Child molestation is just about the most egregious crime you could commit. Any other person, who is not a powerful political figure, who committed this atrocity, would be ostracized and punished to the highest degree of the law. But, if you are a person of power, you get the softer treatment. People will make excuse for your behavior.

CNSNews:Dennis Hastert, the Republican who for eight years presided over the House and was second in the line of succession to the presidency, was sentenced Wednesday to more than a year in prison in the hush-money case that revealed accusations he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high school wrestling.

The case makes the former speaker one of the highest-ranking American politicians ever sentenced to prison. The visibly angry judge repeatedly rebuked the 74-year-old before issuing the 15-month sentence, telling him that his abuse devastated the lives of victims and would probably make it harder than ever for parents to trust other adults with their children.

“If Denny Hastert could do it, anyone could do it,'” U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin said. “Nothing is more stunning than to have the words ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the House’ in the same sentence.”

As he did for much of the hearing, Hastert sat unmoving in a wheelchair, peering over the top of his eyeglasses, his hands folded before him.

Earlier this month, prosecutors went into graphic detail about the sex-abuse allegations, even describing how Hastert would sit in a recliner in the locker room with a direct view of the showers. The victims, prosecutors said, were boys between 14 and 17. Hastert was in his 20s and 30s.

When the judge asked if Hastert wanted to make a statement, Hastert pushed himself up, grabbed a walker and moved slowly to a podium.

Ok, so the judge in this cast thinks Hastert is a pig. Agreed, but the reaction from the following, is puzzling and infuriating.

The Daily Kos reported that more than 40 of Hastert’s colleagues wrote to the judge to take leniency into consideration as he sentenced a self admitted pedophile. Really? 4o people made excused for this guy?

DeLay, a Texas Republican, recalled in his letter that Hastert started a Wednesday Bible study that the two men took part in.

“So I know his heart and have seen it up close and personal,” DeLay wrote. “We all have our flaws, but Dennis Hastert has very few. He is a good man that loves the lord. He gets his integrity and values from Him. He doesn’t deserve what he is going through. I ask that you consider the man that is before you and give him leniency where you can.”

… “We all have our flaws, but Dennis Hastert has very few. He is a good man that loves the lord. He gets his integrity and values from Him. He doesn’t deserve what he is going through. I ask that you consider the man that is before you and give him leniency where you can,” it concludes.