Duggar, Santorum, and ten years after, Hastert *update*

Probably enough has been said elsewhere about those first two.  But if not, then clearly 'Duggary' is the new 'Santorum'.

 And there might be a fresh dictionary definition available for getting 'Hasterted' now.

J. Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker in the history of the U.S. House, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges that he violated banking laws in a bid to pay $3.5 million to an unnamed person to cover up “past misconduct.”

Hastert, who has been a high-paid lobbyist in Washington since his 2007 retirement from Congress, schemed to mask more than $950,000 in withdrawals from various ac­counts in violation of federal banking laws that require the disclosure of large cash transactions, according to a seven-page indictment delivered by a grand jury in Chicago.

It's Capone-style Chicago politics, as Republicans like to say.  Another shopworn cliche' is that it's not the crime so much as the coverup ("illegal cash structuring"", which means Hastert tried to avoid federal disclosure of amounts just under ten thousand dollars).   Turns out the former speaker lied to the FBI about hush money paid to someone he had sex with.  And the rumors are a decade old.  I am just surprised that Hastert didn't get outed in the Mark Foley matter in 2006.

So to be clear, the latest GOP sex scandal this month has nothing to do -- as far as we know -- with a sex crime involving a minor.  The 'crime' is that it was gay sex.  But that's not what drew the federal indictments, of course.

Just imagine a what a wonderful world it would be if people could be with the person they love without fear of reprisal... biblical, financial, social, or otherwise.

Update (Saturday, May 30): We know more, sadly.

Indicted former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was paying a former student from Yorkville, Ill., to conceal his alleged sexual abuse of the young man while Hastert was a teacher at a high school there, federal law enforcement officials said Friday.

A top official, who would not be identified speaking about the federal charges in Chicago, said investigators also spoke with a second person who raised similar allegations that corroborated what the student said.

The second person was not being paid by Hastert, the official said.

It would be valuable to note at this point that child sexual abuse -- which Hastert has not been charged with -- isn't about "being gay" as much as it about power and control.  In the same vein that rape isn't a sexual act so much as dominant behavior.  Hastert, again, is charged with the crimes associated with the coverup, and is even claiming that he's also been a victim.

The FBI began investigating the cash withdrawals in 2013. According to the indictment, agents were interested in whether Hastert was using the cash "for a criminal purpose" but were also investigating the possibility that Hastert "was the victim of a criminal extortion related to, among other matters, his prior positions in government."

I think I'll wait a bit for more details to emerge before I post further about this sordid business.

Update:  Just because I'm witholding judgement doesn't mean I'm not laughing out loud at those who are not.  Some of the best is in the comments, by the way.