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The Washington Times and other conservative publications and people are asking for House Speaker Dennis Hastert's head in the wake of Representative Mark Foley's abrupt resignation. Meanwhile, Mr. Foley has checked into rehab and his lawyers allows how he is gay, both great career moves. Next on the agenda is a book deal and an Oprah confessional. One can only feel a moment of schadenfreude at the Republican's predicament. Karl Rove and House Majority Leader John Boner (or what ever his name is) has banked on driving the values voter to the polls with so-called pro-marriage amendments. The evangelicals and conservatives Catholics can only look at this affair with dismay and disgust-- not just in the collapse of a public man's career but at the whole barrel of rotten apples that runs Congress. I don't believe it's rude to point out that many of these congressman that are scurrying for cover like roaches in a kitchen cabinet were so critical of Clinton during his impeachment trial. But how should the Democrats respond? A rule in politics is to never get in the way of someone who is self-destructing. Haster is doing just that, by forgetting another rule: Get bad news out fast and truthfully. Chairman of the GOP's congressional campaign committee Rep. Tom Reynolds said he told Hastert months ago about the situation. As Richard Nixon and Scooter Libby found out, the easy path of a coverup and a whitewash is on pragmatic grounds the worst path. There is finally a rule of politics that I call the Rumsfeld Rule. The more somone is attacked by his enemy, the less likely he will leave. As much as President Bush would like to replace Rumsfeld with a more competent Secretary of Defense, he'll never do so given the perception that he is bending to Democratic criticism. The same is true with Hastert. A safe bet is that Rumsfeld and Hastert won't resign, at least until after ther elections. However, the corollary of this rule is that Democrats still need to maintain their criticism at slow boil on all the president's men, making it clear to the value voter that this isn't merely a moral aberration but something organic to the Republican leadership. I think Democrats have a shot at making a beachhead into the socially conservative slice of the population. The mid-term election may well turn on Hastert remaining in power. For that reason, I beg of the speaker: Please don't resign. |