One day after the election, Speaker Pelosi offered an olive branch to the tiny Republican minority:

"A country must be governed from the middle," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday. "You have to bring people together to reach consensus on solutions that are sustainable and acceptable to the American people."

So how did House Minority Leader John Boehner reply? With his middle finger:

Before most votes were even cast, righter-wing House Republicans got ready to throw rightwingers Denny Hastert and John Boehner under the bus, according to their house organ The Hill:

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the outspoken chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), is expected to run for House minority leader if the GOP loses its majority by a sizable margin, a Republican aide with knowledge of his intentions said yesterday...

If he runs, the loquacious conservative would join Energy and Commerce chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) in the field of candidates expected to challenge Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) if Republicans lose control of the House...

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum528.php

In response to his indefensible handling of a known child predator in their midst, Dennis Hastert whined today that liberals were out to "get to me". Isn't that just so precious? Little Denny Hastert is now the REAL victim in all of this, not the children exposed to the abuse of Mark Foley because of Hastert's own complicity.

The fact is that Foley began making inappropriate advances to underage pages from the day he entered Congress in 1995, and the Republican leadership knew so much about it that, as reported by the Washington Post, they were warning the pages to stay clear of Foley from day one.

Hastert today says "we took care of Mr. Foley" by asking him to resign. Of course that's exactly what he told John Boehner, "it had been taken care of", when fresh allegations surfaced 11 months ago, which Boehner at first admitted, then denied, then admitted again. This has been common knowledge among the Republican leadership for 10 years, it is only the Democrats and the American people who have been kept in the dark. So for Mr. Hastert "taking care of" something MEANS to sweep it under the rug yet again, all the while Foley is paying off the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Christy surveys the ever-expanding list of GOP scandals and shakes her head in disbelief. We have truly gone through the Looking Glass.

We Democrats look at these scandals and assume the normal results will follow. For the individual politician, that means humiliation, resignation, and exile to oblivion. Then his closest colleagues are exposed and follow the same trajectory: humiliation, resignation, and exile. Then the party hangs its head in shame, removes all bad apples, and returns to the path of God.

GOP leader: Keep privately paid trips
Boehner backs tighter disclosure, opposes other proposals

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The new Republican leader in the House of Representatives backed more stringent disclosure rules for lawmakers and lobbyists Sunday, but criticized measures such as a ban on privately paid travel proposed by other GOP leaders.

Rep. John Boehner, who was elected House majority leader Thursday, also said limits on "earmarked" spending bills would help clean up Congress amid a wide-ranging influence-peddling probe.

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant," the Ohio congressman told NBC's "Meet the Press."

From Think Progress: 

The right-wing spin is that John Boehner (R-OH), Tom DeLay’s replacement as Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, represents a “clean break” from DeLay. The reality is that Boehner is as tightly connected to K Street lobbyists as any member of Congress. He has handed out tobacco industry checks on the House floor and has been wined and dined by special interests at the world’s most luxurious resorts and golf courses.