{"id":5404,"date":"2005-09-30T11:21:35","date_gmt":"2005-09-30T15:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=5404"},"modified":"2005-09-30T11:21:35","modified_gmt":"2005-09-30T15:21:35","slug":"the-distance-between-delay-and-his-former-army","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/the-distance-between-delay-and-his-former-army\/","title":{"rendered":"The distance between DeLay and his (former) army"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, there was one<\/a> House Republican returning Tom DeLay’s campaign money; today there are two<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At least two Republicans in the House of Representatives say they will return money to Rep. Tom DeLay’s political action committee now that the former majority leader has been indicted for allegedly conspiring to violate Texas campaign fundraising laws.<\/p>\n

Reps. Jeb Bradley of New Hampshire and Heather Wilson of New Mexico said they would return contributions from Americans for a Republican Majority, the political action committee DeLay started to help elect GOP candidates to Congress. Known as ARMPAC, it is separate from Texans for a Republican Majority, or TRMPAC, which is at the center of the charge against DeLay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a little silly to read too much into two House Republicans’ decision, but the choice to return DeLay’s “tainted” money may well be part of a problem for DeLay for which there is no solution — his indictment is the end of his power.<\/p>\n

Just behind the polite support for DeLay among his colleagues, and the half-hearted criticisms of Ronnie Earle, lies the realization that the up-until-recently Majority Leader can’t<\/a> simply return to his rarified air, even if he manages to avoid conviction.<\/p>\n

“The reality of the ordeal he faces is not as rosy as everyone’s hopes and aspirations,” said Rep. Zach Wamp, a Tennessee Republican who aspires to be the next House Republican whip, or third-ranking leader of the party.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One anonymous GOP source told the WaPo<\/a> that many DeLay’s colleagues have decided that clinging to irrational support for a corrupt and indicted leader doesn’t make a lot of sense. “They’ve already turned the page,” the strategist said.<\/p>\n

Many have, in other words, ignored Frank Luntz’s advice<\/a>.
\n<\/p>\n

Republican strategist Frank Luntz reminded a group of House members Thursday, “You owe (DeLay) your majority. He’s where he is today because he sacrificed himself to gain those extra seats.”<\/p>\n

Luntz said, “You dance with the one that brought you,” adding that making refunds is “ridiculous.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can only hope the Republican caucus is foolish enough to believe Luntz’s nonsense. DeLay isn’t a martyr who sacrificed himself for his colleagues; he’s a disgrace who finally got caught.<\/p>\n

The caucus was nervous enough about their collective future before<\/em> DeLay’s indictment; returning the guy’s contributions should be a no-brainer for anyone who wants to steer clear of “culture of corruption” charges next year.<\/p>\n

We have two who’ve already come to this realization; do I hear three?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, there was one House Republican returning Tom DeLay’s campaign money; today there are two. At least two Republicans in the House of Representatives say they will return money to Rep. Tom DeLay’s political action committee now that the former majority leader has been indicted for allegedly conspiring to violate Texas campaign fundraising laws. Reps. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}