TIME TO SAY GOODBYE: BOB NEY, THE MOST CROOKED CONGRESSMAN FROM THE MOST CROOKED STATE PARTY ORGANIZATION

Disgraced once powerful Ohio Congressloon Bob Ney, a longtime DeLay and Abramoff asslicker and a particularly nasty far right extremist, has been told by House Speaker Denny Hastert-- himself being investigated for taking bribes from numerous sources including the Turkish government (for whom he screwed over Armenian-Americans)-- that his overreaching corruption, or at least how he allowed himself to get caught at it, is an embarrassment to the Republican Party and that he'd have to step down from his leadership position. That means bye-bye to his power base (and bribe-raking-in base) as chairman of the House Administration Committee, where he was able to do so much damage to the country through his ties with the Diebold vote counting corporation.

Ney, who is being investigated in every single scandal enveloping the Republican House majority, is everybody's first bet to be the next high level Republican congressman indicted. Because of his extremely close financial and political ties to GOP Crime Boss Tom DeLay and with DeLay consigliere and rainmaker Jack Abramoff (both indicted, Abramoff already turning states evidence against, among others, Ney), Ney is also mixed up with a gangland style murder of former Abramoff partner Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. Many in Washington are speculating that Hastert was tipped off that something really bad is about to come down on Ney and that that was why he decided to move quickly to get him out of the Republican hierarchy.

Meanwhile, a dazed and crestfallen Ney, close to tears, was heard saying "I'm considering it-- stepping down temporarily-- and once the issue is over, I'll come back." I'm sure that will remind everyone of what DeLay himself was saying as he was hauled in and fingerprinted and photographed. The GOP never forced multimillion dollar bribe-taker Randy "Duke" Cunningham to step down from his sensitive committee positions (Defense and Intelligence), from which he was selling access, and many powerful Republican salons are now frightened about rumors that appeared in TIME Magazine that in that interim Cunningham was wearing a wire and has recorded the goods on at least two other California bribe-takers, Duncan Hunter and Jerry Lewis, both of whom worked closely with Cunningham and the contractors that were paying him off.

According to The Hotline, "A Republican close to Ney said that 'he obviously recognizes that, although he is confident that he didn't do anything wrong, he recognizes his name is becoming a distraction to the Republican conference.' Hastert's spokesman, Ron Bonjean, acknowledged 'there have been ongoing discussions between Speaker Hastert and Rep. Ney about his role as Chairman of the House Administration Committee.' A House leadership aide said that Hastert 'is moving behind the scenes for the greater good of the conference and handling it in the most dignified way as possible.'"

A public food fight would certainly be less dignified. (You can be sure that Joe Sulzer, the Democrat who will in all likelihood be representing Ohio's 18th Congressional District after the November elections, is preparing for Ney's early retirement, not just from his committee chairmanship, by from public life.)

Many House Republicans-- or at least the ones who are playing closer attention than ole Hastert to which way the winds are blowin'-- also want dei Partei's Conference Secretary John Doolittle, another indictment-waiting-to-happen, to step down beforehis mug shot is plastered all over the national media. And some of these same people are wondering who will be the one to eventually tell Hastert that he has to step down. Already the newest contestant to fill DeLay's old job as House Majority Leader, John Shadegg has strongly hinted that neither of the two leading candidates, both of whom are firmly tied to the corrupt DeLay/Abramoff K-Street machine, is ethically it to hold the job. (The extremist loons at the National Review have endorsed Shadegg, primarily because the other two, Roy Blunt and John Boehner are so tied in with all the filth and corruption and because Shadegg's voting record is even further right than Bush's agenda. "He is the candidate least associated with the status quo, and the cozy world of K Street. That's a good thing." (Well it would be if it wasn't just a fantasy. Shadegg was on the take from both DeLay and Abramoff, just for less money than the rest of the tarnished Republicans trying to claw their way to the top over DeLay's rotting corpse.)

The Ney story is really getting out to the public much more than I would have imaged. CNN featured it in its headlines this morning when I woke up at 5AM and AOL has a front page story and Ney's disgrace is the subject of today's AOL poll: "What Should Bob Ney Do?" 65% of respondents opt for "Quit Congress altogether." 27% opt for "Resign his chairmanship." And fully 8% of respondents pick "He should do nothing at all." Who are these people? I mean are 8% of America that devoted to the likes of an Ann Coulter and Kate O'Bierne psycho mentality?