"Ethics" is my middle name

I assume Bob Novak's tortured and somewhat mystifying column about Tom DeLay was written for a reason.

No GOP politician wants to be the handmaiden of DeLay's Democratic detractors. Last Wednesday's closed-door caucus of House Republicans gave DeLay a standing ovation. Contrary to claims on leftist Web sites, no Republican member has called for the majority leader's resignation.[...]

The importance of such a column by so prestigious a Republican as Livingston would break a solid GOP front supporting DeLay.[...]

Since Bob Livingston would not get the ball rolling, the campaign to get DeLay still needs a major anti-DeLay Republican to go public.

Given how obviously Novak overstates DeLay's support -- nowhere does he mention Christopher Shays' recent remarks ("He is an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party") or Santorum's leading phrase ("Now you may not like some of the things he's done. That's for the people of his district to decide, whether they want to approve that kind of behavior or not" -- knowing that polling for DeLay is down in his home district) -- it sure seems like DeLay, via Novak, is trying to cling to his political life. 

It's hard to tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  Given the sordidness of DeLay's dealings, and the fact that his former associate Jack Abramoff says that DeLay "knew everything," his downfall seems inevitable.  There's too much that's undeniable here for the "evil liberal media witchhunt" thing to work.  Whether DeLay's downfally will divide the republican caucus is a different matter. 

If DeLay is intent upon trying to weather the storm, we can start to see where the real political damage could be done to the republican party.  If Bob "Good Ethics" Novak is writing columns defending Tom "Super Ethics" DeLay, that's not going to be good PR for conservative republicans.  Some may disagree, but I think Novak and DeLay have both gotten bad enough press to have lost some of their general credibility.  This combined with the fact that the Schiavo memo's author has links to DeLay, is bad news for the bad guys. 

Then again, if DeLay were to actually weather the storm...  Well, let's not even think about that for now...

-- Michael

Comments

[Michael]

I guess Novakula was still in his coffin this morning when Cokie Roberts was doing her usual Monday-morning shilling for the Goopers. Because for once she took a chance of getting bumped off all the cocktail-party "A" lists.

What terrible sin against the party did she commit? She pointed out that the last time a House majority leader went into a closed caucus and got a standing ovation, his ass was out the door within months.

[dmeyers]

so please explain what is it that Tom Delay has done that warrants this attack? He paid family members for working on his staff? He went on junkets not paid for by his campaign? He has contacts with someone who is under investigation (or has this person been indicted?).

I don't know much about this Abramoff character and don't put too much stock into what he claims. Anyone can claim anything and violations or accusations should be looked into. If having dealings with slimebags was a problem most politicians would not be holding office. let's not forget how many of the Clinton's associates have been indicted and convicted. It seems to be a Hillary Clinton campaign staff members was just recently indicted. Are we going to take what he says as defacto truthful if he claims Mrs. Clinton new what he was doing? Somehow I doubt it.

So in the end, I once again ask, please explain what exactly Delay has done that is illegal and/or in violation of House ethics rules? I do not believe knowing a scoundrel is grounds for removal.

[Cheryl]

Tom DeLay misappropriated the resources of the Department of Homeland Security in a successful attempt to jerrymander the state of Texas. I suppose subverting our democracy used to be called treason, but thanks to the Republicans even treason is now thought of as fair play. That is how low public expectations have fallen.

[Incertus]

dmeyers, I have forgotten how many of Clinton's associates have been indicted and convicted. Care to list them for us? I suspect that list will be a bit shorter than you imagine it is, and is certainly shorter than the lists for either Poppy Bush or Reagan and perhaps even Dubya by the time he gets finished using the US as his personal plaything.