Twisting in the Responsibility

Here is Dennis Hastert's real opinion of his current dilemma's source; this is what he said off-the-cuff and straight from the heart.

Or at least, that's what I (a die-hard progressive, an opponent of Bush and his whole alliance) would like to believe about the old Republican Speaker's true nature.

To be fair, though, and to give the guy the benefit of the doubt as commanded in Torah, it's possible that a subsequent quote - "I'm deeply sorry this has happened and the bottom line is we're taking responsibility" - may reflect his more genuine attitude.


As for the demands that Hastert resign over Mark Foley's trail of e-slime, I'm not entirely sure that's necessary.

Surely the Speaker's resignation would accomplish little in the way of cleaning up the Foley mess. Although I'd love him to quit and hand the Bush administration another defeat, I can't see any reason for it other than the political. (Besides, it would be much tastier if he ran for the Speaker's chair and got his ass handed to him, although that's not likely.)

No, I can't see any point to calling for Hastert to step down. On the other hand, it does leave me with one question very loudly unanswered:

What exactly does the Speaker mean by saying "we're going to take responsibility"?

We all know what it means when George W. says he's responsible for something - "Yeah, I did that and I'd do it again whether it made sense or not, so shut up." But what does Dennis Hastert mean?

I have a hunch it means pretty much the same thing to him; he intends it as a signal that the conversation is over and nothing's going to change.

Well, out here in the real world, responsibility means something quite different, to wit: the right, ability and obligation to take action regarding some issue within one's sphere. No less a figure than John D. Rockefeller Jr. said:

"Every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty."

And he's far from the wisest person who ever made that point.

So if Dennis Hastert acknowledges that the Foley matter comes within his orbit, that he has the right, ability and obligation to take effective action about it, and yet he doesn't plan to resign, what does he plan to do? So far, all he seems to have promised is that he will cooperate with the Ethics Committee investigation and will testify if subpoenaed. That's not the act of a responsible man, it's the act of a man who's been caught misbehaving and will do only the bare minimum to get his feet out of the fire. And he's not even the accused!

In short, he's behaving like his master, George W. Bush. Surprise.

Benshlomo says, Send me someone who knows the middle ground between quitting your job and covering your ass.