Diary: Hastert: The Spin is Dizzying

If you clicked on the opednews article about Dennis Hastert's visit from an evangelical yesterday, it would have taken you to a page about using html.

But since Amanda Lang's brief description of the story mentioned the Chicago Sun-Times, I went directly to their site to see if I could find the story. What I found instead was a story headlined "Hastert Duped Into Letting a Stranger Into His Home." But when I clicked on that, there was no story.

I emailed Amanda and got an email back saying that the URL had been corrected and was now working, but when I tried it I found first a link to an alternative blog, and then a link to the AOL News story.

The Chicago Sun-Times apparently first altered the story, and then removed it when nobody believed their spin. Hastert duped into letting a stranger into his home? Absurd. Access to Congressmembers, or even to members of their staffs is at a premium these days, and a very high premium at that. Access to the Speaker of the House at his home to someone he doesn't know? I'd have a better chance of casually sauntering into the Bush "ranch" at Crawford.

I finally found what appears to be the Associated Press story here:

GlobalPeaceInitiative

It certainly doesn't appear from the photos that Hastert's security people were "duped" into letting this guy in.

It is simply beyond belief that Hastert would invite "a stranger" into his home. This evangelical guy is strange, to say the least, but possibly one of the few friends Hastert has left.