still a more successful house speaker than Paul Ryan.
Sadly, this. The 2001 tax cuts, the Medicare 2003 program. I still want to know how Hastert became Speaker in 1998. The GOP should have chosen someone else.
When Gingrich was ousted, his likely successor was Bob Livingston, but it was revealed that he also had an affair and was forced to resign.
That left a power vacuum. The two highest ranking Republicans were Dick Armey and then Tom Delay, but neither was in a position to become Speaker. Hastert was put forward as sort of a popular front man everyone could get behind, while Delay consolidated power, excluded old Gingrich allies and 1994 Revolutionaries
Make no mistake, it was Delay pulling the strings and it was Delay that secured passage of those bills, through a combination of favorable dispositions with big donors/bundlers/lobbyists, bribes, threats and arm twisting. The Medicare Part D (or maybe it was NCLB) vote was held open for hours while Delay twisted enough arms to get to a passing vote.
Delay finally got nailed in 2005/2006 for funneling illegal corporate donations to help the TX GOP take over control of the State House of Representatives in 2002, so that they could enact an infamous mid-decade redistricting plan to oust the Democratic majority in the state delegation.
Another interesting thing to consider in hindsight is the way Hastert handled the Mark Foley situation, considering his own past.
