Democrats Take Former Republican House Speakers Seat!!!!

[Brian]

Big news out of Illinois tonight as Democrat Bill Foster took former US House Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat. Hastert, Republican, was House Speaker prior to the Democrats gaining control of the House in the 2006 elections. More form www.openleft.com

Congratulations to Bill Foster. We have one more seat in the House, one more Democrat who said the following.


The President and his allies in Congress are playing politics with national security, and that's wrong. Nobody is above the law and telecom companies who engaged in illegal surveillance should be held accountable, not given retroactive immunity. I flatly oppose giving these companies an out for cooperating with Alberto Gonzalez on short-circuiting the FISA courts and the rule of law.

And this wasn't some one-off statement on national security; Bill Foster ran strong on Iraq the whole campaign, with several ads focused on withdrawal and the costs of the war. This was a heavily Republican district that turned on an anti-war and pro-civil liberties message to a Democrat.