The Denny Hastert Two-Step

By Kevin Robinson in News on Oct 5, 2006 1:00PM

With all the hot Fed on Fed action that's been going on lately, Chicagoist has had a hard time following the local scene. You can imagine our surprise when TPMmuckraker posted this bit about Denny Hastert holding a press conference this morning, and that he Might. Actually. Resign.

What started out as a twisted and bizarre scandal, now has the potential to take out not only a significant piece of the Republican majority in the House, but a powerful member of the senior leadership. Even weirder is how quickly this scandal spread.

The misanthrope in us figured this would drag out as the GOP tap-danced about and tried to dodge blame. Adding fuel to our cynicism was attempts by conservative commentators to pin this on Clinton.

Rumors are swirling in even the mainstream press that Hastert is willing to step down if the Powers That Be feel it will help the cause. Certainly it's an opportunity for his opponent John "Who?" Laesch to gain some press attention.

Truth is, we're still not really convinced that anything substantive will happen. Our guess is that Hastert will announce that Congress will be taking swift action to appoint a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this. Preferably after the election. Regardless of what happens today, this isn't going to get out of the papers any time soon.