Roskam's Task: Defending the Indefensible

Crain’s looks at the 6th District impact of the Republican cover up of Mark Foley chasing 16-year olds:

In what is believed to be this area’s closest race, in the west suburban 6th District, Democrat Tammy Duckworth and Republican Peter Roskam traded barbs on the meaning of the scandal.

Ms. Duckworth charged that House GOP leadership “has been involved in keeping Foley’s secret” and called on Mr. Roskam to return the $40,000 in campaign donations he’s received from Messrs. Hastert, Shimkus and other leaders.

Ms. Duckworth also noted that Mr. Roskam’s campaign has received heavy donations from the House Republican Campaign Committee, to which Mr. Foley gave $500,000 over the past decade.

“This is the type of leadership Roskam would look to,” Ms. Duckworth said in a statement. “The last thing we need in Washington is another rubberstamp.”

And Pete was also given the opportunity to defend his Republican bosses' non-response to Foley's misconduct:

Mr. Roskam’s spokesman said the speaker acted correctly in asking an outside agency, the Department of Justice, to probe whether any laws have been broken. That probe will reveal whether Mr. Hastert is at all culpable, the spokesman added.

Voters will decide how to apportion blame, the spokesman said. “The Democrats have had lots of scandals of their own.”

Does Roskam's response look familiar? Could be because it is substantially the same as his earlier defense of his original political mentor, the disgraced Republican Tom DeLay.

So future GOP candidates take note: Be sure to have a boilerplate defense of Republican corruption on hand before you take to the campaign trail -- you'll need it.