Dennis is a menace on page affair.

[Robbien]

In the wake of the sordid revelations of former Florida Rep. Mark Foley's apparent appetite for sexual contact with young men, the GOP caucus may have to decide whether to toss House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert under the bus.

They are rightfully questioning Hastert's lame response to early warnings of Foley's intense and unwelcome interest in current and former pages.

As early as last fall, Hastert's office was informed that a former page and his parents were upset enough about an e-mail from Foley to ask his congressional sponsor to make sure Foley never be allowed to contact the young man again. Hastert claims his staff got the message but saw no need to "bump it up" to him. But House Majority Leader John A. Boehner says he reported similar allegations directly to Hastert six months ago. Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-N.Y., confirms that meeting.

Hastert claims he can't recall that meeting, though he confirms it may have happened. He concluded that the e-mails were not of a sexual nature. So he shrugged it off by going to Foley and, in essence, telling him to watch himself. It's hard to imagine that Hastert is so out of touch that he not only failed to understand the severity of the situation; it's also hard to imagine that he could be so dense he neglected to see the parallels between this and a similar situation: when an entrenched institution, the Catholic Church, arrogantly covered up wrongs committed by those in power against the young. This isn't just cluelessness on Hastert's part, but irresponsibility. And yet, it gets even worse. Tuesday, Hastert appeared on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, blaming Democrats for "trying to put us on defense."

He painted a bleak picture of what would happen if the Dems benefited from this scandal in the upcoming elections. Such hysterical threats bring to mind the contemptible way Vice President Dick Cheney met the news of Joe Lieberman's recent defeat in Connecticut over his support of the war in Iraq: Cheney said voters were aiding terrorists by showing them how weak we are as a country. Hastert should resign, though he says he won't.

Of course, he may have no choice. President Bush gave him a vote of confidence, at which point Hastert should have known to empty his desk. We all know what happened to the last guy Bush singled out for doing a "heck of a job."

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/opinion/15682523.htm

A viewpoint from someone from Chicago, without Daley backing him, this guy would be toast.