Hastert Says, "'There wasn't much there other than a friendly inquiry"

The Boy Said It Was "Sick" - But Hastert Has Different Standards: "Meeting with reporters Monday, Hastert said his aides and Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., heeded the wishes of the parents of the former House page, who wanted such questionable e-mails to stop but didn't want the matter pursued. Shimkus and the House clerk told Foley last fall to cut off all communication with the former page, who lived in Louisiana.

Hastert says neither Shimkus nor his own aides saw the 2005 e-mail, noting that it was far less sexually explicit than the electronic messages that ABC News revealed last week.

'There wasn't much there other than a friendly inquiry,' Hastert said of the 2005 message from Foley, R-Fla., described as 'sick' by the boy. The message asked for a photograph and mentioned a different teen who was in 'great shape.'"

This means that the wishes of these parents was all it took to let a dangerous, bad situation - with great potential harm to somebody else's children, go unchecked and unstopped. Good going, Republican Hastert !

The Baltimore Sun notices something different:

"The usually disciplined House Republican leadership showed signs of disarray, with Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri telling reporters that he would have urged a different course of action had colleagues informed him of the page's complaint.

I think I could have given some good advice here, which is: 'You have to be curious, you have to ask all the questions you can think of,' said Blunt, who ranks third in the Republican leadership. 'You absolutely can't decide not to look into activities because one individual's parents don't want you to.'"

That's my emphasis, to point out the key fact that puts Hastert out of business.