Will it really change anything?

The Republicans are shaken after this latest pedophile scandal. Shaken, but not backing down.

I caught a snippet of Hastert's press conference. He came off, to me at least, as unrepentant and worried not so much about the pedophilia itself--after all, he already knew--but about the political repercussions.

I remember in 1964 when Nelson Rockefeller was stymied in his presidential dreams because he had been divorced. In 1964, divorce alone was enough to ruin a politician.

But we're living in the Reagan/Bush era when a scandal only counts if it's committed by someone other than a Republican. Reagan was the Teflon president. G. W. Bush has him beat by a mile.

Democrats and independents are punished. Republicans can do pretty much whatever they want. That's the unhappy reality of living in 21st century America. I hope it will change, but I won't hold my breath. I'll vote in November, but I don't know if my vote will count.

I don't go to church, but I am interested in knowing if any preachers--you know, the ones who swore by the current Bush--will continue to stand by him and his party. Maybe pedophilia isn't a sin if a Republican commits it.