Some conservative congressmen are calling around trying to buttress support for Hastert. A conservative member who called me says of leadership that “the media has gotten these guys in a crossfire with each other.” But he thinks it’s important that Hastert not go: “If we decapitate our leadership right now going into the November elections, we lose the whole shooting match. Our base will completely deflate. There is a time and place to talk about vision and leadership [at the top], but now is not the time.” He says the leadership needs to “get the truth and data-dump it, get it out there as soon as possible.” Part of the problem is that the leadership isn’t working together closely enough: “they’re making decisions in silos, they’re stove-piping it. They need to get some sort of smart outside lawyer to get all the facts assembled as soon as possible.”