Dennis Hastert Quotes
In 2020 hindsight, probably you can do everything a little bit better
At that time the Republican Party was beholden to the religious right and advocated using the power of the government to control individual personal lifestyles and sexual behavior. They were particularly harsh against homosexuality and underage premarital sex. One of the Republican Congressmen, Mark Foley, had a sexual yen for some of the male Congressional pages and sent them very provocative e-mails and made other advances. Complaints had been made to the Republican leadership of the House but they chose to cover it up rather than risk a national scandal. Although they delayed the public exposure till after the 2006 elections, when the story broke, the Republicans were castigated not only for their errant Congressman but their failure to protect the Congressional pages from their sexually aggressive party colleague.
Dennis Hastert, U. S. Congressman (Republican, IL), Speaker of the House, Response to criticism that he could have handled the congressional page scandal more smoothly, Time, October 23, 2006
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John Dennis Hastert is an American former politician and child molester who represented Illinois's 14th congressional district from 1987 to 2007 and served as the 51st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history. After the Democrats gained a majority in the House, he resigned and began to work as a lobbyist. He is the last Speaker of the House to not be a Catholic.
