DeLay's Resigning to Spite the Dems

Congressman Tom DeLay (R-TX) is nothing if not politically shrewd. He may be morally bankrupt and possibly a convict someday, but few understand the game of American electoral politics as well as he does. He announced he was quitting yesterday to prevent the Democrats from “stealing” his seat. As Malcolm said in Shakespeare’s Scottish Play, “Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it,” his political life, that is.

Mr. DeLay is under indictment for allegedly using funds illegally in state legislative races. This is akin to Al Capone getting prison time for tax evasion. Thrice slapped on the wrist by the House Ethics Committee in 2004, Mr. DeLay has very close ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who got five years and ten months for his role in defrauding SunCruz Casinos and who is currently free while acting as a government snitch. Two of Mr. DeLay’s staffers have copped pleas on corruption charges. Mr. DeLay deserves the presumption of innocence, and truly for the sake of the Republic one hopes, he is found not guilty; the thought that a man of such power was breaking the law can steal more than one good night’s sleep.

However, “politics ain’t beanbag,” and a trial by media and political campaign is a much rougher and less reasonable affair than trial by jury. Until now, Mr. DeLay has been the target for the Democrats; Mr. Bush as commander-in-chief can always wrap his bungling in the flag and call his detractors “traitors,” but Mr. DeLay lacks the position to do that. His is the head the Democrats want on their trophy room wall. His opponent in the 22nd Congressional District of Texas, Nick Lampson, was done out of a seat in the 2004 redistricting Mr. DeLay oversaw, and so, the Democrats have a passionate campaigner behind whom to assemble.

NBC’s Chris Matthews, former Tip O’Neill staffer and now reporter, said Mr. DeLay told him that “the polling on him in the 22nd District was going down. He expected to take a beating all summer on this. I guess he felt the beating was going to continue.” Mr. DeLay, in his announcement said, “My love for the Republican Party has played no small part in this decision.”

Truly, Mr. DeLay surprised a great many, who over-estimated his ego, or perhaps under estimated his craftiness. If he is convicted, his House seat would be vacant anyway. If he is exonerated, he emerges as the man who sacrificed everything for the GOP. The Republicans will owe him. Embassies with good golf courses nearby abound, and he can pick and choose if the GOP is still in the White House when the legal battle ends.

In the more immediate future, he has taken the biggest arrow out of the Democratic quiver. He was the face of the “culture of corruption” the Dems hope to make a major campaign issue in 2006. Now, he’s a guy who’s leaving. “So what’s the problem?” the GOP can now say. However, after 21 years in the same job, it is hard to surrender power like this. Truly, one didn’t think he had this kind of selflessness, or that his self-interest was so enlightened.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home