Baby, Please Don’t Go: It’s not too late to keep the Hammer
It is difficult to imagine the Houston political scene without Tom DeLay, the impish way he pistol-whipped the state legislature into doing his bidding, his blithe manner in saying Christianity was under attack (by forces that don’t control the White House, both houses of Congress and the courts).
As popular as Tom DeLay is was in Sugar Land and Fort Bend County, you’d think that there would have been some sort of public demonstration, some public outcry against the injustice done to their sainted “Hammer”. Sure, you might think that, but you might also be surprised to find out that the general response in Fort Bend County to DeLay’s resignation has been absolute, utter silence.
DeLay, while he seems convinced that he’s following “God’s plan” for his life and career, no doubt saw the writing on the wall. The most recent polls not only indicated that he would have had a tough re-election campaign in store, he in fact probably would have lost. I think there’s a large part of DeLay’s ego that simply couldn’t stomach the reality that he was going to lose to a Democrat, so he decided to resign and claim that he’s all about doing “God’s work”. Hey, if that helps to make him feel better about doing what he should have done long ago, so be it.
What has surprised me is that, except for Rev. Rick Scarborough, who seems convinced that DeLay is the embodiment of “righteousness in government”, the response to DeLay’s resignation from Fort Bend County’s slash-and-burn Republicans has been, well, silence. Yes, while you might have thought that there would be an outpouring of disbelief and dismay at their hero’s announcement that he will be riding off into the political sunset (or moving to Virginia), there in reality has been a whole lot of just plain empty silence. Laugh and world laughs with you; cry and…well, let’s just say that DeLay is finding out that political friends and real friends are definitely NOT one and the same thing.
We still don’t know when DeLay will be leaving his Congressional seat. Until that happens, he’s still a legitimate target. Many of us on the Left will (almost) miss DeLay. When someone like him is so clearly the symbol of all that is wrong with the Republican Party, he makes for an easy target. It’s the old “When the gods want to punish you, they answer your prayers” scenario, eh?
Then again, if DeLay had ANY sense of decency, he’d leave Congress immediately. That he clearly seems to be timing his departure for maximum political impact is typical of DeLay. Before long, though, DeLay will be gone, and we in CD-22 can focus on electing a decent, honest man to Congress. It’s good to know that Good can still triumph over Evil…though it may take 22 years.
