangerous precedent for political discourse because we don’t know where the money comes from. For all we know, funding for some of the 527s might come from foreign sources or worse.”
Foreign funding or worse? A different angle on the same slime. It is certainly legitimate for Republicans to note that Soros has given financial support to groups which advocate drug decriminalization. It’s not legitimate for them to lie about it or indulge in textbook-style McCarthyism.
And to think this man is second in line of succession to the presidency.
