Politics is about emotion and psychology, not facts and policy. I think now Hastert is now the most powerful source of induced disgust in America. I like to think I have a pretty good feel for how Americans in general are reacting, and I think Denny is the best thing to happen to the Democrats in well over a decade. Eery D candidate should put the biggest, ugliest picture of him they can find on their signs and sites , next to theirs, with the tag "your choice". And roll to victory. It's starting to smell bigger than 1994.

Looks like Doc Hastings is pretending he knew nothing about it over on Postman's blog.

All I know is that I've started to pray, like I did in 2004 (please, God, save me from your followers....)

That is it - the other shoe has dropped. Hastert is toast. Dead man walking.

I loved the button he was wearing on the Daily Show: "I've gained weight--Ask me how!"

Stay the course, Mr. Speaker!

Yeah, that's nice. Won't happen. Should happen. Let's see what current events bring us a day or two before the election before we start counting seats, shall we?

If Hastings *didn't* know about it, he should be removed from the ethics chair post forthwith. That's absurd, the idea that a problem like that wouldn't be brought to the attention of the ethics chair - unless said ethics chair is a political seat-filler, sitting in the chair position simply to put through rules changes demanded by the party leadership.

But no, that couldn't *possibly* be the case for Doc Hastings, now could it? Just because three previous ethics chairs were summarily removed because they wanted to censure DeLay...