MEET THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE-- DENNY HASTERT THINKS WE SHOULD ALL LIVE IN PAW PAW AND JUST BULLDOZE NEW ORLEANS, SAN FRANCISCO AND L.A.

An AOL poll today shows a majority of Americans rate Bush as doing a "poor" job in responding to Hurricane Katrina. (55% gave him a "poor," 16% an "excellent." 12% said it is too early to tell, 9% gave him a "good," and 8% said "fair") If they think Bush is a bad leader (which is correct), wait 'til they meet the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Denny Hastert. (And be careful what you pray for; if Bush and Cheney succumb to the wishes of the vast majority of people on earth, Hastert becomes president.) Today A.P. ran a story under the title "Hastert Questions Rebuilding New Orleans." Basically, the rurally-based Illinois Congressman-- whose district has no actual cities, just clusters of homes in places called Mooseheart, Somonauk, Sandwich, Paw Paw, Shabbona, Sleepy Hollow, LaFox, Hooppole, Big Rock, Gap Grove...-- said it makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level. "It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed," the right-wing Illinois Republican, who is seen as a pawn of GOP powerbroker Tom DeLay, said in an interview Wednesday with The Daily Herald of Arlington, Ill. Hastert, in a transcript supplied by the newspaper, said there was no question that the people of New Orleans would rebuild their city, but noted that federal insurance and other federal aid was involved. "We ought to take a second look at it. But you know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild too. Stubbornness."