The worst of the Republican worst have called on you to resign the Senate. Please don't. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan is correct to say that you "represent the Republican Party." You represent it perfectly: a party of fools, hypocrites and liars of necessity whose policies are driven by selfishness and cruelty.

President Bush is a liar of necessity because he's a fool. He covered up his life history of mediocrity, addiction and failure to get elected President. His failures have only multiplied since.

Republicans are liars of necessity in that their economic policies, when described honestly, garner no more than a third of the vote.

You are a liar of necessity because you like to have sex with men in public restrooms. But you need the votes of people who think men like you belong in jail.

Your vigorous denial of involvement in the first Congressional page scandal coincided with the closing of a great political realignment. Conservative southern racists abandoned the Democratic Party and joined the Republicans. LBJ knew that by passing the Civil Rights Act, Democrats were losing the South for a generation. He also knew that it's not always easy to do what's right.

It's high time the GOP underwent a similar realignment. Republicans should repudiate racists, bigots, misogynists and homophobes, once and for all. Tell these people to stay home on election day, because they have no place in America. Democrats haven't wanted their vote for 50 years. Republicans shouldn't either.

But none of this can happen if you leave the Senate. Your perseverance will be highly inconvenient to your friends in the Republican Party. This shouldn't concern you, since they are lining up to throw you under the bus. Your only hope of redemption, from the unimaginable humiliation, pain and abandonment you must be feeling, is to stand firm, keep your Senate seat, and force your so-called friends to come to terms with the unspeakable cruelty they've inflicted.