Hastert beached. .er. . .breached!

(From the Chicago Sun-Times)

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, with his job on the line because of the spiraling Mark Foley cyberspace page sex scandal, was duped Tuesday into letting a stranger into his Plano home -- a serious security breach.

Hastert literally let his guard down and allowed in his house a hustling, self-promoting evangelist little known in this country, the Houston-based K.A. Paul, who at 7:30 a.m. arrived at the speaker's home with a camera-wielding associate.

How Paul and his aide, Dennis Ryan, got to Hastert's door is a tale of apparent chance. How the publicity-hungry Paul and Ryan walked through it was a matter of a "frank discussion" later in the day with the federal security detail assigned to Hastert around the clock.

All top congressional leaders are provided security, with the protective force surrounding Hastert most visible because as speaker, he is the third in line to the presidency.

Hastert was led to believe he was meeting with a supporter. He was surprised to find out otherwise, the Sun-Times has learned. Paul said he asked Hastert to resign. He also said he prayed with the speaker and "laid hands" on him after a 40-minute meeting.

Read the full Sun-Times story here.