Denny Fights Back

Speaker Denny Hastert, normally pretty mild-mannered, is fighting back against the calls for him to resign over the Foleygate matter. Hastert is pointing fingers in the right direction:

A defiant House Speaker Dennis Hastert fought yesterday to hold on to his leadership post while fractures appeared among his lieutenants and a former senior aide to Rep. Mark Foley said he had repeatedly warned Hastert's top aide about Foley's inappropriate behavior toward underage pages more than two years ago.

In an interview, Hastert said he had no thoughts of resigning, and he blamed ABC News and Democratic operatives for the mushrooming scandal that threatens his tenure as speaker and Republicans' hold on power in the House.

"No," Hastert said. "I think that resignation is exactly what our opponents would like to have happen, that I'd fold my tent and others would fold our tent and they would sweep the House."

When asked about a groundswell of discontent among the GOP's conservative base over his handling of the issue, Hastert said: "I think the base has to realize after a while, 'Who knew about it? Who knew what, when?' When the base finds out who's feeding this monster, they're not going to be happy. The people who want to see this thing blow up are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."

The whole affair is looking more and more like a planned hit on Foley and the GOP, and there's no sense in giving the left victories they don't deserve. I still question the quality of Hastert's overall leadership, but this would not be the time for a resignation. There will be plenty of time for that after the election, and if the GOP retains control, I think the party and the Congress would benefit from a new Speaker.