Pointed questions for our 'accidental speaker'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

He was dubbed the "accidental speaker" when hastily picked in 1998 to head the U.S. House of Representatives, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert has demonstrated an accident-prone tongue.

Hastert riled Democrats last month by saying al-Qaida terrorist leaders want Sen. John Kerry to beat President Bush in November.

He hinted that anti-Bush billionaire George Soros made his money from drug cartels. "I don't know where -- if it comes from overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from," Hastert told a Fox News program. He later backtracked.

Hastert has since raised Republican eyebrows by observing that an embattled fellow Republican congressman from Illinois, Rep. Phil Crane, "hasn't taken care of his district." The speaker has forecast the GOP will lose Senate seats in Illinois and Oklahoma.

Hastert is due at the Sheraton Bellevue on Friday for a $250-a-head breakfast, and a $2,000-a-snapshot picture-taking session, to boost 8th District GOP House hopeful Dave Reichert.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/196970_joel27.html