He explained that at the 2006 press conference where he is credited with instituting the rule, he was speaking generally and philosophically. A reporter asked if Hastert, who was having trouble getting an immigration reform bill out of committee and building support in the GOP conference, couldn’t get Democrats to work with him. The genial speaker replied that relying on the other party for the bulk of votes is “something I would not generally do,” a fairly benign statement, as he remembers it now, that appears to have morphed into an ironclad rule. “Generally speaking, I needed to have a majority of my majority, at least half of my conference. This wasn’t a rule. I was speaking philosophically at the time…The Hastert Rule is kind of a misnomer.”

Hastert stopped short of saying Boehner should waive the Hastert Rule. “John doesn’t talk to me,” he said. “John has his own circles, and he doesn’t reach out. That’s his nature.” The two men served in the House together when Newt Gingrich was speaker. After Gingrich stepped down, Hastert was the consensus choice of House Republicans to take the top job; he was seen as a healing figure after the contentious Gingrich years.

A former high school wrestling coach, hardworking and plainspoken, he was a refreshing change after Gingrich’s grandiosity. “The real Hastert Rule is 218,” he said, referring to the number of votes needed to pass legislation. “If we had to work with Democrats, we did,” he said.