The American Spectator has an excellent article (“Hastert La Vista, Baby!”) explaining the countless reasons why it’s time for Dennis Hastert to go.Here's an excerpt:
“[T]he recent embarrassment of his wild over-reaction to the FBI's search of Rep. William Jefferson's office is merely the 100-pound load that, combined with tons of ethical dead-weight, broke the elephant's back.
...Hastert has exhibited the arrogance of power that leaves him clueless both as to ethical concerns and as to the political damage such arrogance can cause to his own party. The House GOP's hubristic culture, the culture that makes its members feel immune to expected mores and to any blowback from a disgusted public -- the culture that, even after the Abramoff and DeLay scandals, makes them unwilling to pass serious reforms on ethics, lobbyist disclosure, and earmarks -- is what has led the House overall into even-worse poll ratings than the stupendously low scores President George W. Bush has been receiving in recent months.
...If Hastert's outburst against the Jefferson search were an isolated incident, a rare lapse in judgment, it certainly would be forgivable. Because, however, it is part of a consistent pattern of abuses of ethical norms or of simple fairness, and because Hastert's own compromised image is helping drag down his whole party's electoral prospects for November, this Speaker should silence himself politically.”
It’s time.
