Your One-Stop Source for Speaker-Hastert-Says-He's-Targeted-by-Drug-Lord-Jewish-Financiers Blogging
Wow. The anti-semitism of Denny Hastert really isn't buried very deep, is it?
TPMmuckraker October 6, 2006 11:42 AM: GOPers to Hastert: Cut the Conspiracy Chatter: By Paul Kiel - October 6, 2006, 11:42 AM: On Wednesday night, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) spun tales of Democratic cabals and hidden agendas for the benefit of hungry reporters. Hastert told The Chicago Tribune that Clinton operatives knew about the allegations and were maybe behind the story's release. "I saw Bill Clinton's adviser, Richard Morris, was saying these guys knew about this all along," he said. "When the base finds out who's feeding this monster, they're not going to be happy.... The people who want to see this thing blow up are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."
But yesterday... Hastert... said, "I only know what I've seen in the press and what I've heard. There's no ultimate, real source of information, but that's what I've read. And that's what I've heard in the press."...
This morning's Tribune....
Comments that Hastert made in a Tribune interview suggesting the scandal had been orchestrated by ABC News, Democratic political operatives aligned with the Clinton White House and liberal activist George Soros were considered a serious misstep in national Republican circles, an official said. Senior Republican officials contacted Hastert's office before his news conference Thursday to urge that he not repeat the charges, and he backed away from them in his news conference. "The Chicago Tribune interview last night--the George Soros defense--was viewed as incredibly inept," a national Republican official said. "It could have been written by [comedian] Jon Stewart."
This is not the first time Hastert has seen George Soros as his bete noire:
HASTERT: Here in this campaign, quote, unquote, "reform," you take party power away from the party, you take the philosophical ideas away from the party, and give them to these independent groups. You know, I don't know where George Soros gets his money. I don't know where--if it comes overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from. And I...
WALLACE (interrupting): Excuse me?
HASTERT: Well, that's what he's been for a number years--George Soros has been for legalizing drugs in this country. So, I mean, he's got a lot of ancillary interests out there.
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...
And Hastert is not alone. Back in 2004 we have Kenneth Timmerman and Tony Blankley. Timmerman:
Will George Soros Panic the Market? - Insight on the News - Politics: Jan. 23, 2004 By Kenneth R. Timmerman: Wall Street sources... [Robert] Rubin... consummate insider... could be trying to talk the market down... Hungarian-born [George] Soros... fortune estimated at $7 billion... brazen assaults on world currency markets... political notoriety... technical market conditions that force other players "to take action triggered by what you did, independent of wanting to help you."... stock-market crash... panic selling. "Soros believes that if he can force the market down, he will have an effect in the real world," [Donald] Luskin says. "If it happens on Oct. 31, people might go into the voting booth with fear in their hearts."...
Should Soros decide to make a power play on the eve of the November 2004 elections, how would he do it? And what is the likelihood he would do so? Luskin believes Soros could choose to sell stock index-future contracts massively.... his early trades would make a profit... concerned investors should be watching for increased market volatility, starting in the futures pits, and for futures trading at a discount.... doomsday trading... self-fulfilling prophecy as U.S. financial markets collapse... leav[ing] Soros even richer.... "In the end, it could be a pure financial play, not a political play"...
Blankley:
Look, if [Soros] wasn't a multi-billionaire, he'd just be another ignored left-wing crank, but we all tend to pay more attention to people who have several billion dollars.... This is a man who has blamed the Jews for anti-Semitism. ... This is a man who, when he was plundering the world's currencies, in England in '92, he caused the Southeast Asian financial crisis in '97.... BLANKLEY: He said that he has no moral responsibility for the consequences of his financial actions. He is a self-admitted atheist, he was a Jew who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust.... When a man is worth this kind of money, and he's spending it on trying to influence the American public in an election, trying to buy the election, he's not going to, we have a right to know what kind of an unscrupulous man he is.... He's buying influence all over the world. He's a robber baron, he's a pirate capitalist, and he's a reckless man.... He supported abortion in Eastern Europe, in a country that's losing population, he's a self-admitted atheist, I think he's a very bad influence in the world...
Josh Micah Marshall reports, correctly, that senior Democrats are not repeat not trying to force Hastert out of the leadership: they are all strongly in favor of Hastert's retaining his current position as Speaker of the House until January 21:
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: October 01, 2006 - October 07, 2006 Archives: Late Update: Number of Democratic strategists who think Denny Hastert should remain Speaker through November 7th. 100%. That's my poll, not SurveyUSA. My methodology was to think about it for about 3 seconds. But I believe the margin of error is extremely low.
