Are Republicans Realizing they've gone too far right?

[mburbank]

Couple this announcement with Bush's failed 60 day soc. sec. private account tour, Bolton left winging in the breeze, rats leaving delay like he's a sinking ship...



WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert, leading a Republican retreat, said Wednesday he stands ready to "step back" on new ethics rules that Democrats charge are designed to shelter embattled GOP leader Tom DeLay.

Hastert said he intends to send a letter to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi later in the day signaling his willingness to repeal the controversial rules changes.

Later, in a brief Capitol interview, he said he expected the full House to vote on reversing the rules. Asked whether that would take place later in the day, he replied, "I hope so."

Hastert's comments came after a closed-door meeting of the GOP rank and file, the latest in a string of private sessions in which Republicans discussed ways to stem the political damage from an ethics deadlock that has become entwined with DeLay, the controversial majority leader.




My prediction for next Republican failure? Check out W's energy speech today. He says he can't do anything about gas prices and we should build new oil refineries on closed army bases and build new Nuclear plants. Without debating the prose and cons of those ideas, I'm just going to say I think people will mostly hate the speech and that it will be targeted for it's lack of vision. It may have a little bit more impact than his manned mission to Mars speech, but not much more.