I feel it was as discussed on Brit Hume tonight...perhaps a cooling off time. The Pres. needs the Speaker to shut up right now before Hastert goes off on this w/ Pelosi. It would end up reflecting on the GOP appearing as if they are protecting Jefferson too. I would think also, that the President needs support right now on things that needs to be passed in the House. Just my opinion here...

Simple. If the Republican congress turns against him , all is lost for him. He knows that they have been holding off of investigations and they could proceed with them if he pushes them too far

The "documents" that were seized probablly contain information that is extremely damaging to both political parties. I have known for a long time, that both major politcal parties are corrput to the core. For many years, I along with many Conservatives have held our noses and voted for what we believed to the lesser of two evils. It is time to re think this. The Republican party does not represent Conservative values and never has. As an alternative, I suggest the Constitution party. If the Republicans thought they couold not take our vote for granted, they might at least listen to us. I suspect Government officials know what is in these documents and the fact that their corrupt and treacherous ways may about to be exposed scares them.

B.Poster,that is dead on the mark.

Both sides of this current congress are corrupt to the core and it needs to be flushed out and rebooted

Lets just kick out all of the incumbents.

Then again, not very many people on this site would like that; that would give Democrats the majority...

Why must we only be a two party system?

the issue is that this case could have a dangerous precendent for future congressmembers.. imagine if it was a democratic president and went against a republican congressman.. im sure the republicans arent scared that bush will do something bad. They just don't want any future administration using the same tactics (whether legal or illegal).

I think dennis hastert made a fool out of himself, making an indefensible argument, while looking like he is defending a congressman who was caught with his hands in the cookie jar. Is hastert trying to claim that a congressman can get away with murder as long as he can hide the body in his office. How about running a drug ring from the office. His argument is so absurd on its face.

When the executinve stomps on MY constitutional rights, well, that's just for my own protection, but step on Hastert and Pelosi's constitutional rights, and HOLY POST INTESTINAL COW CHOW, BATMAN! WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING!

But, hey, the constitution forbids the FBI from checking Hastert and Pelosi's freezer.

Its gonna take quite some time for dennis hastert to unlodge that foot that he stuck in his mouth. How tone deaf can one human being be!?!

Congressive,

I believe the major issue is not that there is an investigation going on, rather that they went about it the wrong way.

I think they would have rather had the capital police clean out the office rather than sending in the federal storm troopers

But, yes the hypocrisy is disgusting. There was a republican congressman on Jerry Springer today and he was bitching about this violation of his rights. He had no problem with warrantless wiretaps and collection of phone data against US citizens because he believes the constitution allows these things, but he also believe that the constitution shields congressmen from the same things.

They are just unhappy now that the bush crime family has come for them after digesting normal americans rights

Congressive...axis...other moonbats

The Justice Department got a WARRANT based on PROBABLE CAUSE. The FBI was accompanied by the Capitol Hill police.

What the hell is the proiblem?

Are our congressmen above the law? I don't think so.

This is purely and simply a gaggle of congressional politicos trying to cover their butts and protect themselves from future investigations into their behaviors. The House building is federal property and when you have a federal court warrant against an individual you can certainly secure evidence from federal buildings. This whole affair is a disgusting farce and has absolutely nothing to do with any known Constitutional limits or the separation of power. Again, we're being scammed by a bunch of frightened, frantic politicians.

My concern is -has the FBI and Justice Dept been politicized to the point that they would go after a Democrat, who admittedly looks like he's guilty of bribery, while ignoring Republicans who are caught up in the Abramoff scandal? The White House is also caught up in it, although they are denying it now.
I believe that neither branch of gov't is capable of policing itself, and no longer trust the Justice Department to be independent of politics. Why don't they get a warrant and search the offices of those connected with Abramoff, as well as searching Jefferson's office. It seems blatantly like partisan politics as usual.

This is because you have an attorney general that is Bush's family lawyer and whose chief concern is to protect the administration, instead of doing what he should be doing. He believes it best to marry the justice department to the administration in order to achieve loyalty. This has become more prevalent since they appointed Fitzgerald as special prosecutor and he is nailing republicans left and right.

kritter,

Yeah they're going after Jefferson for no other reason than he's black and he's a democrat. Its got nothing to do with the fact that the found $90,000 of the $100,000 in marked bills

You must have forgotten the self same justice department that you think is soooo politicized and just a tool of the Bush/Hilter regime, is the same one which:

1. brought Abramoff to justice
2. Successfully investigated and convicted Rep. Cunningham
3. Got convictions against Ken Lay and Jeff Skillings in the Enron case.

And in fact the Justice deptment has done more to stop corruption than any justice department in history.

In the meantime, can you tell me what were the accomplishments of the Clinton Justice system other than, killing the best high tech market ever by needlessly attacking Microsoft, killing a bunch of religious fanatics in Waco, and deporting a child to Cuba?

kritter,

Yeah they're going after Jefferson for no other reason than he's black and he's a democrat. Its got nothing to do with the fact that the found $90,000 of the $100,000 bribe in marked bills from an FBI informant. I'm sure you'll claim he was entrapped. But go ahead and defend the bastard, simply because he's black and a democrat, that must exempt him from the law right?

You must have forgotten the self same justice department that you think is soooo politicized and just a tool of the Bush/Hilter regime, is the same one which:

1. brought Abramoff to justice
2. Successfully investigated and convicted Rep. Cunningham
3. Got convictions against Ken Lay and Jeff Skillings in the Enron case.

And in fact the Justice deptment has done more to stop corruption than any justice department in history.

In the meantime, can you tell me what were the accomplishments of the Clinton Justice system other than, killing the best high tech market ever by needlessly attacking Microsoft, killing a bunch of religious fanatics in Waco, and deporting a child to Cuba?

I'm from the DC area, and the capitol police treat Congress with kid gloves. That is why Hastert would rather have them clean out offices, instead of FBI agents whose loyalty lies with Justice. The only time I can recall the capitol police actually pressing charges against a congressman is the Cynthia Mckinney incident. In that case, I believe she acted the way she did because she thought she could get away with it-privilege trumped procedure. I agree with those who say corruption is rampant in both parties.

I think this started out as a routine investigation into congressman Jefferson taking a bribe. When his office was raided, "documents" were retrieved.. These documents may contain details about the corrupt dealings engaged in by Congress members from both parties. Since corruption is rampant all the way around in Washington, no wonder they are scared. My analysis could be wrong of course. If there is wrong doing by any member of Congress or the White House, hopefully justice will be served.

Cover-up, cover-up, cover-up!!!

First of all, I'm sure the very reason Hastert and Pelosi raised the roof was because they know their names are on some of those seized documents. Separation of powers my ass!!! In this country, when you're guilty of bribery, you go to prison. Democrat or Republican, I don't care...if a lawmaker breaks the law, he's done.

Obviously that statement is within reason. Everyone breaks laws every day. Technically if you go 1 mile over the speed limit you're breaking the law. Accepting money for votes or whatever the case may be and then hiding it in your freezer is something worth investigating. If we leave it up to Congress nothing will ever be done about it. They may cry separation of powers, but we're all crying checks and balances.

I have this great idea...we need more nationwide referrendums. I mean Congress gives themselves pay raises. Congress decides on term limits. How about having those decisions made by the people. Have any of you been in a position where you gave yourself a raise other than self-employment. HA!!! I have a feeling we're going to be seeing plenty of new blood in Washington come next January.

This congress on both sides is a coorupt cancer on american democracy and they all need to be flushed into the sewers