GOP* collapses in morass of scandal

Not an exaggeration:

1. The Congressional page scandal could claim Speaker Hastert, as several conservatives, including the Washington Moonie Times, are clamoring for his resignation. The SCLM has failed to notice -- natch -- how his explanations regarding the affair have evolved.

The Republican insider reaction has ranged from Tony Snow's "they're just naughty e-mails" to "we're gonna lose it all".

2. Bob Woodward's book "State of Denial" asserts that George Tenet told Condi Rice about the al-Qaeda threat on July 10, 2001 -- before the infamous PDB in Crawford. Rice claimed she couldn't recall this meeting; White House records verify that it took place. This warning was never mentioned to the 9/11 Commission; several of its members expressed shock that they were hearing about it for the first time. Well, they weren't hearing it for the first time, according to McClatchy Newspapers' DC bureau. They just forgot to include it in their report.

E&P says Rice should resign.

3. The National Intelligence Estimate memo -- you remember that one; it said that the war in Iraq has increased the threat of terrorist attack -- comes in third in this week's Truth-Be-Told sweepstakes.

4. And completing the superfecta, some guy named Jack Abramoff has been lobbying the White House quite a bit more than anyone ever thought.

I can't say it any clearer than former Republican sycophant Chris Matthews did, last night on Jay Leno:

"If you want Bush to stay in control, vote Republican. If you want to put a leash on the little guy, vote the other way."

*Greedy Old Perverts.

Weekend Bloggerrhea

Too busy to write at length, but not too busy to point to some other reading you should be doing:

-- Hal and Stace tell about the Johnson-Rayburn dinner last night.

-- BOR has a picture of a billboard blasting Lamar Smith, and points to Republican't.org, where you can design and build your own.

-- Anna got a little Kinky thrust in her face. (It's not as gross as it sounds, though it continues to reveal the alleged gubernatorial candidate as hostile, intolerant, and unhinged.)

-- Senator Kay Bailey Torture spent the weekend in her home state of Virginia, campaigning for George "Macaca" Allen, accusing Democrats of making personal attacks. Really. Texans deserve a better Senator than this.

-- The response from the right regarding the pedophilic episodes of Mark Foley seems to be "Well at least he resigned, unlike Clinton". That's what they're telling their children in church this morning, I'm sure. ThinkProgress has the timeline of the Republican coverup. Easter Lemming outs a few closeted gay Republicans, including Governor MoFo and Lite Gov. Dewhurst. Here's another long list of conservative sexual deviants, including Houston's very own Jon Matthews. And here's a better excuse the GOP is free to use without compensating me: "Really, this is no different from what the Roman Catholic church did."

-- NewsLost: Congress revoked the Wright amendment. Oh, and Bob Woodward has another book out; something about the Bushies and the Iraq war. You can read some excerpts here. Yes, it contains the usual disagreements among Rumsfeld and Cheney and Powell and Rice about how to prosecute the war, and the expected disclosures of all the lies we've been told, and even a little morsel for the gasoline-price-conspiracy theorists (of which I am a recent convert):

In a claim that could fuel conspiracy theories about the recent oil price decline – in an interview to be broadcast on CBS on Sunday – Mr Woodward described a conversation between Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Mr Bush in which the former Saudi ambassador said he could ease oil prices ahead of the elections.

“They could go down very quickly. That’s the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day,” Mr Woodward said.

-- The Astros' postseason possibility will be known today. (Viewing tip: watch the baseball, because the football will again be excruciating.) Even more uncertain than the Astros' playoff fate is the validity of the steroid charges against Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

-- Finally, some funnies for Sunday.

ReNAMBLAcans

The exploding scandal around disgraced Rep. Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who trolled for underage male pages while he chaired the caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, now threatens to envelop the House leadership.

It seems that Speaker Hastert's office was notified of Foley's improprieties nearly one year ago -- by Majority Leader John Boehner -- but took no action.

Let's summarize that: the GOP House leaders knew there was sexual predator in their midst, but did nothing to stop him.

Have we had enough of this corruption?

What are we going to do about it?