In Churning Waters, Hastert Vows to Fight “Feeding Frenzy”

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Congressional Quarterly (sub. req.) has an interesting article out. Based on an interview with conservative power broker Paul Weyrich, the magazine contends that House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) would resign if he thought it would help the GOP — but he doesn’t think it would, so he won’t step down:

. . .Weyrich said Hastert has rejected calls for his resignation because he believes it would prompt “a feeding frenzy” that ultimately would lead to the downfall of other GOP leaders as well.

“He said if he thought that resigning would be helpful to the Republicans maintaining the majority, he would do it. But he did not think it would be helpful for Republicans,” Weyrich said in an interview after holding what he described as an emotional telephone conversation with Hastert, who is home in Illinois campaigning and trying to deal with the fallout from the Mark Foley scandal.

Now, to put it in context, media in Chicago report that Hastert is basically cornered inside his own home. The house has been flanked by legions of media, who haven’t seen him come or go for many hours. The local TV news is running an American Idol-style “Should Hastert Resign?” text message poll.

In other words, it doesn’t sound like Hastert’s doing much “campaigning.” And with a tide of “fallout” literally breaking on his front doorstep, it’s not clear he’s effectively “dealing” with it.

More from CQ:

“He said he thought his resignation would just lead to a feeding frenzy where they would go after (Majority Leader John A.) Boehner, then (Rep. Thomas M.) Reynolds, then (Rep. John) Shimkus. And he said we would have the story running right up to the election.”

I’m not sure who’s advising Hastert on this mess; perhaps he’s keeping his own counsel. But it’s hard for me to understand how a guy as politically savvy as Hastert can think that if he’s forced to hide at home, and dispatch surrogates to blame the disaster on the right wing’s familiar cardboard hobgoblins — the media, the liberals, the gays — then the story will magically leave the headlines.

One last note on the CQ article: the publication notes that its conversation with Weyrich appeared to be “part of a Hastert offensive aimed [at] putting an end to calls for an immediate resignation over his handling of the scandal.” I would observe that if a leader’s in a true position to stick around, he picks up his phone and makes these calls himself. Surely Hastert knows that if a top dog is so embattled and controversial he can’t deliver his own message, his effectiveness is waning.

Update: Here’s NPR’s interview with Weyrich.

Latest Muckraker
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: