Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House (and therefore second in line for the Presidency), took it upon himself the other day (August 29) on Fox News Sunday to offer up some views on where George Soros, billionaire Democrat supporter, gets his money:
HASTERT: Here in this campaign, quote, unquote, "reform," you take party power away from the party, you take the philosophical ideas away from the party, and give them to these independent groups.
You know, I don't know where George Soros gets his money. I don't know where — if it comes overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from. And I —
WALLACE (interrupting): Excuse me?
HASTERT: Well, that's what he's been for a number years — George Soros has been for legalizing drugs in this country. So, I mean, he's got a lot of ancillary interests out there.
WALLACE: You think he may be getting money from the drug cartel?
HASTERT: I'm saying I don't know where groups — could be people who support this type of thing. I'm saying we don't know. The fact is we don't know where this money comes from.
A few days earlier, he offered this gem on The Brian Lehrer Show:
Brian Lehrer: What do you think of the Swift Boat veterans ads, and John Kerry's calls for the president to denounce them?
Dennis Hastert: Well, you find out that if you look into the record, I was against the Campaign Finance Reform Act because that's what I felt that would happen, that you would push into guys like George Soros, who's dumping in $16 or $20 million. We don't know where that money comes from. We don't know where it comes from, from the left, and you don't know where it comes in the right. You know, Soros' money, some of that is coming from overseas. It could be drug money. We don't know where it comes from.
When Soros demanded an apology, Hastert responded:
"... Chris Wallace said, "drug cartels." I did not. ... I never implied that you were a criminal and I never would, that's not my style."
Well, I think it is, in fact, criminal to profit from illegal drug transactions, and it seems fairly clear that Hastert did at least imply that Soros was doing just that. But this shouldn't be surprising: this is all part of the newest political tactic. Another great example was last month, when Fox News regular Michelle Malkin appeared on Chris Matthews' Hardball talking about John Kerry's time in Vietnam and the Swiftboats Vets controversy:
MALKIN: Well, yes. Why don't people ask him more specific questions about the shrapnel in his leg. They are legitimate questions about whether or not it was a self-inflicted wound.
MATTHEWS: What do you mean by self-inflicted? Are you saying he shot himself on purpose? Is that what you're saying?
...
MALKIN: There are doubts about whether or not it was intense rifle fire or not. And I wish you would ask these questions of John Kerry instead of me.
MATTHEWS: I have never heard anyone say he shot himself on purpose.
I haven't heard you say it.
MALKIN: Have you tried to ask — have you tried ask John Kerry these questions?
MATTHEWS: If he shot himself on purpose. No. I have not asked him that.
MALKIN: Don't you wonder?
MATTHEWS: No, I don't. It's never occurred to me.
On her website, Malkin goes ballistic on Matthews:
I repeated that the allegations involved whether the injuries were "self inflicted wounds." I DID NOT SAY HE SHOT HIMSELF ON PURPOSE and Chris Matthews knows it. ... Well, guess what? This foaming jerk Matthews, who called me irresponsible and kicked me off the show admitted that ... b) he was not interested in asking Kerry about the specific doubts raised by vets about his wounds, and c) he had not and would not question Kerry about these specific allegations.
No, no, not me: I never said that Kerry shot himself. I just said that there were people who had raised questions about it -- but not me.
It's basically like suddenly saying, "Well, no, there's no proof that my oponent has had sex with goats. I'm certainly not saying he did." But suddenly there's a conversation started about whether or not someone sleeps with goats. "Hey, did you hear that the Democratic candidate got it on with a goat?" And then, if someone says that it's a stupid charge, you can say, "But why won't you ask him? What are you trying to hide by not asking him about that goat?"
And what's amazing is that it works. Even when, as in the Malkin example, the media crushes the person for being unhinged, it still starts a conversation with people. The Swiftboat Vets group has been debunked by almost every major media outlet in the country (except, of course, Fox), but it's still worked: polls show that since their ads started, and all the media coverage that ensued, more and more people question Kerry's service in Vietnam.
This -- the lemming-like behavior of people willing to go along with anything they here -- is the scariest part, and it's the part that I don't know how to imagine fixing.
Posted by Mike at September 5, 2004 11:35 PM