In this case, defending Denny Hastert’s decisions is ethically wrong, would undermine our party’s commitment to the defense of traditional moral values and is politically stupid in the bargain. ~Tony Blankley

If only there were more of this kind of argumentation from GOP circles when it came to minor things like torture or aggressive war.  On the other hand, there is something almost insufferable about the “we’re so high-minded and principled that we cannot wallow in the gutter” kind of argument, such as this one:

We have more to protect than the next election, we have our historic reputation among more than half the country for our principles. 

After the last five years of illegal war, ransacking the Constitution, coddling and empowering Islamists and repeated attempts to push amnesty for illegals, one wonders what exactly that “historic reputation” is supposed to be, but at least Mr. Blankley does understand the gravity of this case of wrongdoing and excess.  I suppose one has to start somewhere.