I am not missing any pattern. And I am not mourning the loss of Gingrich. Delay is totally different from Gingrich. I am trying to get Republicans elected in this state and he is my biggest problem. Not the Dems, not the Unions, but Delays mouth. He is not the speaker. He doesn't need to be in the limelight to do his job. Delay runs to the limelight like a moth to flame and he sucks at it. From a practical political standpoint his negatives outweigh his positives. You may get your rocks off when you hear him, but that doesn't help the party. The man is a liability. And its people like you that just can't see how he helps the Democrats that are going to cost us the Congress.

Delay: Reconstructed Sothern Dem
 

You say Delay's an economic liberal as if it's news. What kind of Southerners did you think the Republicans recruited from the democrats post-LBJ? Libertarians?

The best oponnent to have in politics is a wounded opponent. If you kill your oppenent, then you have to face a new stronger one. So you wound but don't kill. The smart party kills their own wounded and replaces them with someone strong. That is just politics 101. This is not a debating club where you get oratory point for good speeches. It is congressional inside politics.

Foreign law should be irrelevant to US law. Period. It shouldn't be used to support any consitutional theory to any degree whatsoever. In fact, if the Frenchies come out one way, doing the exact opposite is probably a good idea.

Not responsive to this post alone, but what the hay. From where I'm sitting, what is remarkable about DeLay is that he is so corrupt. The man seems to operate under no principle other than the pursuit of power, and he's willing to push the envelope to get it. The K Street Project is the sort of thing that we can thank DeLay for. Finding ways to get illegal corporate money to Texas legislators to buy redistricting. That sort of thing. When he needed to divert attention from his ethical troubles, he sided with the cultural conservatives on the Schiavo thing, but that was totally calculated, IMHO.

DeLay's ruthlessness and corruption is what makes the GOP control of the House of Representatives work the way it does. Get rid of him, and you will either need to replace him with someone equally corrupt, or you will lose some measure of lockstep control. Which wouldn't be a bad thing for the country, but I digress.

strategic bombing
 

No.

Well said, bilmore. I for one am encouraged to see elements of the GOP rally 'round its man. Next step - group photo. Some pics of DeLay with each and every Republican in Congress will be golden in sending those Dems to defeat in '06 and '08.

Hell, I'll buy the film.

Spanky,

I hear ya. But before y'all toss Delay overboard (together with, in every liberal's dream scenario, Frist in a glorious twofer), please wait until Frist rams through the destruction of filibusters. Might come in handy later.

Thanks,
Gattigap

I think they should keep DeLay around to help them with the 2006 election cycle. He can work with all the people with contested seats, making public appearances with them. It will mobilize their base.

Naw. They're gonna have a change of heart right before the next congressional elections, and put the rule back. Just in case.

So this is why the Dems are piling on so much right now, years before a vote - they want us to keep him!

I'm so naive.

(P.S. No, This IS a debating club where you get oratory points for good speeches.)

And thusly is the bell unrung.

You tawk funny.

Normally the Republicans are pretty good about throwing their trash overboard. Lesson from Watergate. We usually put party before individuals - we threw out Gingrich, Livingston, Lott etc. The Dems usually circle the wagons to their detriment. They tried to hold onto Wright way too long. And Clinton. If the Senate Dems had gotten Clinton to resign, Gore would have been an incumbant and almost certainly would have won in 2000. A Republican would have been forced to resign.

And as far as Delay getting stuff through. I just don't see it. Where are the spending cuts, free trade agreement with central America, tax reform etc. They did get the tax cuts through but I think that was more Bush than Delay. Hell, Reagan got Tax cuts through with a Dem majority. Discipline - what Discipline?

The Dems are piling on because they are wounding him. But they can't push him out. They make him look as bad as possible and then hope we are dumb enough to keep him around.

Good plan. Because, y'all will always be controlling everything forevermore, and will never need to work with us. Making the gulf as deep as possible is clearly the way to go. Kudos. Charming.