Mr. Speaker, Take The Short Sword

I don't think the Foley scandal will have much effect on voters because, as I've said before, it's a choice between the party where one guy who solicits sex from 17 year-olds against the party that wants to teach sex to 7 year-olds.

However, the Hastert scandal can really hurt the GOP if the party allows him to remain speaker ... even through this weekend. We're losing campaign time, and we're losing votes as he allows the "what did he know/when did he know it" war to be fought over the Speaker, as opposed to the Former Speaker who voluntarily stepped down.

The end of Hastert's speakership may be coming soon according to Fox News, which reports a prominent, unnamed GOP pollster has new data that documents my position on the Hastert scandal --

"The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker," a Republican source briefed on the polling data told FOX News. "And the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss."

Hastert has been a fine Speaker, running the House like the GOP policy machine we've hoped for ever since we siezed the majority in Congress. But in politics there are matters of fact and matters of image, and on the latter he's become a major liability at the worst possible time.

In Japan, the old (and thankfully now much toned down) position was that the boss would cut his guts out if a scandal hit his underlings. His suicide, somewhat like Christ's, returned honor to a sinful bunch of minions. In justice-driven America, our focus is more on defense and justification, but sometimes it's a wiser move to just reach for the short sword.

Related Tags: Politics, Foley, Hastert, Page