Aso Tarō opens his mouth...

...in order to more easily insert his foot.

The last thing the government needs right now is to send signals that it really does not care what the voters think.

So what does Aso-san do?

Of course, tells the press that he personally "has no problem" with Hiranuma Takeo rejoining the LDP without clear conditions.

Aso-san, you're LDP Secretary-General now. You HAVE to have a problem with it. Former Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichirō's expulsion of reactionaries like Hiranuma was the key to the LDP winning its supermajority in the September 2005 House of Representatives election.

(Remember the House of Representatives? It is the House where you have not yet lost the majority.)

Koizumi's expulsion of the opponents of reform demonstrated that the LDP had changed, that the party had tossed off its hidebound and self-serving ways. Now, if Hiranuma is back in, the whole bloody exercise becomes moot.

Oh, I know--this is supposed to be an incentive to Watanuki Tamisuke and Kamei Shizuka to cease having their party cooperate with the DPJ in the House of Councillors--because the LDP is open to all comers again.

Great, what a fantastic political message you are sending.

Oh, and while you are at it, tell me how the heck did four former postal rebels get selected for sub-ministerial ministry executive positions in this last reshuffle?