DO THE REPUBLICANS DESERVE TO RETAIN THE HOUSE? This morning driving in to work I heard Neal Boortz saying no, and he made a pretty compelling case. (If it weren’t for silly Democratic talk about impeachment and show-trial hearings I’d find it even more compelling.)

The counter-case is that a Democratic House would be a disaster for the country. I gathered from Boortz’s discussion that that’s the case that Hannity and Limbaugh were making yesterday. It’s a strong argument — except that if Republican control of the Congress is so all-fired important to the future of civilization, then why haven’t the Republicans who control Congress been acting as if it is so important?

And it’s not so much the Foley affair — that’s just the pebble that starts the avalanche. It’s the past two years of more substantive problems, which, as Rich Lowry notes, have exhausted their stock of moral and political capital on a lot of issues. Were GOP control of the Congress so important to the country, wouldn’t the GOP leadership have exercised a trifle more self-discipline and self-denial? And if it’s not capable of doing so, then what kind of leadership is it?