Hastert: From obscure congressman, to 'accidental speaker' to admitted abuser

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

Practically nobody knew who Denny Hastert was on the morning of December 19, 1998.

 

It didn’t seem like Christmas-time in Washington that day. Low clouds crowded the sky as temperatures wavered in the 40s. And everyone was miserable.

 

The House met in a rare, Saturday session to vote on Articles of Impeachment leveled against President Clinton linked to his liaisons with Monica Lewinsky.

 

The foul mood permeated the Capitol because lawmakers wanted to be back in their districts. People were missing festive parties, found themselves running behind on Christmas shopping and just didn’t want to work on a Saturday so close to the holidays. To top it off, Clinton ordered airstrikes against Iraq after Baghdad repeatedly violated U.S.-patrolled no-fly zones imposed after the first Gulf War.

 

It was hard to keep up.

 

And then there was Livingston. Bob Livingston.

 

Republicans showed then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., the door after the party nearly lost the chamber in that year’s midterm election.

 

Gingrich’s tactics exasperated rank-and-file Republicans who thought the party overplayed its hand on impeachment. The GOP tapped then-Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., as its speaker-in-waiting for the new Congress convening in January.

 

But word broke that weekend that Livingston also engaged in an affair.

 

As if there wasn’t enough going on that Saturday….

________

 

Everybody knows him now.