The Hammer Hangs up His Claw
Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay resigns rather than get beat in the general election. At least, that's how this is being reported, and that's what the Post says DeLay's motivation is. But I wonder . . . it's possible that DeLay's legal team says, "Hammer, we've got to plead." Based on new evidence, new state's witnesses. But who wants to plead while still in the House? Or, who wants to plead a week after resigning? My guess--just a guess--DeLay will plead guilty rather than go to trial, but the story will get less press than it would have, had he not resigned.
Of course, DeLay is extremely arrogant, and he hates the Democrats, so he couldn't stand to lose to the Dems. That's true, too.
posted by Number Three @ 6:46 AM
2 Comments:
Well, I for one will miss that Frenchie bastard. It's a lot easier to hate the GOP when they're led by such a cartoon caricature of "eee-vil." No matter how arrogant and incompetent Bush, Cheney, Condi, Rummy, Fristy and the rest are, they just don't know how to ooze malevolence the way that DeLay does. His tragic flaw? Not content to weild power from under his rock as House Whip, he yearned to be evil in the admiring light of day as Majority Leader. It didn't take very long for the sunlight to disinfect.
I suspect DeLay's retirement was motivated by a lot of things simultaneously. There was the legal battle, which got much tougher after Rudy started cooperating. Then there was the election, and his district polling looked pretty terrible. A Houston Chronicle poll in January had him at 22% reelection support.
But there's also the difficulty of stepping aside after having held a leadership position. Very few members have egos that can withstand a demotion like this. Republican heavyweights like Bill Thomas, Bud Shuster, & Bill Archer all retired rather than see someone else take over their positions, and they had just been committee chairmen.
DeLay was probably in the same situation here. Much of the joy was gone. He still got enjoyment out of the hatred he inspires in Democrats, but that was about the only pleasure left in his political life. He had become irrelevant to the GOP leadership.
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