At the FreedomWorks luncheon I mentioned earlier, former Majority Leader Dick Armey said, “We did not lose the majority because of the Foley incident. I would argue that we’d already lost it by then.” He attributed the defeat to the Republican Party’s loss of direction in recent years (about which he’s had a lot to say recently), but he spoke a few kind words for outgoing Speaker Dennis Hastert, who has announced that he will not be running for Republican leader.

“I think the current speaker has probably stayed in office longer than he felt fit and able and comfortable in terms of things like his health and so forth out of a sense of duty and service,” Armey said. “I think that should be appreciated.”

Armey also defended outgoing Majority Leader John Boehner. “John Boehner, in my estimation, is a man who ought to be appreciated. Fundamentally, he’s a man whose life is guided in office by the national interest. He’s not a parochial person. He’s not a self-centered person. He doesn’t focus on politics at the expense of policy. He’s been in the office for a little bit of time, and demonstrated in his impulses, particularly in his struggle against the appropriators, that he understands who we must be in order to regain our direction. My view is the man ought to be given a chance. I’m not sure that’ll happen. It may not happen.”