Plan B Forum

Link: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c1 ... b3d4034ad6

...and here's a screen capture, in case they finally get around to correcting it (note that it's already been up on the AP website for 2 days!):

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Isn't that an old Fox News trick? Identifying an indicted Republican as a Democrat, then a few days later (after the initial publicity has died down and it's out of the headlines), saying "OOPSIE!"?

Well, so many Illinois Democrats have been indicted over the years, it was an easy mistake to make...

This is one of those stories that I really wish isn't what it looks like...

Hastert was widely liked and respected by members of congress in both parties; he came in like a bridge over troubled waters after the tumultuous Gingrich years, and went on to become the longest serving Republican House Speaker in history...

The clear insinuation that is being drawn from the indictment in the media is that Hastert was paying hush money to somebody he had molested when they were an underage teenager back when he was a high school teacher and coach....

It's not an insinuation - Friday's article in the Post is quite clear about the allegations: Hastert had an inappropriate relationship with a male student during his teaching days and paid out about $3.5MM cash in hush money in a way so as to avoid federal banking regulations and laws with respect to large cash withdrawals.

As with so much in politics, it's not the "crime" but the coverup ....

And yes LJ, it's awful, Hastert appeared to be a decent guy.

Eta: here's the link to the Post piece - http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ ... ing&wpmm=1

Oh and those indicted, jailed and disgraced Illinois politicians includes George Ryan, a Republican.

In addition to breaking banking regulations, they're also nailing him for lying to the FBI, which Martha Stewart can tell you is a definite no-no....

now you leave miss stewart alone! she done made that prison real nice. I sure do hope they kept it real purty. an' I hope that that nice mr Hastert an' them old Clintons'll settle in real good.

I just now clicked on the AP link and still hasn't been corrected; it still identifies Hastert as a Democrat.

If this has got your knickers in such a knot, why don't you contact them?

Just another minor example of the decline of journalism, from the more important loss of reasonably thorough analysis and internal dissent/dissection of issues, to a culture of getting reactions being more important than a fair presentation of the information, to reductions in fact checking, proof reading and editorial oversight, the industry has gone from tolerable to troublesome.

I ll echo longrun s post.

the internet is not the only thing that cut into newspaper sales. they lost me because the quality of their product fell so far