Hastert got that "blithering idiot" label from JPod the old-fashioned way: he earned it.

From NRO (read the whole thing):

I was struck by a comment that a GOP staffer made to my buddy Dales, that, “I have been inspired by the recent actions of the Speaker and Majority Leader. It would have been easier perhaps for them to score quick political points, to ignore a constitutional responsibility, 291 years of precedent and the potential consequences for future generations.”


For starters, when you’ve just shot yourself in a foot with a howitzer, and managed to change the one lawmaker caught with piles of cash in his freezer from a Democratic problem to a Republican problem, stop bragging about your high-minded refusal to score quick political points. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, pal, but the GOP hasn’t been scoring any political points these days. When you’re getting shut out 21-0 heading into halftime, it’s not the right time to take such pride in your good sportsmanship.

The legal folks I read and trust seem to think the constitutional argument is pretty weak; at the very least, Hastert’s logic would establish lawmakers’ offices as no-search-zones, where any lawmaker could stash any evidence he wished, beyond the reach of law enforcement. Hmm. Better rethink those “potential consequences for future generations.”