WASHINGTON -- Responding to the scandal over former Rep. Mark Foley's suggestive messages to teenage boys, the editorial board of The Washington Times called for House Speaker Dennis Hastert to step down.

"House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once," said the lead editorial posted Monday night on the Times Web site.

The Times, one of the most reliably conservative voices in the nation's capital, joined some Democrats in criticizing Hastert, R-Ill., for not doing enough to investigate questions about Foley's e-mail exchanges with teenage boys who had worked as House pages.

"Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week's revelations, or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away," The Times' editors wrote.

"Mr. Hastert has forfeited the confidence of the public and his party, and he cannot preside over the necessary coming investigation, an investigation that must examine his own inept performance," The Times said.