I am a Republican, and I love my party. And that is precisely why I believe that it's high time for Tom DeLay to step down as House majority leader.
Tom DeLay, as might be expected, sees things a little bit differently. He doesn't think it's time for him to step down, for one. Second, he thinks that other Republicans ought to support his bid to hold on to power.
After all, to hear DeLay tell it, the push for his ouster is nothing more than petty politics, another example of Democrats trying to win through subterfuge the battles they cannot win at the polls.
For example, DeLay was forced to apologize for comments he made about activist judges in the Terry Schiavo case.
"The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior," DeLay had said.
Whether he was referring to impeachment or damnation isn't entirely clear to me, but either way it isn't particularly good form for a Congressional leader to go around threatening judges.
Of course, DeLay's comments weren't the real problem, according to his Republican colleague, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS). Democrats are. "Tom DeLay did nothing wrong," Tiahrt said. "What this is, is a political smear campaign made by an organization, a political party, that is void of ideas."
What about the House ethics committee's investigation of junkets DeLay took to South Korea and Britain, of which the first was financed by an agent of the South Korean government (in violation of Congressional travel rules), and the other was paid for by Indian tribes and gambling lobbyists (after which DeLay helped kill legislation unfavorable to Indian casinos)? Or what about the three other times the House ethics committee recently admonished DeLay for misuse of his office?
Just more politics, says DeLay. "It is very unfortunate that the Democrats have no agenda. All they can do is try to tear down the House and burn it down in order to gain power," he said.
Kind of an odd statement, given that the ethics committee was headed by a Republican (A Republican who, along with the two other Republicans on the committee who voted to reprimand DeLay, has since been replaced.).
So how about the recent indictment in Texas of three former DeLay fundraisers, who are accused of misusing donations to a PAC that DeLay helped create and raised money for?
Politics, of course! The work of an ambitious prosecutor who DeLay accused of trying to "criminalize politics."
Politics, politics, politics. Poor Tom, surrounded on all sides by conspirators and connivers, who want nothing more than to bring him down. No wonder DeLay needs Republicans to rally to his defense. Most of them will do it too, as would most Democrats were the sides reversed.
After all, DeLay is a powerful man with the ability to play a little politics of his own. Such Hill giants are hard to kill, and standing against them is a dangerous tactic should their wounds prove less than fatal.
But, with each new scandal, DeLay's career comes closer and closer to dying the death of a thousand cuts " cuts which, even though DeLay likes to blame them on the Democrats or political bloodsport, have been nothing but self-inflicted.
Instead of expecting other Republicans to stand up and help shield him from investigation, it's time for DeLay to take his own lashes and step down as majority leader. If instead he keeps playing politics with the House ethics committee to try to save his own job, then the possibility of collateral damage to his whole party increases.
DeLay is right in that it is time for his party to make a stand. He's just wrong about what that stand ought to be, and what it ought to be is against him.
