People around here were so kind to that Republican who's all fed up, and so I'm hoping you'll all be open to
my perspective, too!
I've spent a lot of time reading diaries and posts since the Mark Foley scandal broke, and I'm starting to get the sense that some people feel that, just maybe, Dennis Hastert is in some teensy way culpable. Some posters have even said he should resign! I think that would be a terrible mistake, and so I am circulating this petition in support of Hastert, which I hope you will all take the time to read.
Now obviously, you can't sign your names here (the tubes aren't made to handle ink, and besides, you don't want to go writing on your screens!!!). So instead, I have added a poll, and I'll forward the results.
And now, the petition!!
We strongly support the Onerable Dennis Hastert during this time of crisis and believe he should be allowed to keep his position (i.e., fetal) as Speaker of the House of Representatives. We understand completely why he chose to shield a sexual predator rather than risk losing a safe Republican seat. So what if a few pages' seats were left somewhat less safe as a result? In a time of endless war against a wily foe whose name sometimes changes by only one letter, we must be willing to sacrifice other people's sons and daughters, be it on the battlefield or in the House of Representatives.
Some straw men will say that Denny Hastert should be held accountable for every little thing that any Republican or Joe Lieberman does, but we disagree. Others will try to compare Hastert's complete inaction here with the three-day emergency session he called to debate how best to meddle in the Terry Schiavo case. The straw men with the most inappropriate senses of humor will say that Hastert is getting the political double whammy--being caught with a dead woman and a live boy. That is ridiculous! Terry Schiavo was only brain-dead!!
We have all heard it said that backroom politics is a lot like a sausage factory, and boy! is that ringing true these days. Except it's more like a sausage factory run by gladiators with shaved chests, and the supervisor has a handlebar moustache.
But you shouldn't blame Dennis Hastert for that.