Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told The New Yorker about his future plans, and what’s motivating him to keep up his conservative crusade. (via Ron Chusid)
Earlier this year, [DeLay] published a memoir called “No Retreat, No Surrender” … in which he claimed that as a young congressman he would on occasion drink ten to twelve Martinis at a time. In this period, he earned the nickname Hot Tub Tom. Then he found Jesus and, he said, stopped sinning. In the book, he freely confesses to committing adultery. “I had put my needs first,” he told me. “I was on the throne, not God. I had pushed God from His throne.” […]
DeLay says that when, in the coming years, he is not fighting the indictment in Texas (he insists that he is not guilty) he will be building a conservative grass-roots equivalent of MoveOn.org. “God has spoken to me,” he said. “I listen to God, and what I’ve heard is that I’m supposed to devote myself to rebuilding the conservative base of the Republican Party, and I think we shouldn’t be underestimated.”
Well, he’s quite the modern-day Noah, isn’t he? An omnipotent God is not only concerned about the future of the Republican Party, He’s specifically worried about the right-wing base of the Republican Party. And this same God is not only interested in the base, but He specifically wants a corrupt exterminator to lead the way in building a rejuvenated far-right movement.
And we know all of this to be true because Tom DeLay received a message directly from God, who told him to take on these challenges.
Remember, when you talk to God, it’s prayer. When God talks to you, it’s schizophrenia.
I should note that, tempting though it may be to dismiss DeLay, he still matters.
The last time I did an item about Tom DeLay, my friend Tim F. at Balloon Juice suggested I direct my attention elsewhere.
Why does anybody still care what Tom DeLay thinks? Of course he will say outrageous crap. He’s a disgraced, toxic bombast with less personal credibility than most inanimate objects. He ran the Congress into the ground and personally contributed as much as anybody to losing the GOP majority. The only way he will see his name in a headline that doesn’t include the word ‘trial’ is if he says something outrageous. He’s a troll, I say ignore him.
I agree with nearly all of this, particularly the adjectives. But I nevertheless think it’s worth taking DeLay on from time to time, highlighting his lunacy, exposing the corruption of his enterprise, and reminding the political word that the likes of Tom DeLay should never be tolerated again.
In a general sense, DeLay is the poster-child for Republican excess and corruption. His foibles should be brought to public attention, because they reflect poorly on the entire GOP machine. In a more specific sense, DeLay, for reasons that defy comprehension, continues to be a major right-wing player.
Indeed, when DeLay says he’s on a (divine) mission to reinvigorate the Republican base, he’s actually quite serious. He has a well-funded, well-organized operation. The media continues to treat him as a respected former congressional leader. His connections in DC, albeit with the minority party, are second to none. DeLay, through it all, still has legions of fans who believe he’s among the best the GOP has to offer.
TNR’s Eve Fairbanks recently noted that DeLay actually has a vision, most of it inspired by revenge (not religion), for his short-term future.
Come fall [2006], he was ringing up old friends, such as K Street Project co-conspirator Grover Norquist and spiritual adviser Reverend Rick Scarborough, to inform them that something very major was about to be unveiled. DeLay now hopes, friends report, nothing less than to rule the conservative grassroots as magisterially as he ruled the House. “He wants to run the outside,” says conservative leader Paul Weyrich.
In December, DeLay launched TomDeLay.com, his new conservative blog. DeLay didn’t instantly master the pithy form (on Reagan’s birthday, he posted an entire 4,000-word Gipper speech) or attract loving fans (he started censoring messages after he received over 100 “mean, nasty, … vulgar” posts during the blog’s first hour). But, before long, he was sounding off on 2008 like a pro in a grainy YouTube video produced by a blog called MuscleHead Revolution and “asking a lot of bloggers, right-of-center, to guest-post at TomDeLay.com,” says RedState.com CEO Erick Erickson.
But DeLay doesn’t just want to become the conservative Kos. He’s arranging to become the conservative MoveOn, too. Along with the blog, DeLay inaugurated his new “Grassroots Action/Information Network,” whose members are promised, for $52 per year, a place in the ranks of an immense holy militia designed to battle “radical leftist agendas wherever they may be found in the United States” via weekly e-mails, letter-writing drives, and petitions. Even this is not quite enough. A few weeks ago, he announced the addition of a second grassroots organization: the Coalition for a Conservative Majority (CCM), which touts itself as the “first such conservative organization worthy of its name.” CCM will be a network of intensely involved activists with chapters in all 50 states — and DeLay is its Howard Dean.
Why don’t I ignore this clown? Because, much to the detriment of our democracy, DeLay isn’t going away.