Tom DeLay’s efforts to rally Republicans to his defense continue unabated, but at least a few GOP allies believe their ethically-challenged leader will survive his scandals because they take a minute to explain.
These latest stories — which garnered front-page headlines in major newspapers — broke when much of the world was mourning the death of Pope John Paul II and coverage of the funeral and papal succession dominated the news cycle.
“The difference between [DeLay’s problems and the Trent Lott scandal in 2003] is that with Lott it was a single simple sentence repeated over and over again on television,” said one senior GOP official.
The DeLay story, on the other hand, is much harder to explain because so many more details are involved, the official said, adding that it takes most television reporters about 40 seconds to explain the specifics of the case against DeLay, during which time average viewers get distracted.
“Most Americans are probably getting confused about the information the media is giving them,” the official said. “While the national media is interested, Joe America is not.”
So that’s the trump card in DeLay’s defense: the House Majority Leader is a corrupt lawmaker, he has a toxic effect on our political system, and the charges against him are overwhelming, but since they take two-thirds of one minute to explain, and Americans’ attention span for political news can’t last that long, DeLay may get through this with nary a scratch.
What’s more, I’m not altogether convinced this is wrong. It does take a moment or two to detail DeLay’s transgressions, and with an electorate that’s largely unfamiliar with the man and predisposed to disregard political news anyway, this poses a problem.
It seems ridiculous to think political fortunes rest on whether scandals can be summed up quickly or not, but that’s the political environment we’re working in.