Right now, the national Republicans are in such complete Chernobyl meltdown that I don't know where to begin discussing it.
1. The stance taken by W and the Senate on illegal immigration is simply inexcusable. Power Line rips it apart here. It's a threat to national security every bit as bad as al Qaida, or have you missed the "Los Angeles, Mexico" billboards and the Mexican flags in Los Angeles? A consultation requirement for Mexico before even a border fence is built (never mind the motion activated automatic machine gun turrets and Cylon centurions with Gatling guns that I want)? You're kidding me. The House Republicans looked to be salvageable in this regard but ...
2. The, uh, "baking soda" found in the fridge of Democrat William Jefferson has them cratering as well. The response of Dennis Hastert and John Boehner to the FBI search of Jefferson's offices is almost as inexcusable as W's position on illegal immigration. "You can't search us! We're CONGRESS!!!"
Of course, it was exactly this kind of thinking (see, e.g. House Post Office, check kiting, etc.) on the part of the Democrats that got the GOP elected to control of Congress in 1994 to begin with.
Yesterday, ABC reported that Hastert was now under investigation. That charge is now falling apart.
Now W has ordered the Jefferson evidence temporarily sealed. Captain Ed thinks it's a good idea. Wizbang does not. I tend to agree with Wizbang. The meltdown starts to become of China Syndrome proportions with these latest actions.
But this pattern of events is so bizarre that I'm starting to become a conspiracy theorist. My first thought when the Hastert story broke was that someone in the administration leaked this info to ABC as a shot across Hastert's and the House's bow. Hastert had been a big critic of W's illegal alien amnesty plan that is sinking the administration like the Yamato off Okinawa. I wondered if the administration was starting to make threats in order to stop the vitriol coming from the House GOP against the amnesty plan. Now W seals the documents seized from Jefferson. Could the ABC story, such as it was, been the stick and the seal of the documents been the carrot? Could that explain Hastert's and Boehner's otherwise inexcusable response to the Jefferson seizure, that this was actually a threat from W?
I tend to not believe this crazy theory. But I wouldn't have believed the GOP would have engaged in any of the behavior we have confirmed, on illegal immigration and public corruption, either. Plus, there is precedent. Both Nixon and Clinton were known for misusing federal agencies to target political enemies.
Not that this in any way makes them Dems any more electable. Their positions on national security and crime are contemptible and simply suicidal for every American. But this behavior by the GOP is starting to reach Bill Clinton depths.
