UNFIT! CORRUPT! EVIL?

DENNY HASTERT

Back on Monday, Paul Begala appeared with Bay Buchanan on CNN and he had a couple of things to say that I found thought-provoking so I've been sitting on for the last few days. I kept wanting to get to them; it's just that new stuff kept coming out all the time and I never got the chance. Here's a fairly accurate transcript from that appearance (you can see the video on YouTube):

They covered it up. This is not a partisan thing; this is what happens when you're in power for too long. Look, Lord Acton was right - absolute power corrupts absolutely. There was a moment of crisis; there was a moment of conscience; it was a moment that shows character and Dennis Hastert showed himself to be a man unfit for high office. So did anyone else who knew about this and did nothing. ... And the fact that Speaker Hastert has just been so corrupted by power; he's not an evil man, but he's been too powerful for too long. He just cannot see beyond his partisan interests.

I think Begala really hit some important points here. Personally, the only part that I disagree with Begala on is the part where he doesn't think that Hastert is evil. Given all that's happened over the past week, it is the only conclusion that I can draw. After all, the man is more interested in saving his own ass than protecting children from sexual predators. In politics, I understand (cynical though it may be) that staying in office is the most important job facing an officeholder, but to attempt to do so at the expense of children's safety crosses a line for me. This week has proven that the Republicans will say and do anything they can to stay in office. Absolutely anything. I truly believe that given a choice between losing Congress and doing some sexually deviant act with a blood relative (or animal, if you're Santorum), they'd probably light up a cigar and gladly go to town on their loved one. Too creepy for you? How about this - Denny Hastert is one of the leaders of a party that has sacrificed the lives of our armed forces for no legitimate reason whatsoever in order to construct a campaign of fear and scare the crap out of the voters to get them to vote Republican. And that to me is evil.