Redstate

I wish he had put the "good of the party" first a few months ago, but at least he isn't going to drag it through the mud all the way to November.

is that the need to remove an obstacle to the goals of the left has yet again succeeded; this in the face of demonization, villification, and personal destruction.

As with others of recent and distant memory, what will be remembered is the charges, not the truths.  The GOP moves on, but a man with passsion and inspiration and personal sacrifice for his definition of the greater good passes on to the shadows with naught for appreciation and gratitude from those he served.

Will the replacment GOP candidate stand a better chance at beating liberal phony Nick Lampson?

Actually, if he were thinking of the "good of the party" he wouldn't have put himself in the position he is in. I mean face it, with all the people around him copping pleas, how could Delay have either a)Not been crooked himself, or b)Been so incompetent to not know his staff was so corrupt?

I'm of the opinion that Ronnie Earle had this as his goal all along, getting DeLay out of the house.  He'll probably declare victory and move on to his next sham prosecution.  Unfortunatley, for some on the left, this action by DeLay will vindicate the actions of Earle, who's picture probably appears in the dictionary next to partisan hack.

Look, I'll be honest.  I don't care if DeLay broke a few laws.  He was good for our side, and I'd rather have a corrupt Republican than an honest Democrat (not that there is such a thing).

But by dropping out, he might as well put on a T-shirt saying, "Yes, I AM guilty!" This will paint the entire Republican Party in a bad light, and put our majority in real jeopardy.  The honorable thing for him to do would have been to resign before the primary.  By waiting until now, he makes it look as though Earle or someone has something really damaging on him.  Even if he's innocent, he looks incredibly guilty.

This is bad.  Just really, really bad.  Truthfully, I think we just lost the House.

I know the Democrats are upset seeing a seat pick up opportunity being blown away, and I am OK with that.

Look, I'll be honest.  I don't care if DeLay broke a few laws.  He was good for our side, and I'd rather have a corrupt Republican than an honest Democrat (not that there is such a thing).

Are you serious? Are you so partisan that you'll overlook breaking the law just so "your side" wins?

Um, DeLay is accused of nothing of the sort - I suppose you are making a slippery-slope suggestion here, but you should be a wee bit clearer on that.

According to Fox News, Delay stepped back because he wasn't completely sure he could win.

According to Chris "Splattermouth" Matthews, Delay stepped back because he knew he would lose.

It is very likely the replacement will win, I think, whoever it is.

Is somebody from that district around to enlighten us?

that the left succeeded in getting rid of their favorite demon.  I would not be so quick to write off Delay's contributions in the history of political cause, however.

But, that written, Delay's problems are our problems right now.  Our right-of-center message is being lost to those on the left who have media outlets that just love these scandals, true or not.  I once worked in media, in a state capital, and I can tell you that those on the left are no different than those of us on the right - when one side gets into power.  And the media is going to be the first to jump on what they see as fresh blood.

When the core message gets lost in the fog of ancillary ideas, the central core of the beliefs get lost.  That is what cost the left the House in '94.  Luckily for us, the core message for the left-of-center folks these days is way outside the mainstream.  Unfortunatly, for us, the leaders of our side seem to be getting caught up in (what I see as) petty problems that are magnified on the national stage.  This fogs the central core message of those like myself on the right-side of the political spectrum.

Delay should have pulled a Newt and left while on better terms with the national public.  Alas, he didn't.  I have my own problems with Tom, even though he doesn't represent my district, but those are local, transportation issues.  The truth is, as a human being, I can understand why he'd quit the race.  At some point, you just get tired of Earle and Co. pursuing the DNC agenda against you, and say "What the. . .," well, this being RedState, I cannot write it, but the last word rhymes with "duck."

And to the poster right below here (somewhere) Nick Lampson is not that bad of a Dem.  He's actually somewhat conservative in a lot of his views (this I know because I know the guy).  But, he's still going to vote left because he thinks that is what his base is (once, after a beer or two, I told him that he should run on his record - not against Tom - my advice has been ignored).

In the district, there is Nick Lampson running now against Steve Stockman (frmr Republican and certified nutcase)and whoever the state Republican party selects to run.  There are not a whole lot of viable people, other than Tom Campbell, who lost in the primary (BTW, it was Delay at 63% of the vote in the primary, so his decision was not because Republicans in his district left him).

Fair enough. It was indeed a slippery slope reference.

That being said, and this goes for dems and repubs, blind loyalty to "your" party doesn't help anyone.

It's been fascinating over the past couple years to watch the blog sleuths outreport the MSM. From Rathergate to Duke's affairs to....

If only all these bloggers could just go after all corruption and shady dealings and rat out all the crooks, we might just have a government that we could be all proud of.

from saying you "don't care if Delay broke a few laws."

I care, although I do not think Delay broke any laws.  I do care when people quit thinking of the National Good and instead think in totally partisan ways.  Both sides.  See Kos if you want people who have no valid basis on reality and believe totally in partisan "right or wrong."

Tom quit because of his beliefs as noted above.  I notice here in Houston, they (the media) couldn't end without remarking that he was moving his address to VA.

Argh, like most pols don't end up there in Arlington.

we would have to remove a very good many of them from both sides.

If only we could do so without demonizing, villifying, or otherwise ripping the souls from them to make a higher ground point.

I have a novel idea.  How 'bout we find, focus on, and analye the facts in making determinations about who stays and who goes?

I don't think anyone should be depressed by this turn of events, other than the dirty nature of how the Dems got DeLay out of the game (assuming DeLay's innocence).

Otherwise, this helps the Republican majority in the House.  I think DeLay would have won anyway, but, as National Journal's Hotline blog points out, because DeLay waited until after the primary to pull out, the Texas Republican Party now gets to handpick his successor.  They don't necessarily have to go with a novice like Tom Campbell (who won most of the primary votes that didn't go to DeLay), but can look around before settling on the best candidate to hold this seat.

Maybe this is the beginning of turning around Republican fortunes in 2006.  A fresh start.

Now when will Katharine Harris follow in DeLay's path?

Without Tom Delay, who on our side is going to run against Nick?  Steve Stockman?

Your analysis of TX22 is way off.  I live here (though not in the district).  Delay's leaving the race after posting a 60%+ win in the primary simply puts this race into the Dems hands.

"No man is above the law, and no man is below the law. That's the principle that we all hold very dear in this country."

Tom Delay

--

Hello RedState!

I put too much into a comment again.

The 'spin' I referred to was strictly between the way Fox News reported the reason behind the fact, and what Chris Matthews reported the reason was.

Unless he told one of them, only Delay knows that level of detail.

The rest of my comment was based on my own memory of a news report describing Delay's district as being strongly Republican.  Is that right or wrong?

of the mechanics of all this, Dan Patrick won in a primary to vie for the state Senate.  Patrick has a large following via is radio station (first to carry Rush in Houston) and has solid conservative credentials.  I wouldn't be suprised if he could shift geers and go for a bigger job.

This would delight me mainly because his apeal with evangelical Christians will seriously bend the libs out of shape.

Another dark horse would be Orlando Sanchez who lost to Bill White in a runoff to succeed Mayor Brown.  Down side is he lost big time, but he is young, hispanic, very articulate and campaigned well. Mayor of Houston is a tough run for any Republican.

If that's somehow relevant.  Not that I see how it is.

I don't think you'll find many people who agree with you that this just turns the district over to the Dems.  By their own account, the Dems thought their best shot of winning was against DeLay.  Now the GOP won't be fielding DeLay, which throws a monkeywrench in Lampson's plans, as he will no longer be able to base his campaign on attacking DeLay.  Now Nick Lampson will have to go up against a baggage-free hand-picked successor in a Republican district.  This is like pulling a rabbit out of the hat.  What's not to like?

for one thing his leadership in correcting our horribly gerrymandered Congressional districts will be a fine legacy.  In regards to his political actions

1)What would have knuckling under to Ronnie Earl's egregious prosecutorial abuses have accomplished other than to embolden and encourage more of the same for future, similarly effective GOP representatives?

2)Regarding Abramhoff,  nothing has been substantiated against Delay,  I take at face value his reasons for not running and predict complete exoneration.

Ronnie Earle claims a scalp. He'll lose in the end, but tonight he's a happy leftie.

You must be kidding. Tell me you're kidding.

Lawbreakers on either side of the aisle should be called out and dealt with. Honesty is infinitely more important than political affiliation.

I guess I'm a different kind of conservative from you.

Per the Washington Post"

"As of Feb. 15, when his campaign filed its most recent report with the Federal Election Commission, DeLay had $1,295,350 on hand. But that was two weeks before the Texas primary in which DeLay bested three Republican rivals to win renomination, and the pot of money available to DeLay now may be considerably less.

"By stepping aside so early in an election year, a lawmaker "wouldn't be spending to be reelected" and could transfer the funds immediately to fend off any federal charges, said lawyer Kenneth A. Gross, a former head of the FEC's enforcement division. The last lawmaker to gain the FEC's formal approval for such a transfer was Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), who resigned last November after pleading guilty to evading taxes and accepting bribes."

newman ! thats the 2nd seat to go by this year that i live within 10 miles of(the other a state seat) and our district isnt giving up culberson for nobody.

i'd woulda picked that hammer right up and get those rinos in line !

conclusion that if Delay was not guilty, he had the strong, strong appearance of being guilty?   And I know that the appearance is not the same as a conviction, but he was playing with fire and he knew it.

I don't want corrupt politicians of either party in Congress.  Seriously.  I know there are a few scumbags on our side, too (i.e. William Jefferson).  They don't -- and shouldn't -- represent us.

The charges will either be dropped or DeLay will be found not guilty. Earle will have had wasted good tax payers money on a liberal agenda. DeLay will make a comback as a Senator or Governor or Republican Cabinet member. And the Conservatives will rub the Liberals nose in it.

At least according to one Kossack commenter who has his hands on an Almanac of American Politics, TX-22 voted 64% for President Bush in 2004.  They only gave Delay 55% that time.  This is a Safe Republican seat now that Delay has passed on a re-election bid.

 

I call dibs on his nickname! Cmon guys, has there ever been a better nickname in politics than "The Hammer?"

In all seriousness, It is a sad day when you can be persecuted for being too successful. That was his only sin you know. Liberals didn't like him because he was too good at winning elections and getting his people into power and whipping the GOP into shape.

The same people who want him out are probably the same ones who want WalMart gone. The same people who want to persecute Microsoft. The same people who want to punish the rich for success with their "progressive" taxes. Look folks, this is America. People aren't born royalty. They got big and powerful and you can too. If you don't like the way someone does business, make yourself better and challenge them for superiority. Don't try to "take them down" with trumped up charges just because you are envious of their power.

I expect Scott Elliot will soon be making one of his famous rating changes for this race over at ElectionProjection.com.  It will be nice to finally see one swing in the GOP's favor.

I'm curious to see who the GOP will recruit to take over this district.

When congress is run by the Dems come January, who do you think the first target of Ethics investigations would be?  I suspect he is afraid of what they would find out, or at least what they would let the public know about his behaviour over his political career.  Only recently have I been away of his activities, such as using the FAA to hunt down Texas State legislators, illegally launder campaign contributions, and demonstrably allow himself to be influenced by lobbyists.  It's nice to see that Dems and Reps are united on the positive aspect of this story.  The thought of one less corrupt member of congress really should be something everybody gets behind.

DeLay hasn't been convicted of anything illegal, and the chance that he will be is far from certain at this point.  Try and remember how the justice system works in America.  He must be convicted by a court, not the media, not Kos, and not Howard Dean.  A court.

long time reader, first time post. was just wondering what everyone's gut reaction was ? just heard the news, and the weight of it finally made me sign-in and post something. i mean, of course he did so many great things for the right, and was a fantastic leader with strength, but can any real good signs of innocence or whatnot really be forthcoming from this crazy action ? just really shocked, sorry if my first post seems disjointed! why doesn't he fight these lib-bums and show them the truth!?! they make me furious!

god bless W!

I'm sure that it's a total coincidence that he quits a day after his top aide pleads guilty to running a corruption scheme out of Delay's office. Also, I'm sure that it has nothing to do with Abramhoff's problems and the fact that he is singing like a canary.

Delay is a man of sterling character and is as pure as the driven snow.

It's all those gosh darn lib's fault.

while Delay may in the end not be convicted of anything, the various charges were an albatross around his neck.  This way at least the GOP has time to get somebody in place to run, and somebody who isn't as easy a target for the DNC opponent.

No tears from this quarter.

Dan Patrick will concentrate on the state senate. If he wins that he will maybe be able to run for congress at a later time.

Lets face it guys, He is a solid conservative, but ran his office always on the borderline/edge of sleaze and it finally caught up with him. Ronnie earle is a sleaze himself, but that doesn't matter.

I want my reps, and my republicans to be clean, and to always appear clean.

  This hurts me personally because I am trying to adopt a child, and DeLay's office was helping me.

He and his wife have been very involved in adoption issues.

  Still, its for the best, and probably should have happened sooner.

Way back in October, Anne Korblut of the NY Times did a story about the campaign by the left against DeLay. Looks like it worked. Wonder who's next....?

http://www.theocracywatch.org/delay_war_against_times_oct2_05.htm

Delay is charged in the court of public opinion and he just copped a plea.

DeLay's accomplishments will long outlive any of the egregiously false accusations made by Earle and the Democrat Party acolytes. His positive contributions to the party and our country as a whole include monumental accomplishments dating back well before the last few years.  Look at any major legislation coming out of the House since the early 1990's and you will see DeLay driving it. In a town like DC, you don't get called "The Hammer" for trimming political bushes and watching which way the wind blows the clippings.

Every man has his faults and will make mistakes. Unfortunately, for DeLay his success and contribution to the party magnified these missteps. Add the willful misconduct of an increasingly incredulous major media, our own stringent critique of party leaders and you have an inevitable cacophony of doom.  

I for one, will not join the "pig pile" now that Tom has once again chosen the path that is best for party and country. That tactic has been perfected by the Democrat Party and is best left to professionals. The media spin is so bad this morning; I had to pick my head up off the floor. Instead, I choose to celebrate his accomplishments and relish the fact our party is so deep another "Hammer" is on the horizon.

By the way, TX-22 don't worry, we have your back!

The fact is that the GOP had changed the rules to not require DeLay to step aside.  But after pressure from the media, they caved, and reinstated the old rules.

That made it possible for Ronnie Earle to get his scalp.  I find it hard to belirve that none of the Republicans in the House knew about Earle's track record.  They left Tom DeLay for the wolves, which seems to be becoming a very bad habit on the right lately.

a plea of guilty to conspiracy, there may enough merit to the charges or the mud that will come out during the trial that the rules change wasn't worth the political capital.

I am a DeLay supporter, but I am a realist.  He knows what he did or didn't do...he's gone for a reason.  He knows the damage to the party that's coming were he to stay.

Fortunately for Delay, he has a $1 million plus in his campaign account he can convert to legal defense. I think this is the deciding factor in his resignation. He considered the possibility of demonized, defeated and in debt and opted for resignation and paid-off legal fees.

Too bad Scooter Libby didn't have that option.

So does the one above him.  That's a moby if I've every seen whale blubber sputtering.

... a push within the party to keep a rule that had its origins in the the GOP revolution in '94.  The rule was written by gingrich, delay & co. in response to the corrupt dem leadership of previous decades and was a key part of the GOP commitment to the American people to fight corruption and hold leaders to a higher standard.  

It wasn't all media that forced the reversal and even if the media played a bigger role than we liked reversing course on that was right thing to do.

That being said, I'm glad Delay is gone.  I think he did a lot for the party and for the conservative agenda in Congress.  But he was a liability and the party, for reasons best discussed in another thread, could not effectively combat the charges being made against him.  His exit is as much due to his flirting with impropriety as it is with GOP incompetence when it comes to waging effective PR campaigns in support of its policies and leaders.

... the party did very little to protect delay and never seemed to grasp its responsibility to defend him against those seeking to destroy him.  Perhaps he refused help.  More likely the party had no clue how to get the job done.  And a liberal media smelling blood didn't help - in fact played a huge role in this.

That doesn't mean the rule "cave" was wrong. it means we darn well better learn how to wage an effective PR war particularly when te left's sights turn to Boehner, Blunt, Hastert, Frist, et al.

who told a D.C. restaurantuer that he (DeLay) could ignore the No-SMoking sign because "I am the Federal Government!"?

there's no need to drive it all the way thru the back of the coffin.

should not have been changed in the first place. Doing so made Delay look guilty and reeked of coverup. Had the rules been kept as they were perhaps the charges could have been fought from the high ground.

I was, however, showing that the quote I responded to was hypocritical.

I still vote for Condi Rice's nickname as the greatest political nickname in history: The Velvet Hammer.

Geez, I love that.  Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  In a manly sort of way.

I'll not yield that a sham prosecution for purely partisan political reasons led to "at least the appearance" of impropriety on the Republican side. Delay was within the law on all the bits on which he is being persecuted, and I will NEVER yield that point.

I understand the reasons why Delay finally opted to yield to the pressure, and I will respect his decision. It is difficult enough to hold that type of position for a year when the MSM and a partisan prosecuter are after you, your friends, and your family day after day, week after week. And Delay held out against that kind of pressure his entire career.

I don't see how you can know with 100% certainty that he is innocent.

Our last President "appeared" to be a philanderer.  He ACTUALLY perjured himself to a grand jury, and was 1/2 punished for it.  He stayed put in office, granted some pretty awesome pardons, and sustained his world presence...all is forgotten and old Bill could still become a Senator...heck-maybe even Prez of that all important world-body called the UN.  Oh, and his wife went on to become Senator and a (skin crawls as I suggest) Presidential hopeful.

Will Mr. DeLay enjoy the same walk off into the sunset from the left that the left continues to insist we give to Mr. Clinton from the right?

Nope, around my way, guilty is guilty...innocent is innocent.

How you "looked" in getting there matters not if you're Democrat, and means EVERYTHING if you're a Republican.

(Although I will claim to my grave that a blow job isn't sex.)

Your claims are valid, but as I asked the poster upthread, you seem to dismiss entirely the possibility that he is guilty, that's all I am saying.  And if he's found guilty through a trial, is it still a partisan hack job or justice being served?

(Although I will claim to my grave that a blow job isn't sex.)

Is it a greeting now in SF?

If only.

I happened to be watching Larry King (it was an anomaly; I think I was between channels) when Chris Mathews called into the show. He said that he had breaking news and had just spoken with Tom Delay, who had told him that he was quitting the race and why. So, I guess Tom told Chris. Really though, he could have said both. There is not much difference between the two statements.

He gets all the best guests and his show rivals the Sunday shows now night in and night out.  DeLay has been on before, including the night Earle indicted him, and he gave Matthews the big interview this time because Matthews was fair then, and  because all the inside the beltway guys watch Matthews.

with the same report, which is where I saw it.

Delay was interviewed by Rush Limbaugh yesterday, and Delay said the first person he notified was a Time Magazine writer who he believed had treated him fairly.  He then forgot about print versus broadcast immediacy, and told Matthews before the Time guy could make his 'breaking news announcement.'  Matthews went on the air immediately, so he got the 'scoop' on everybody, but he wasn't ther first one notified, although that's what he claimed.

I strongly doubt that Delay said, "I'm dropping out because I know I'll lose the election."

Interestingly, Delay told Rush that he notified those two first because he wanted to reward people he thought had treated him fairly--trying to change the atmosphere in DC.

I've heard more than one 'expert' say that Delay's district is pretty solidly Republican.

Delay himself said that the Texas reapportionment the Dems were all complaining about took his district from 55% Republican to 54%.  Not much change, but some.