The Christian Science Monitor has (as usual) a superb piece that suggests that in both terms of historic and current trends Tom DeLay is in increasingly boiling political hot water.
The boldfaced sub head gives part of it: From Jim Wright to Newt Gingrich, powerful House leaders have become targets of opposition.
And then there’s this paragraph which we’ll boldface:
In public, most Republicans say that what’s driving the criticism of the House majority leader is politics, not ethics. The Democratic “hit machine” is pouring millions into a campaign to oust the most powerful Republican in Congress. But the real target is the Republican majority and its agenda.
But in private, some senior leaders are saying it’s only a matter of time before the most powerful Republican in Congress is forced from office. “Democrats should save their money. Why murder someone who is committing suicide?” said a senior GOP lawmaker, on condition of anonymity.
The piece recounts weekend criticism of DeLay from two GOPers and says anti-DeLay rumblings are beginning to come from elsewhere:
While the “gathering storm” has yet to hit local conservative talk radio as it has the national news media, there are also signs that the ethics allegations are beginning to rankle the GOP’s conservative base. “Personal ethics are very important to the average evangelical,” says the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals. “When a person is seen to profit from their political connections, it doesn’t speak well for that individual.”
Indeed, in the 1980s conservative talk radio was anti-establishment, free-wheeling, free thinking, often hilarious and could persuade due to its intellectual unpredictability. Most (but not all) of it has now evolved into holding-the-fort for establishment and almost GOP talking points. Especially on the DeLay issue. The Monitor also includes some talking points:
“Tom DeLay is a Ronald Reagan Republican and a firm fixture within the conservative movement in our country. These two things – combined with his effective leadership – make him an inviting target to liberals and Democrats, as well as the media elite,” according to a set of talking points recently circulated by the Republican National Committee.
Oh. We kind of thought there were a few other tiny things, too…
Read this piece in full. It has ton more including Newt Gingrich came to power launching a movement against what he said was the corrupt practices of then speaker Jim Wright and, by implication, the then Democratic majority’s overt and covert corruption in looking the other way. It notes how Democrats are now faced with a situation where they can literally rip this page from the old GOP playbook and use it (due to the behavior of DeLay and the GOP reaction to it).
The Democrats are likely to spend whatever they can (and they have gotten lots of $) to make their case to dump DeLay. The question is whether the GOP as a party wants to equate conservatism and their agenda with one man around whom so many questions swirl and who touching on him.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.