Hastert says he won't resign

Hastert is still saying he won't resign as Speaker, even as more pages are coming forward to say that Foley's "special interest in younger men" was widely known.

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"Almost the first day I got there I was warned," said Mark Beck-Heyman, a San Diego native who served as a page in the House of Representatives in the summer of 1995. "It was no secret that Foley had a special interest in male pages," said Beck-Heyman, adding that Foley, who is now 52, on several occasions asked him out for ice cream.

Another former congressional staff member said he too had been the object of Foley's advances. "It was so well known around the House. Pages passed it along from class to class," said the former aide, adding that when he was 18 a few years ago and working as an intern, Foley approached him at a bar near the Capitol and asked for his e-mail address.

Hastert retorts: "I understand that these are pages that have all left the program. This was after the fact. And you know — woulda, coulda, shoulda."

Wow.

I imagine, all his protestations to the contrary, Hastert will resign sooner rather than later. The only real reason he hasn't is that his resignation will be a nightmare of its own, since much of the House leadership (including those who would normally be seen as his logical replacements) are neck-deep in all this shit, too. Though Majority Leader John Boehner's latest defense is to lay the blame squarely at Hastert's feet, his story has changed several times, which will be troublesome for him -- as will his decision last Friday to block Nancy Pelosi's resolution for an investigation. And NRCC chair Tom Reynolds will no doubt have a lot for which to answer, too.

(Unclaimed Territory, Crooks and Liars)