Karl Rove Made Foley Run

According to Ryan Lizza at The Plank, Mark Foley did not want to run. Foley wanted to become a K Street lobbyist. Karl Rove talked Foley into running for another term.

"He said, 'The White House made it very clear I have to run,'" explains Foley's friend, adding that Foley told him that the White House promised that if Foley served for two more years it would "enhance his success" as a lobbyist. "I said, 'I thought you wanted out of this?' And he said, 'I do, but they're scared of losing the House and the thought of two years of Congressional hearings, so I have two more years of duty.'"

I made the statement that the Bush administration's public support for Dennis Hastert has been a desperate attempt to keep the House with a Republican majority. Bush's low approval ratings won't help Hastert. Remember, when Bush's standing with the voters was stronger, he forced Trent Lott to step down, as the Republican leader in the Senate.