Foleygate

You don't need the New York Times or a new book to make Republicans look bad.  They'll just do it themselves.  Ed Morrissey is absolutely correct:

Republicans have to act swiftly to remove the stench of Foleygate from the party. They need to demand the resignation of Hastert as Speaker, as well as Boehner as Majority Leader if he lied to protect Hastert. Allowing Foley off the hook was a mistake in judgment, but this is a betrayal of those who trusted Hastert to lead the House with dignity, honesty, and integrity.

And speaking of Bob Woodward's new book, John Wixted notes this:

A shocking fact the administration has kept secret? Please. As I noted, information about the number of attacks on American troops -- including this particular statistic of one attack every 15 minutes -- is not secret. Instead, it is very publicly available in the form of a big graph on page 22 of the Iraq Index (published by the Brookings Institution). In fact, that's probably where Woodward himself got the information. Some secret. The Iraq Index has been publishing attack statistics for a long, long time for anyone who is interested.

. . .

But this talk of withdrawing troops is made with reference to the anti-American insurgency only, with no mention at all of sectarian violence when that is the real problem. In other words, like Bob Woodward, they gloss over the most important detail -- the one that undermines their position. The insurgency is not getting worse, but sectarian violence has gotten worse. If we leave, it will get worse still, and the Iraqi experiment in democracy could easily fail. And that's why calls for a timetable for withdrawal reflect a strategically unwise, anti-humanitarian attitude.

UPDATE:  And speaking of the New York Times, here's another one of their non-story stories: "Al Qaeda Increasingly Reliant on the Media."  As if it wasn't obvious. . .

UPDATE:  John Hinderacker has more thoughts on Foleygate and brings up some good points.  Tom Maguire has a long discussion about the issue.