October 05, 2006

What Would it Take?

My irritation with the current GOP leadership is a worse kept secret than Mark Foley's wierd sexual proclivities. And, like any other rational conservative/libertarian, my willingness to criticize the GOP leadership is tempered by the knowledge that the Democrats (a/k/a "The Evil Party") would almost certainly make a mess of things in the House of Representatives if they took control from the Republicans (a/k/a "The Stupid Party"). God forbid they take the Senate as well. That would be very bad.

How bad?

Well, try to imagine every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light and all life as we know it ceasing to exist.

Well, okay, maybe not that bad, but pretty bad, nonetheless.

Even so, I think each of us needs to ask himself how far he is willing to carry water to save Dennis Hastert. What revelation would be too much? I'd imagine we'd all be willing to bail on Hastert if, for example, a cop found a dead hooker in the back seat of Hastert's car.

I'm pretty sure there is a point, for each of us, somewhere on the continuum between "completely ignorant of any problem" on the one end, and "no, officer, I do not have a valid permit for that dead hooker," at which each of us would be willing to withdraw support for Hastert.

For me, that point lies somewhere around "Well, we kinda knew Mark Foley had a habit of getting 'wierd-ish' with the young boys, but we were busy with other stuff at the time, and we hoped it would just go away." Yes, that's a dramatization, but I predict the facts will ultimately bear it out. (I'm sure I'll get beaten up for that one.)

If (<<< note the word "if") Dennis Hastert knew that Mark Foley had a tendency toward the wierdness (a la Jacko) with the young boys, and Hastert took no action to address the problem, that says an awful lot to me about the man's character and the quality of his leadership. Then again, it's not as if we NEEDED more evidence of the quality of Hastert's leadership. We've already had eight years to observe the man in action. This is only the latest chapter in a long story. At which point does one say "enough is enough?"

Some are characterizing opposition to the current leadership as "spineless," and asserted that Hastert's critics are "pissing themselves" in fear, and need some Midol. Think this through, folks. We're opposing the leadership and what presently appears to be the majority of the Party... and yet we're the ones who are "spineless?" We're unwilling to accept the position that a Democrat-controlled House would not be exactly the same thing as the coming of the Apocalypse, and yet we're the ones who are "terrified" and "pissing" ourselves?

I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.

UPDATE: Darth Misha answers thusly:

The moment any actual concrete evidence (as opposed to rumors, innuendo and speculation, which is all we have at this point) surfaces proving that Hastert knew but chose not to do anything, His Majesty will throw Dennis under the friggin’ bus so bloody fast that the theory of relativity may come into play.