Hastert's Bizarre Actions Still Go Unexplained

Ed Morrissey updates the Hastert "head scratcher" over at Captain's Quarters:

Given this time out for his obstinacy, Hastert and his colleagues have busied themselves with goalpost-moving and backtracking. Before, they claimed a Constitutional privilege of freedom from search warrants and subpoenas from the executive branch, even though Congress regularly issues subpoenas without judicial approval against members of the executive branch. Now Hastert has acknowledged that Congressmen are subject to the same laws as everyone else, but have modified their complaint; now they say the issue is that Jefferson and his attorney were not allowed to be present at the search. That's a far cry from the phony Constitutional crisis they declared earlier this week, perhaps a more reasonable issue and certainly one that didn't require Hastert's intercession...............

Morrissey goes on to frame-up who still holds the power both in Washington and within the GOP:

George Bush still holds the power in Washington and in the GOP, and this controversy shows that he and the people at Justice remain the adults in charge of the day care center. Hastert has severely damaged himself politically in two ways. No one in the GOP will ever give Hastert the same level of trust again after this attempt to pervert the Constitution, and Republicans will remain furious with him for taking the focus off of William Jefferson and his cash-cow business in selling his vote..........................

I'm still scratching my head over the Hastert move and it really is the weirdest political move I've seen at that level I think in sometime. Why did Hastert do what he did? Was it because he truly did not understand that the search was clearly constitutional? If that's the case then he should not be Speaker of the House..................................

Did he see it as a responsibility of his job as Speaker of the House, to protect not only Jefferson but all House members? Why would he feel the need to protect Jefferson or any other House member if he knew the search was constitutional and he had the same info showing the degree of guilt that everyone else had via the press?

It makes one wonder if Hastert wasn't protecting Jefferson specifically and the body of the House in generic term. Rather I can't help but thinking that such a bizarre action might not have been a proactive defense for himself in some way. It's speculation of course but what other logical reason could Hastert's actions have been based in, and if there is a good explaination then why hasn't he given it?

Time will tell but Hastert has done little to clarify in clear terms exactly what he was thinking in the Jefferson matter and has not justified why he took the steps he did. At a minumum for me, Hastert does not deserve to be Speaker of the House unless he clears this mess up quickly.........................