HENRY HYDE STILL DANGEROUS

The 82-year-old congressman from Illinois is retiring. You may remember him as one of the GOP gang that pressed the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

Speaking with Robert Novak, the columnist, Hyde spilled this little gem:

"I'd like to go back and do the impeachment again ... I was soft on the treatment we received from the Senate. We couldn't produce a witness without their permission. I should have had the president come in and testify. And if the Senate wouldn't let me, I should have gone before the body and Chief Justice Rehnquist and made a motion. That would have dramatized that the Senate was not letting us try our case. A lot of things could have been done differently."

Heh-heh. He said he was "soft."