] "Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - having already
] enraged some New Yorkers with his remarks about local
] office-holders' "unseemly scramble" for federal money
] after 9/11 - yesterday opened a second front. On "Fox
] News Sunday," the Illinois Republican insinuated that
] billionaire financier George Soros, who's funding an
] independent media campaign to dislodge President Bush, is
] getting his big bucks from shady sources. "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," Hastert mused. An astonished Chris
] Wallace asked: "Excuse me?" The Speaker went on: "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."

[ Are you fucking KIDDING ME? I don't KNOW where my roommate gets his money. He SAYS he goes to work and writes computer programs, but I don't KNOW that... Maybe, maybe he's WHORING down on West Peachtree, or, maybe he's assasinating leaders of Hamas, i just DON'T KNOW. Crimony, is this fuck serious? (bold mine, btw)

For the record, Soros was none too pleased, sending a letter to Mr. Hastert which is none-too-subtle in it's intent : http://talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/soros.hastert.pdf -k

UPDATE: This (http://www.hillnews.com/news/090104/soros.aspx) page from today quotes an entirely unapologetic spokesman for the Speaker :

' John Feehery, a spokesman for Hastert, said, “George Soros has an agenda. He supports the legalization of drugs, and the statement stands. [Hastert] has been fighting Soros on this for years because it is a character flaw. The Speaker thinks legalizing drugs is wrong." '

UPDATE 2 : They had a different comment to Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/2004/09/01/cz_mm_0901soros1.html):

"Of course the Speaker doesn't think he gets money from drug cartels," says Hastert's press secretary, John Feehery.

What a bunch of assholes. -k]

TPM : Hastert defames Soros?