Days after lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in courtrooms in two cities, a pair of GOP lawmakers circulated a petition calling for elections to pick a permanent replacement for DeLay. The Texas lawmaker temporarily relinquished his leadership post last year following indictment on campaign finance charges in his home state.
As I was saying to a coworker a couple of days ago, the Republicans, while very loyal to their own, are not willing to sacrifice themselves or their party for the sake of anyone, including fellow Republicans. If this corruption scandal turns out to be widespread among them, they will cut off GOP members like a doctor cutting off a gangrenous leg. DeLay may think he'll pull through this, but in the end it's all about the political survivability of the party.
5 comments:
Things are even worse for Delay... a previous Republican opponent has decided to run against him as a independent for his congressional seat, making it even more likely Democrat Nick Lampson will beat him in the general with a split vote.
Nothing would satisfy me more then to watch him lose his leadership role, lose his seat, and lose his freedom sitting in jail. And no man deserves it more.
You guys are harsh! But I guess he deserves it. In any case, I'm not sure that I see this weakening the Republican grip on Texas. After all, they just need to bring out anti-gay hysteria to win.
Well you have a point. The GOP in Texas is like a drug cartel; take down the lead dog and you've got a dozen punk-asses who want to take his place. But it's a start, and certainly exposing DeLay does no good for the GOP.
Bringing down Delay won't loosen the GOP grip on Texas, but Rick Perry and Tom Craddick's disastrous governing and a newly energized Texas Democratic Party might. Maybe not this year, but the amount and quality of candidates we have this year is encouraging.
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