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It's raining again...
Apr. 4th, 2006 08:53 amAnd yet, reading this article first thing in the morning almost made it feel like a sunny day:
Ya won't have Tom DeLay to kick around any more
Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Tuesday he is resigning from Congress in the face of a tough re-election race, closing out a career that blended unflinching conservatism with a bare-knuckled political style.
And let's not forget, a veritable plethora of underhanded, shady deals, abuses of power, etc., etc.
"The voters of the 22nd District of Texas deserve a campaign about the vital national issues that they care most about and that affect their lives every day, and not a campaign focused solely as a referendum on me," DeLay said in a statement.
"And I really want to spend more time with my family...no, seriously."
DeLay reflected Republican concerns that the GOP could lose the seat in November, saying his love and loyalty to the party played a role in his decision and adding, "I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative, personal campaign."
Yeah those Liberal Democrats with their reliance on facts and the rule of law, damn them, damn them to hell!
[...]
Bush said the Republican Party won't suffer from DeLay's decision to resign from Congress. "My own judgment is that our party will continue to succeed because we are the party of ideas."
At which point the universe was nearly rent asunder by the sheer, focused willpower required to remain so completely out of touch with reality that one could actually voice that sentence and mean it.
[...]
"He has served our nation with integrity and honor," said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who succeeded DeLay in his leadership post earlier this year.
Except when, you know, he didn't.
"Tom DeLay's decision to leave Congress is just the latest piece of evidence that the Republican Party is a party in disarray, a party out of ideas and out of energy," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Hey, AP actually did talk to a Democrat who said basically very little and probably stood like a frightened jackrabbit in front of the reporter the entire time. Yes, truly fair and balanced coverage here.
DeLay portrayed his decision to resign as a fatal blow for the fortunes of his opponent, Democrat Nick Lampson, who has garnered national attention — and financial support.
"It will no longer be a national race like it was ... His money will dry up," DeLay said. "This is probably the worst day of his campaign because he knows that any Republican who replaces me on the ballot will win this seat."
"But I'm not bitter, no siree."
Last week, former DeLay aide Tony Rudy pleaded guilty to conspiring with lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others to corrupt public officials, and he promised to help the broad federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud that already has resulted in three convictions.
Neither Rudy, Abramoff nor anyone else connected with the investigation has publicly accused DeLay of breaking the law, but Rudy confessed that he had taken actions while working in the majority leader's office that were illegal.
And I'm sure he was just a lone bad apple in an otherwise pristine barrel over there.
[...]
Either way, DeLay's concern about the potential loss of a Houston-area seat long in Republican hands reflected a deeper worry among GOP strategists. After a dozen years in the majority, they face a strong challenge from Democrats this fall, at a time when President Bush's public support is sagging, and when the Abramoff scandal has helped send congressional approval ratings tumbling.
And yet, somehow, the Dems will undoubtedly manage to fumble this incredible gift from the gods...
DeLay was the driving force behind President Clinton's impeachment in 1999, weeks after Republicans lost seats at the polls in a campaign in which they tried to make an issue of Clinton's personal behavior.
His trademark aggressiveness helped trigger his downfall, when he led a drive to redraw Texas' congressional district boundaries to increase the number of seats in GOP hands.
The gambit succeeded, but DeLay was soon caught up in an investigation involving the use of corporate funds in the campaigns of legislators who had participated in the redistricting.
Yes, let he who is bogged down by sin, but utterly self righteous and doing it all for "the Party", cast the first stone. Thus endeth the lesson.
Ya won't have Tom DeLay to kick around any more
Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Tuesday he is resigning from Congress in the face of a tough re-election race, closing out a career that blended unflinching conservatism with a bare-knuckled political style.
And let's not forget, a veritable plethora of underhanded, shady deals, abuses of power, etc., etc.
"The voters of the 22nd District of Texas deserve a campaign about the vital national issues that they care most about and that affect their lives every day, and not a campaign focused solely as a referendum on me," DeLay said in a statement.
"And I really want to spend more time with my family...no, seriously."
DeLay reflected Republican concerns that the GOP could lose the seat in November, saying his love and loyalty to the party played a role in his decision and adding, "I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative, personal campaign."
Yeah those Liberal Democrats with their reliance on facts and the rule of law, damn them, damn them to hell!
[...]
Bush said the Republican Party won't suffer from DeLay's decision to resign from Congress. "My own judgment is that our party will continue to succeed because we are the party of ideas."
At which point the universe was nearly rent asunder by the sheer, focused willpower required to remain so completely out of touch with reality that one could actually voice that sentence and mean it.
[...]
"He has served our nation with integrity and honor," said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who succeeded DeLay in his leadership post earlier this year.
Except when, you know, he didn't.
"Tom DeLay's decision to leave Congress is just the latest piece of evidence that the Republican Party is a party in disarray, a party out of ideas and out of energy," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Hey, AP actually did talk to a Democrat who said basically very little and probably stood like a frightened jackrabbit in front of the reporter the entire time. Yes, truly fair and balanced coverage here.
DeLay portrayed his decision to resign as a fatal blow for the fortunes of his opponent, Democrat Nick Lampson, who has garnered national attention — and financial support.
"It will no longer be a national race like it was ... His money will dry up," DeLay said. "This is probably the worst day of his campaign because he knows that any Republican who replaces me on the ballot will win this seat."
"But I'm not bitter, no siree."
Last week, former DeLay aide Tony Rudy pleaded guilty to conspiring with lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others to corrupt public officials, and he promised to help the broad federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud that already has resulted in three convictions.
Neither Rudy, Abramoff nor anyone else connected with the investigation has publicly accused DeLay of breaking the law, but Rudy confessed that he had taken actions while working in the majority leader's office that were illegal.
And I'm sure he was just a lone bad apple in an otherwise pristine barrel over there.
[...]
Either way, DeLay's concern about the potential loss of a Houston-area seat long in Republican hands reflected a deeper worry among GOP strategists. After a dozen years in the majority, they face a strong challenge from Democrats this fall, at a time when President Bush's public support is sagging, and when the Abramoff scandal has helped send congressional approval ratings tumbling.
And yet, somehow, the Dems will undoubtedly manage to fumble this incredible gift from the gods...
DeLay was the driving force behind President Clinton's impeachment in 1999, weeks after Republicans lost seats at the polls in a campaign in which they tried to make an issue of Clinton's personal behavior.
His trademark aggressiveness helped trigger his downfall, when he led a drive to redraw Texas' congressional district boundaries to increase the number of seats in GOP hands.
The gambit succeeded, but DeLay was soon caught up in an investigation involving the use of corporate funds in the campaigns of legislators who had participated in the redistricting.
Yes, let he who is bogged down by sin, but utterly self righteous and doing it all for "the Party", cast the first stone. Thus endeth the lesson.
