New issue for Katherine Harris (R-History): Getting to the bottom of the Dem/Media conspiracy behind Foleygate.
Yet another Republican flips on what he told Denny Hastert and when.
So the latest news out of the Capitol Hill Hot House is that Rep. Tom Reynolds’ (R-NY) chief of staff Kirk Fordham has resigned over his role in allegedly trying to keep the lid on Foleygate. The Hastert people are saying that Fordham’s even more deeply implicated in covering for Foley. But Fordham’s people are saying he repeatedly warned Hastert’s staff. But they did nothing.
It really is just like rats from a sinking ship.
President Bush is out in Arizona today attending a fundraiser for Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ). All the local Republican officeholders were there. And after the event Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) took some questions about Foleygate.
Franks said he supported Denny Hastert and then (quoting from the pool report) …
Franks said he did not know Foley personally, and did not know about his conduct with congressional pages, but he believes leaders of the Democratic party knew about it 10 months ago. He said he does not think the Foley scandal will impact his campaign, but it is likely to hurt other Republican incumbents.
Truly through the looking glass. No one in the GOP leadership caught word of it. But the Democratic leadership knew. Quite a place they’re running up there.
Rep. Ron Lewis (R-KY) cancels a fundraiser with Denny Hastert.
Look out! He’s coming!
Face it, the guy’s radioactive.
Okay, I think it’s over. Tom Reynolds’ fired chief of staff now says he told Hastert’s office about the Foley problem two years ago.
He also says he’s ready to talk to the FBI and spill the beans.
Well, some stories develop pretty quickly, don’t they?
So let’s take stock of where we are. For the last four or five days Speaker Hastert and the entire House GOP leadership have been staking their positions on this story: They were notified of some inappropriate but ambiguous emails in late 2005. They addressed the matter with Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL). They had no idea that the underlying truth was as scandalous as what was revealed last Friday. Whether Hastert himself knew about that individual incident or his staff is sort of sub-codicil of the basic line.
Now, one of key figures in the scandal, Kirk Fordham, who was Foley’s longtime Chief of Staff and until today Rep. Tom Reynolds’ chief of staff, has been fired. And he’s come out and said, no, the whole leadership story is a lie. Fordham says he repeatedly told Hastert’s then-Chief of Staff Scott Palmer as far back as 2003 that there was a problem with Foley and the pages. And nothing was ever done.
So, two years before the date everyone’s been focusing on back in 2005. We’re not at parsing little details.
They staked everything on a story. And the story was apparently pure fiction.
Unless Hastert and Co. can thoroughly discredit Fordham in the next few hours (and oh are they going to try) I’d figure Hastert is gone by this time tomorrow if not sooner. And just as a capital ship generates a giant whirlpool as it founders and disappears into the sea, I’m sure he’ll be taking several with him.
Dewey Beats Truman Watch …
Headline from this afternoon’s US News: “GOP Senses Cooling of Outrage at Hastert”
Dip your hands back in the water, guys.