Remember all that bravado about [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] never backing down from a fight? About how confident he was that he’d crush anyone who got in his way? About how his constituents loved him so much that he never worried about the criminal and ethical charges swirling around him?
Well, never mind all that; DeLay is done.
Rep. Tom DeLay, whose iron hold on the House Republicans melted as a lobbying corruption scandal engulfed the Capitol, told TIME that he will not seek reelection and will leave Congress within months. Taking defiant swipes at “the left” and the press, he said he feels “liberated” and vowed to pursue an aggressive speaking and organizing campaign aimed at promoting foster care, Republican candidates and a closer connection between religion and government.
“I’m going to announce tomorrow that I’m not running for reelection and that I’m going to leave Congress,” DeLay, who turns 59 on Saturday, said during a 90-minute interview on Monday. “I’m very much at peace with it.” He notified President Bush in the afternoon. DeLay and his wife, Christine, said they had been prepared to fight, but that he decided last Wednesday, after months of prayer and contemplation, to spare his suburban Houston district the mudfest to come. “This had become a referendum on me,” he said. “So it’s better for me to [tag]step aside[/tag] and let it be a referendum on ideas, Republican values and what’s important for this district.”
If you believe that DeLay was genuinely worried about a “[tag]mudfest[/tag],” I have a bridge in Florida I’d love to sell you. Tom DeLay lives for mudfests. He brings his own home-made mud to mudfests. He doesn’t avoid mudfests; he circles the dates on his calendar in an anticipation of the next mudfest.
So, what has forced DeLay to resign in disgrace? It’s pretty simple; as the Washington Post noted, DeLay’s announcement comes just “three days after Tony C. Rudy, his former deputy chief of staff, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and corruption charges, telling federal prosecutors of a criminal enterprise being run out of DeLay’s leadership offices.” Or, as Josh Marshall explained, “DeLay’s lawyers must have sat him down over the last 72 hours and explained to him that he needs to focus on not spending most of the rest of his life in prison.”
Every angle of this will be explored here and elsewhere, but Republicans who are arguing this morning that DeLay’s resignation is a good thing for the GOP — DeLay was a distraction, DeLay’s re-election fight looked awfully tough, etc. — are missing the forest for the trees. DeLay was the leader of the conservative movement in Congress and has been for several years. Now, he’s cutting and running, fleeing to Texas Virginia with his tail between his legs after having been caught, repeatedly, flouting the rules.
Sure, I would have loved to see him get beat in November, but his resignation is an embarrassment for him, his colleagues, his Republican Party, and the movement he’s led for years.