Josh Marshall wondered earlier this week when House Speaker Dennis Hastert would do the inevitable: make a clear show of support for the embattled Tom DeLay.
So far, it hasn’t happened. We heard a rather bland endorsement of support from the White House yesterday, the Senate GOP has been dealing with its own problems, and Hastert has been relatively quiet of late. A sign of dissension? An unreported rift, perhaps? Hard to say; it’s difficult to read too much into silence.
Having said that, the Chicago Tribune reported today that Hastert’s office has not exactly thrown its enthusiastic support behind The Hammer. Indeed, someone in the Speaker’s office suggested DeLay should start answering some of these uncomfortable questions.
[A] senior aide to Hastert said DeLay may need to make some public explanations about the charges since the House ethics committee has been unable to organize itself with Democrats protesting Republican-instituted rule changes.
“I’m not sure why he doesn’t lay it out, regardless of whether the ethics committee ever meets or not,” said the Hastert official, who spoke on condition of not being identified.
“Take whatever there is and say, ‘Here it is,'” the official said. “You have to at one point say, ‘Here I am, here it is, what’s the question.'”
An unequivocal vote of confidence? Hardly.
Given this, it’s worth noting that if Hastert wants DeLay to start responding to the ethics questions, the Speaker is going to be disappointed — DeLay told reporters yesterday that he’s no longer responding to scandal-related questions.
The Hastert staffer that spoke to the Trib acknowledged that the Speaker “continues to support DeLay,” but he’s presiding over an increasingly anxious caucus.
“There’s a frustration that this lingers,” Hastert’s adviser said. “The whole discussion makes the institution look bad.”
How long will Republicans allow this frustration to linger? Stay tuned.