House Speaker Skipped Katrina Relief Vote to Attend Congressional Fundraiser
House Speaker Skipped Katrina Relief Vote to Attend Congressional Fundraiser
On Wednesday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert opposed calling Congress back into session to pass a relief package for Katrina victims:
[Hastert spokesman Ron] Bonjean said calling Members back to town this week is not the best course of action.
One day later, as Carpetbagger pointed out, he was suddenly trying to take credit for the whole idea:
Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), said [Hastert] is committed to helping the victims in the Gulf region.
“We’ve approached the Minority Leader [Pelosi] with a proposal to bring the House back into emergency session to pass emergency funding for Hurricane Katrina victims,” Bonjean said.
Today, the Washington Post reports that Hastert skipped out on the vote to attend a fundraiser and an antique car auction:
[After the vote, Hastert] issued a statement saying, “Our prayers and sympathies continue to be with the victims of Hurricane Katrina. In times like these, it is more important than ever for Americans to stand united in helping our fellow citizens.”
But there was one problem: Hastert was not in Washington, and his top lieutenants had to oversee the vote. He was in Indiana attending a colleague’s fundraiser, staff members said, and he later attended an antique car auction.
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Seriously — what the HELL? These guys are SICK
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:32 pmCorrryn, he just wanted to buy a nice car to go pick up stranded Katrina victims. No biggie.
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:34 pmOut of all pugs, Hastert, DeLay, Santorum and Frist will not admit that Bushie is a failure. They are Bushie clones.
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:35 pmUgh… puke.
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:40 pmUmmm… I wonder if he skipped out on the Schiavo vote too?
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:50 pmListen Illinois residents, it is very important that we get Hastert out of office. I heard that Henry Hyde isn’t going to run so we can use all of our energy on ousting Hastert.
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:50 pm(Flush)…..ukkk…that made me sick….allthough…it’s more rope to hang himself. Now to find a way to hit him in the billfold. YOUR FIRED…for starters.
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:58 pmTHIS is the Speak of the House.
What a guy.
Rot in Hell, Hastert, you pig.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:02 pmHastert has been embarrassed twice this week — we’re going to protest in front of his Illinois office on Wednesday — the local (Republican) paper conflated the fundraiser and the auto auction and said Hastert will donate the $50,000 he got from the auction to the relief fund — they didn’t mention that the fund raiser was a separate event.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:12 pmHe is a typical politician – we know him pretty well in Illinois. Henry Hyde is another slime bag from Illinois, but he is retiring. There are two qualified Democrats (one woman, one man) vying for his seat.
We are hoping that Democrats will sweep every office in Illinois.
Yeah folks, Hastert is one of the assholes that should be tasrgeted for defeat in the next election.
He is a fat, ungly asshole who they have a hard time getting him out of the bar long enough to take care of businss. Another alcoholic in power.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:14 pmMarie, I got the e-mail about the Hastert protest. I’m hoping I can make it. I would get so much satisfaction.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:22 pmWhy is anyone surprised? This is the result of ABSOLUTE POWER with one party rule, NO ACCOUNTABILITY.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:28 pmWhen people, specifically the GOP, are not accountable they develop an awareness of their invulnerability. This leads to arrogance. This leads to bellicose behavior.
Cindy Sheehan was shocked that ONE woman could make a difference, so 2,3,4,20 I see a roll.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:28 pmHey Susan
How’s your neighbor?
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:32 pmThanks for asking Citizen. He isn’t allowing the children, his wife or his dog to acknowledge my presence. When the dog came wiggling over to get petted he dragged her back by the collar.
I’m just keeping my distance. The guys a walking timebomb.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:36 pmI was afraid of some backlash on you, wife has to take the bull by the horns. Good luck.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:46 pmWhat amazes me (honestly) is that these
September 3rd, 2005 at 6:07 pmpeople can’t even pretend to care.
The Indiana fundraiser, he told reporters, had been on his schedule “for a long, long time.”
I’m pretty sure the people in NO had on their schedule for a long, long time not to be trapped in their homes, attics, streets, Superdome, Convention Center, etc., for 4-5 days waiting and dying for Georgie (or anyone) to arrive for his photo-op. Oops, I mean with help.
September 3rd, 2005 at 6:45 pmDennis Hastert is a fat-ass, cowardly, GOP racist. This lard butt bastard was to busy looking at friggen antique cars to help dying Americans.
The DNC needs to ensure that the media shows this man’s cowardice and callousness at a time of national tragedy.
Hastert shouldn’t be fired…he should be thrown inprison.
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:02 pmI hope these guys keep it up. As you guys have heard me say in previous posts, my mother is a card carrying republican. She has sided with Bush on everything.
Until now. You see, Bush gets my moms vote because of the abortion issue. After seeing babies dying in New Orleans, she hates Bush’s guts as much as I do. The interesting thing. We talked about this for an hour and she is very well informed about. Why, because her church turned against Bush. Her friends in church and out of church. They are all against Bush now.
There is hope people. Bush will pay for his lies and crimes. It was just a matter of time. Bush’s levee is breaking right. You can’t even imagine how happy I am now that I have come home from talking to my mom.
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:39 pmWhen the dust settles, there will be political hell to pay and it will be long overdue. This is no less catastrophic an event than 9/11 in many ways but the initial (and continued) response of Bush and the GOP has been totally lackadaisical. And people are watching- all around the world. And now that Bush has realized he fumbled the ball big time, he is taking part in ‘Operation Restore My Dignity’ but this time, it may be too late.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:53 pmLet’s not forget, Hastert is the sh*tstain that said about NOLA “It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed.”
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:02 pmYEEE-HAAAAAAW!
Its just business as usual out here in Hasterd County!
Enus, you dipstick!
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:52 pmToo funny, Skid.
September 4th, 2005 at 12:16 amLITTLE GEORGIE TOOK AN AXE, AND GAVE THE W O R L D FORTY WHACKS…. WHEN HE SAW WHAT HE HAD DONE… HE GAVE NEW ORLEANS FORTY ONE… (OR IS THAT FORTY THREE??)
September 4th, 2005 at 4:04 amAh, #21, if only that were true. But the country is a dictatorship: Repug Administration, Repug House and Senate, and Repug Supreme Court with is now going to get even worse with two more zealots headed that way. Who’s going to hold him responsible? Pelosi? She’s too busy kissing his ring. Dean? He is too busy saying dumb thinks on TV. Kennedy? Who’s listening to that old dinosaur.
If the country won’t hold him responsible for his inaction on 9-11, bungling the capture and defeat of Osama in Afganistan, getting us into an unnecessary and useless second war in Iraq, lieing to congress, presenting false documents to the UN, allowing the outing a CIA agent, the looting of our treasury by Halliburton and others, tax deals for the energy companies and super rich, Karl Rove, Tom DeLay and on and on…
I’m sorry to say that I’m not hold my breath for ANYONE to hold this dictator government accountable for anything.
September 4th, 2005 at 9:05 amLike Spugeboy, my Mom and other elderly relatives were all for Bush Jr., I never could understand how they were all so screwed up on every single issue that came along. Then I discovered what was wrong, one day while visiting, I heard my aunt say to Mom, “That O’Riley! He tells it like it is boy!”
September 4th, 2005 at 12:00 pm“That’s right,” said my Mom,” just like Rush Limbaugh on the radio.”
“No wonder you two are are so screwed up,” I said. “You’ve been listening to that pretentious phoney O’Rilely, FOX! and Limbaugh, the pill popping hypocrite!”
That’s when I started faxing them all these “Think Progress” Pages from the net! Exposing both of their media Guru’s of Gak! ” But this time is different! While talking about Katrina, I heard my Mom launch into an Anti-Bush tirade that would make Air America’s Mike Maloy proud! Afterwards I heard all about the Fox/CNN on site reporters, Anderson from Fox, and Jack Kafferty of CNN. Both of have finely grown a set and rebelled! awake at long last! The clip of Anderson tearing into Bill O’Riley is priceless! Likewise, Jack Kaferty moment of truth on CNN!! Maybe, just maybe this Republican, hard right, pseudo religious train has begun to come off the damn rails.
BUT….. already Karl Rove’s spin factory is wisting the story, blaming the Victims! And you can be sure that by election day,next Novembe, half of these moronic Bush supporters will all have been twisted back into Rove’s bullshit! We could stop them, but only by not letting them get away with a single manipulative statement or action. But look as I may… the Democrats are once again SILENT. As the Right cranks up the propaganda, cranks out the lies, and points the finger of blame back on the very people who we, as a nation, have let down in front of the whole world! Meanwhile every Democratic Congressional and Senatorial office I have gotten in touch with, have all said just about the same damn thing… “Now is not the time to point the finger, and engage in Politics.” CAN YOU BELIEVE THESE SPINELESS PEOPLE who consider themselves Leaders!
WHAT HAS BECOME OF OUR DEMOCRATIC PARTY? Are they that terrified of Bush and co.? Or just another bunch of crooks and liars waiting in the wings?! There! I feel better now….
Thanks…
#20 One convert – 51 million to go.
September 4th, 2005 at 12:27 pmFrederick….. I NEVER stop telling the dumbya supporters about their family history, hyprocracy and their evil to the core current deeds.
I tell it often, I tell it LOUDLY!
I grab every dumbya supporter and I don’t stop until THEY ARE TOTALLY DE-PROGRAMED. THEY ARE LIKE MOONIES.
So far, I have educated about 1000 people. But, that is only a fraction of the mis-guided, ill-informed people that need to be de-programed.
I AM BEING VIGILANT… (sarcasm)
I AM BEING PATRIOTIC…
September 4th, 2005 at 12:48 pmLooking up the latest on Speaker Hastert, my 14th District congressman I found your posts. Here is a website with more information on Camp Casey’s tour:www.fvc4pnj.org. Also check out AFSC Chicago for all Chicagoland locations for the Camp Casey bus tour ending in Washington from Sept. 24-26. We have to hold Hastert and all of them accountable, what choice do we have?
September 4th, 2005 at 10:25 pm#21, he fails to see: You cannot restore something that never existed.
September 5th, 2005 at 12:28 amI don’t see what everyone’s all worked up about (sarcasm!)
… this is just COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM AT WORK!
September 5th, 2005 at 2:14 pmYou bunch of losers are always looking to bash Bush about everything. Louisiana has a Democrat Governor, New Orleans has a Democrat Mayor, and the 2 Senators are Democrat. Put the blame where it belongs. These Democrats have done nothing to help the situation. The Governor wouldn’t let Red Cross and Salvation Army in to help.
September 8th, 2005 at 7:57 pmAnd these guys run the country.
September 10th, 2005 at 10:06 amYou guys think that you know everything but you don’t. Hastert is a great kind hearted man. He had to come how to deal with thing that we need him for in Illinois. This should have been dealt with by Louisanna. With 9/11 things went well b/c of good local goverment. I am sick of people that think that the president and congress can fix everything with a flip of a switch. They approved the funding for the disater agencies and State goverment can do THEIR JOB. You want to blame everyone else what have YOU DONE!!! Illinois farmers are in serious trouble, the drought we have had have wiped out most of our farms.and out highways and transportation needs attention. We needed OUR CONGRESSMAN HERE!!!!!And he was here in my town He visted all of your towns and spoke of what he was doing for us. We have farmers here that have worked there whole lives and have lost everything. We go through the same hoops the huricane vitcims are. I feel awful about New Orleans. The mayor of New Orleans should have better leadership skills!!!!!!!!!!!! Mayor Juliana was what kept New York in order.Illinois Law markers are also working on opening vacant colleges and buliding to help shelter and repair lives of victims, we still have are own problems to deal with. You hear one side of one issuse and based your rampages on nothing shame on you. Who cares if it was able to make it to a fundrasier for a friend when he was in the area. These guys get paid very little compared to entertainers and sports players, most doctors lawyers and CEO make alot more and get time off. He has a family and children.
September 12th, 2005 at 7:29 pmCan you at least blame the hurricane on Bush’s poor policy towards preserving the environment which promoted global warming? I blame him every morning when I burn my toast and when my car doesnt start and …
The rest of the story:
By 4 p.m., Hastert had reached the Capitol, eager to explain his tardiness and to try again to show his solidarity with Katrina’s victims. The Indiana fundraiser, he told reporters, had been on his schedule “for a long, long time.”
“Yes, I went to a charity auction,” Hastert continued. “I took one of my cars and sold it for tens of thousands of dollars. And that money will go to hurricane relief efforts.”
September 17th, 2005 at 11:38 amLouisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s abrupt decision Wednesday night to take responsibility for her state’s inadequate response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster followed an inadvertent confession that was caught on camera where Blanco admitted she blew it.
“I really should have called for the military,” Blanco said, while chatting with her press secretary in between TV interviews. “I really should have started that in the first call.”
Unbeknownst to Blanco, her bombshell acknowledgment was recorded on a network satellite feed, and by Tuesday the clip was getting wide exposure in Louisiana news broadcasts.
In the early days of the Katrina crisis, disaster management experts repeatedly blamed the failure to send in the National Guard for the city’s descent into chaos.
Most observers blamed the White House for the blunder – a misconception that was thoroughly dispelled by the governor’s inadvertent confession.
Some say Blanco’s blooper was responsible for the abrupt change of tone in her speech Wednesday night to the Louisiana legislature.
Where earlier she and her aides had openly blamed the Bush administration for bungling Katrina rescue efforts, Blanco announced: “The buck stops here, and as your governor, I take full responsibility.”
Just as surprising were Blanco’s words of praise for the White House: “I want the people of Louisiana to know that we have a friend and a partner in President George W. Bush. I thank you, Mr. President.”
Well….I guess it’s never too late, is it Gov.?
September 21st, 2005 at 9:25 pmTuesday, Sept. 13, 2005 9:07 a.m. EDT Hillary Clinton’s New Fundraising Focus: Katrina
Four days after Sen. Charles Schumer was widely criticized for invoking Hurricane Katrina to raise campaign cash, Hillary Clinton signaled that she would make the Bush administration’s response to the Katrina disaster the new focus of her fundraising efforts.
Speaking Monday at a big-bucks Manhattan fundraiser for her 2006 reelection race, Clinton laced into Bush for the Katrina calamity, blasting what she described as a “total breakdown in leadership” at the White House.
“How could we, as Americans, have let this happen?” she fumed to donors, in quotes picked up by the New York Post. The top Democrat also cited Katrina to undermine Bush’s image as a strong guardian of national security, saying the, “We’ve had four years to fix [our emergency response]” – a clear reference to the just-passed 9/11 anniversary.
The former first lady said that the Bush administration’s failed Katrina response would leave a “deep and lasting scar that we have to look at honestly.”
Clinton has been a leading critic of Bush’s handling of the disaster since Katrina’s first raindrops fell. But yesterday’s event was the first time the former first lady has used the staggering tragedy to raise campaign funds.
It’s not known how much cash Clinton’s Katrina fundraiser netted her campaign.
September 21st, 2005 at 9:32 pmNothing like fiddling while N.O. drowns. This old cow has no shame whatever.
dogwater
November 2nd, 2005 at 5:59 pmalesse
planking recalculations:gallantly golding untidiness pleasures.
November 26th, 2005 at 11:07 pm[...] 94. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) skipped a vote on Katrina relief to attend a fundraiser. [Link] [...]
November 6th, 2006 at 6:34 pmTed Williams
How much do you make a year?
March 26th, 2008 at 4:09 pmFelipe Tamez
that?s awesome thanks for this new insight.
March 28th, 2008 at 1:11 pmNelle
Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:19 amcredit relief
Six Apart started a working group in February 2006 to improve the Trackback protocol with the goal to eventually have it approved as
April 13th, 2008 at 10:02 am