DeLay A Gift To Democrats

American Prospect: House Leader's Troubles A Boon For Democrats

(The American Prospect) 
DeLay's position is that he is the victim of a Democratic crusade to get him, and he is not going to play into that trap. "I'm not here to discuss the Democrats' agenda," he said in various and repeated ways. But it is hard to tame a tornado once it gets up and moving, although DeLay is trying. Frankly, there is a whiff of desperation to the effort. While he won't answer questions at his briefings, his allies are pleading his case far and wide, even on the floor of the House.

Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina on Tuesday night praised the job that DeLay had done both in Washington and in Texas, from cutting taxes to reducing welfare: "Additionally, Majority Leader DeLay and his wife, Christine, play a valuable role in their home community," Wilson said. "As foster parents, they have devoted themselves to improving the lives of abused and neglected children... Their work is a true sign of compassion that is rarely recognized."

Another compassionate conservative from Texas!

Wilson also echoes DeLay's recent contention that the attacks against the majority leader are a left-wing effort to derail the conservative movement. "His critics are inspired by bitterness, hatred, and partisanship," Wilson said, "and their smears will fail as they failed against Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and John Ashcroft." I'm sure DeLay is proud to be placed in that company, but I just can't hear the White House saying about the president's friendship with Rice or Cheney what White House spokesman Scott McClellan said this week of DeLay: "I think there are different levels of friendship with anybody."

If DeLay is right about one thing, it's that he is on the Democrats' agenda. After having tormented them for years, he has in recent weeks turned into the gift that keeps on giving. Democrats on the Hill have lately settled on a strategy of accusing the Republicans of extremism, overreaching, and abuse of power and the public trust; Tom DeLay is their poster child, especially in the wake of the Terri Schiavo affair. A recent Gallup/USA Today/CNN poll showed that a majority of Americans believe that on moral values issues, the GOP is using its power in the federal government to "interfere with the private lives of most Americans."

With DeLay, Democrats now feel that they have a face to slap. "This is not just Tom DeLay's behavior," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, "but the standards of the Republican caucus and how low those standards are."

And in case you have any doubt about how nasty it is about to get on the Hill, don't forget the House Republican campaign committee's response: suggestions that Pelosi, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid are guilty of some of the same things alleged against DeLay.

Let's party!


Terence Samuel is the chief congressional correspondent for U.S. News & World Report. His column about politics appears each week in the Prospect's online edition.