Hastert:"... we're taking responsibility... The buck stops here"

[dajoki]

Thursday, October 5, 2006 · Last updated 1:35 p.m. PT

Congress pages quotes

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Congress_Pages_Quotes.html


Quotes from separate press conferences Thursday with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and leaders of the House ethics committee as they discussing the congressional page scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who resigned last week.

---"I'm sorry - you know, when you talk about the page issue and what's happened in the Congress, I'm deeply sorry that this has happened. And the bottom line is that we're taking responsibility, because ultimately, as someone has said in Washington before: The buck stops here." - Hastert.

<<snip>>

---"Well, ultimately, any time that a person has to, as a leader, be on the hot seat and he is a detriment to the party, you know, there ought to be a change. I became speaker in a situation like that. I don't think that's the case." - Hastert.

---"When the Congress found out about the explicit messages, Republicans dealt with it immediately and the culprit was gone. We are now trying to correct the problem." - Hastert.

<<snip>>

---"We all have strong partisan feelings. We have passionate concerns about issues. We have ideological and philosophical differences. ... For purposes of this investigation, we are going to put those partisan considerations totally aside." - Berman.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Congress_Pages_Quotes.html

[ShortnFiery]

1. Then be a honorable human being and RESIGN! n/t

[Gman]

4. Hell NO! Hastert needs to stay! He's great in his position!!!

The longer he is Speaker, the more seats we pick up November 7.

[MrCoffee]

5. I love the smell of frying bacon...you're doing a heck'uva job, Denny!

[EST]

2. Fuggin' idiots lie about taking responsibility!

Taking responsibility means paying the consequences, not making excuses.

[MrCoffee]

3. "I'm deeply sorry that this has happened" - he's talking about the leak

what a fuckhead.

[valerief]

6. I've never known a party to take more responsibility than the GOP.

They screw up SO much, they're ALWAYS forced to say, "We accept full responsibility for…" Of course, they always add, "But Clinton did it."

[Generic Brad]

7. Avoiding responsibility

There is no way to sugarcoat this. It is not enough for him to say he is responsible. Without action Hastert is offering nothing more than meaningless words.

For instance, he set up a hotline for former pages to call. How the hell will that help the young men stalked by Foley? Give them a chance to notify the very person who oversaw the original cover up?