L.A. Times Joins Wash. Times on Hastert Removal

And here's why.

ENNIS HASTERT SHOULD RESIGN as speaker of the House of Representatives. Not necessarily because he failed to act quickly when shown evidence suggesting that Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was abusing his power with teenagers — not all the details are known, though the ones that are don't look good. No, the Illinois Republican should resign because he's an unimaginative politician and an uninspired legislator. Unfortunately, these days that just makes him a typical congressional Republican.

At his job-preserving news conference Thursday, Hastert said, "The buck stops here," then proceeded to blame some of this Republican scandal on the Democratic Party. "I haven't done anything wrong, obviously," he added.
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Start with his laugh-out-loud assertion Thursday that the Republican Party has been "holding the line on spending." From 1999, when Hastert was elected speaker, to 2005, non-defense discretionary spending increased 34%, according to the Heritage Foundation. Pork-barrel line items have grown exponentially on Hastert's watch, and ballyhooed attempts at reform have largely fizzled. Instead of trying to prevent his colleagues from raiding the public purse, Hastert has saved his scorn for judges who authorize the FBI to search the offices of fellow lawmakers charged with crimes.

The same Republican Party that swept into a House majority 12 years ago amid fire-breathing promises to clean house and inject new blood is now led by a 19-year veteran whose oldest son is a lobbyist.

He needs to go. They all need to go.

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Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) Calls for Rusfeld to Resign

Here's the gist.

(AP) Rep. Chris Shays, who is facing a tough challenge from an anti-war Democrat, on Wednesday called for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign — a rare demand from a longtime Republican.

The Connecticut lawmaker also accused officials at the Defense Department of withholding information about the Iraq war from Congress.

“I am losing faith in how we are fighting this war,” Shays, a longtime supporter of the conflict, said in an interview. “I believe we have to motivate the Iraqis to do more.”

Shays, who was elected in 1987, said defense officials stopped cooperating with his congressional subcommittee after Shays proposed setting a timeline for troop withdrawals. Shays, who had previously opposed such a timeline, offered the plan in August following his 14th trip to Iraq since the war began.

Rumsfeld “simply is refusing to cooperate with a committee that oversees the Department of Defense,” Shays said. “To me he has crossed the line.”

Neocons gone wild indeed. Time for the travesty to end.