{"id":8671,"date":"2006-10-05T15:59:46","date_gmt":"2006-10-05T19:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/8671.html"},"modified":"2006-10-05T15:59:46","modified_gmt":"2006-10-05T19:59:46","slug":"hasterts-mixed-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/hasterts-mixed-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Hastert’s mixed message"},"content":{"rendered":"

House Speaker Dennis Hastert finally stopped talking to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity today, and started talking to everyone else. Unfortunately, the message wasn’t quite clear. On the one hand, Hastert says he’s stepping up and making himself liable<\/a> for what’s happened.<\/p>\n

“I’m deeply sorry this has happened and the bottom line is we’re taking responsibility,” Hastert said at a news conference outside his district office in Batavia, Ill.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, the [tag]buck stops here[\/tag],” the speaker said of the controversy enveloping the House and the page program, a venerable institution almost as old as the Congress itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the other hand, it’s a classic pseudo-apology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[Hastert] said he personally has not “done anything wrong,” and he rejected the idea of stepping down as House speaker, a post he has held longer than any other Republican in U.S. history.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Someone’s going to have to explain this one to me. Based on what Hastert said this afternoon, he’s taking responsibility for the mistakes … which he didn’t make. The blame rests with him … except there’s nothing to blame him for. He’s “deeply sorry” … but for what is unclear.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Hastert isn’t resigning, at least not today. The next question is whether that helps or hurts the GOP. I have a hunch it’s the latter.
\n
\nI generally try not to link to Fox News, but in light of the developments, this report<\/a> is particularly noteworthy.<\/p>\n

House Republican candidates will suffer massive losses if House Speaker Dennis Hastert remains speaker until Election Day, according to internal polling data from a prominent GOP pollster, FOX News has learned.<\/p>\n

“The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker,” a Republican source briefed on the polling data told FOX News. “And the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If polls like this one start to shape the Republicans’ perspective, Hastert might find it easier to gracefully step aside, rather than endure the whispers and possible intra-party challenges. A poll like this one can generate a real sense of panic for a party already burdened by anxiety and second-guessing.<\/p>\n

On a related note, Atrios raised an interesting point<\/a> today: “The idea that Democrats actually want Hastert to resign is absurd. Of course, he should resign given what he covered up, but from a purely calculating political perspective the longer he hangs in there the better.”<\/p>\n

I agree, but I’m hesitant to rationalize events into a framework that justifies itself. If Hastert resigned today, it’s tempting to say, “Good, the GOP is falling apart.” When Hastert doesn’t resign, it’s tempting to say, “Good, he’s an albatross for the GOP.”<\/p>\n

In this case, though, I don’t think it’s rationalizing. This scandal has unfolded in a way in which there are no helpful solutions for the reeling Republicans. Their responses to questions contradict one another; everyone is blaming everyone else; questions that deserve answers go ignored; and the party ends up lashing out wildly, without cause, at any passing target (Dems, the media, gays, the pages, the page program, etc.).<\/p>\n

I suspect today was part of a GOP effort to say, “Enough, let’s go on the offensive.” But what, exactly, do they go on the offensive with? They made a serious mistake, the public is disgusted, and the best they can come up with is a hotline for teenagers to report predatory lawmakers? [tag]Hastert[\/tag] “takes responsibility,” but in such a way as to remove all meaning from the phrase?<\/p>\n

If the [tag]Speaker[\/tag] thinks today’s press conference will help throw water on the fire, he’s likely to be disappointed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Speaker Dennis Hastert finally stopped talking to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity today, and started talking to everyone else. Unfortunately, the message wasn’t quite clear. On the one hand, Hastert says he’s stepping up and making himself liable for what’s happened. “I’m deeply sorry this has happened and the bottom line is we’re taking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}