DeLay outlines agenda: House majority leader calls ethics issues ‘frivolous’
Look out, y’all…. Tom DeLay is back in Washington, and he’s feeling bulletproof. The normal smug arrogance that rolls off him like water now resembles a waterfall. Freshly re-elected, DeLay now clearly feels untouchable, and you can count on a renewed vigor when it comes to trying to force his narrow-minded agenda down our collective throats. And yes, you can thank my district for this troglodyte.
WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay returned to Washington Friday and, buoyed by President Bush’s re-election and a larger Republican majority in Congress next session, invited Democrats “that actually want to govern” to join him in pushing through a conservative agenda.
In an interview Friday with the Chronicle three days after winning his 11th term, the Republican from Sugar Land suggested he will shepherd legislation supported by religious conservatives who helped deliver election-day success to the GOP.
“To the same extent the House has been the leader on all these issues, whether they be pro-life, pornography, religious freedom, marriage, all of these issues will be in play,” DeLay said.
I find it truly amazing that, even though the House Ethics Committee rebuked him TWICE, a majority of voters in District 22 saw fit to give DeLay a free pass. All that seems to matter to voters is that DeLay is a Republican. If he were a Democrat existing in the same moral and ethical vaccuum, he’d already be back to killing cockroaches. Being a Republican apparently means never having to be held accountable.
Nor does DeLay seem to feel anything resembling remorse for being exposed for his ethical shortcomings. After all, when you’re the federal government, you’re bullet-proof, right?
But DeLay said he will proceed with no regrets.
“The election proved that my constituents, No. 1, understand what this is all about, which is a strategy of personal destruction. And they rejected it,” DeLay said of the ethics grievances leveled against him.
“All of this stuff is frivolous and it has been proven to be frivolous. If there is anything else ongoing, it will also be found to be frivolous,” he said.
At the same time, DeLay said the ethics committee should further examine the ethics complaint against him filed by Rep. Chris Bell, D-Houston, because it was not supported by evidence. After his district was redrawn, Bell lost in the primary.
“It’s in the best interest of the institution to look at Chris Bell and his frivolous charges and the process by which he brought the frivolous charges, using the ethics committee for his political gain,” DeLay said.
No, this election proved that voters in this District really don’t much care what their Congressman is up to. The reality is that we could have pictures of a naked, underage intern kneeling in front of Tom DeLay with his pants around his ankles, and he likely STILL would have been re-elected. Why? Because, as long as you’re a Republican, you will get a free pass in this state.
Those of us who worked to defeat DeLay are left to hope that DeLay will become so full of his own arrogance and hubris that he will leave himself vulnerable two years from now. Given the voters in this district, however, that appears to be an unlikely proposition. Clearly, we get exactly the quality of representation we deserve. I had no idea that the standards in District 22 were so depressingly low.
