Henry Hyde and the Four Bobs

The death of Henry Hyde this week has stirred widespread media memories of his role in the impeachment of Bill Clinton nine years ago.

Thomas B. Edsall over at Huffington Post tells the little-known story of how Hyde tried to avoid the impeachment ordeal.

POSTSCRIPT: I've been searching feverishly, but unsuccessfully, for a remark Hyde made during the impeachment drama. I recall the gist of it but not the exact words. He predicted, in effect, that the Senate would not convict Clinton if there wasn't strong public support for removing the president from office. There wasn't such support, and the Senate accordingly voted to acquit.

Hyde seemed to recognize that impeachment is a political process, not a criminal prosecution. The ultimate jury in such a case is the American public.

In the week he was impeached in 1998, Clinton's approval rating among the American people jumped 10 points to 73 percent, a higher level than Ronald Reagan ever reached.

POSTSCRIPT II: I knew Henry Hyde, but not well. I met him in the early 1970s when he was still in the Illinois General Assembly, and I ran into him on several occasions over the years. Consistent with his reputation, he struck me as courtly, polite, articulate and friendly. But I opposed most of what he stood for politically.

The Prince of Darkness doesn't like Mikey

Bob Novak, conservative columnist extraordinaire, seems a little upset at indications that Mike Huckabee (left) is gaining a head of steam in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Novak's tirade portends a broader campaign of attacks on Huckabee and further division between the theocrats and pragmatists in the Republican Party. Sounds like fun.

Who could have foreseen this?: The GOP front-runner is a thrice-married pro-choicer who favors gun control and gay rights, while a prominent right-wing pundit is bad-mouthing a Christian clergyman who's running for president on an anti-abortion platform.

Ronald Reagan must be spinning in his grave.

POSTSCRIPT: Newtie says Obama's gonna kick ass in Iowa. Let's hope so.

Remnants of GOP wax nostalgic

The few remaining members of the Republican Party are pining for the good old days of Ronald Reagan and the even gooder and older days of a world without the United Nations.

Ronald Reagan's toys

Ronald Reagan was fond of saying that government is the problem, not the solution.

Libertarians and free-marketers all across the fruited plain would nod in agreement at the Great Communicator's wisdom.

Today, lax regulation by government has led to the frightening spectacle of unsafe products all over the American marketplace. Witness this week's recall of millions of dangerous toys.

Gregory Flannery sums up the situation correctly.

Rockford-area GOPer joins Obama lovefest

First it was Illinois State Sen. Kirk Dillard who raised eyebrows among his fellow Republicans by appearing in a TV commercial for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Now we're getting comments from Republican State Sen. Todd Sieben, whose district lies just west of Rockford, about how Obama "has the intelligence, he has the passion, he has the legislative and now congressional experience as a senator to do the job" as president.

Sieben goes so far as to say that Obama has what it takes to rank historically with the other three presidents with connections to Illinois -- Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and Ronald Reagan.

"I think he has that potential," says Sieben.

Oh, my!