“This whole thing about not kicking someone when they are down is BS” – DeLay office memo

Tom DeLay’s whining to CNN that all those career-crushing exposes swirling about are “just another seedy attempt by the liberal media to embarrass” him put me in mind of how right he is. 

He didn’t deny the reports, really.  And no doubt they’re embarrassing.  In addition, heaven knows the dominant conservative media will, by and large, go out of its way to dismiss the matter.  And, of course, the liberal media do indeed take pleasure in embarrassing hypocritical swindlers – which, well … duh, happens to be their job.   

But mostly I know he’s right because I, as a menial pack member of said liberal media, have long joined in embarrassing Mr. DeLay for the fun of it, if nothing else, which further put me in mind of a piece I wrote for an opinion journal three years ago -- a portion of which I wanted to share with you here. It illustrates that some things never change; that DeLay is one of those political gifts that keeps on giving politically.  So, this from January, 2002….

“In these times of cultural upheaval and social uncertainty, all too often we feel adrift. It seems a heroless age, one in which we yearn for a rock, a beacon of stability, a champion of certitude. In that sense, Tom DeLay is the man of our dreams. Never adrift himself, he’s always the same.

“At least he has been since 1985. That, according to a lengthy profile in the Washington Post last May, is the year he quit drinking. As a freshman congressman he was downing up to a dozen martinis a night, doing absolutely no one any harm.  Then he watched a James Dobson video on proper daddyhood, put away the gin, and became the meanest teetotaler of the modern era. It was a dark day for America when Tom sobered up.

“Since then he’s been a leading voice of political depravity -- not to mention giving sobriety a bad name -- opposing gun control, clean air, clean water, corporate product-liability, reproductive rights, homosexual rights, occupational-health rights, a higher minimum wage and campaign finance reform. To break the monotony he occasionally adds nuggets of insight such as suggesting day care is responsible for school shootings.

“And we can always count on DeLay and his values -- family values. As of last May [2001] he hadn’t seen his mother in 2 years, but that could be because she lives so far away from Tom: 10 miles.

“There are personal values he’s imparted to his staff, as well. For instance, on loving one’s enemy there was this e-mail exchange between subordinates: ‘This whole thing about not kicking someone when they are down is BS.... You kick him until he passes out -- then beat him over the head with a baseball bat’….

“And though he’s a true leader when it comes to knowing how best to wrench protection money from business-school delinquents, Delay is also merely a symptom of the oozing, pus-filled plague of political finance which we happily call a part of our democratic form of government. He wasn’t alone when standing in line as … corporate gangsters were passing out cash.

“Yet while others may change their ways, Tom won’t…. He’s still a rock, our beacon of stability, and corrupt to the core. He’ll leave Washington that way, sooner or later. Meanwhile, Tom should return to martinis. It might do his little Grinch-heart some good and it sure as hell can’t hurt.”

So here’s to Tom leaving Washington feet first, politically speaking, but let us hope not too soon.  We need his party-defining presence for the next election cycle.

Comments

[Himself]

I used to think the sooner The Bugman was run out of office on a rail the better. But I now agree he needs to stay through the 2006 elections. After all, as soon as he leaves office, he'll go to work in a K Street sweatshop pulling down 7 figures a year.

[Mighty Mike]

RE sweatshop - let him. At least he won't be in any sort of governmental role - 'cept for the money he spends lobbying other conservatives, of course.

[Ron]

What about using a real Texas Federal Court that is not corrupt to despense true law and order and get Tom like Capone for tax evading? Also the rest of his family and the rest of these Fox Nazi's like Bush and Perry and all the other Texas creeps! Huntsville has a lot of room on death row for all of them! No feeding tubes allowed there!

[Debra McDaniel]

Personally I can't wait for this man to met his maker, only because his maker definitly won't be the same maker of the rest of us. He is so corrupt that I need Rolaid every time I read a story about him. I just can't believe people in America still support the SOB.

[kerry aldrich]

Delay is a representation of the cancer of greed which infects US. It's like a mushroom with mycelia under the ground connecting the fruits which show above. What really bugs me is that some portion of americans think enough of people like this to vote for them. How can this be?

[penny]

To Tom de Lay: HAVE YOU NO SHAME??!!!

[Robert O'Donnell]

Remember: First and foremost-this man wants to become President and will use any method at his disposal to do it.
Second He was an exterminator and uses his background to kill bugs(people he considers in his way).
I am living in Texas and want you to know that not everyone here has lost their brains.

[Ronnie Curtis]

Him and the bush administration, proof that it's never be too late for an abortion, even retroactive.

[karenas]

I agree, bo back to the martinis, the hot tub and the bug smashing, your true passions, Mr. Delay.

[wysiwyg]

As long as he has enough money and influence to have his declarations of piety broadcast across the country he will retain his core support.

His supporters, like most of todays Republicans, can't allow themselves to accept that any of the accusations of wrongdoing have any truth to them because doing so would cause their whole world view to start to unravel.

[La Mouche]

DeLay is only a small example of an entire system that is corrupt.

[La Mouche]

DeLay is only a small example of an entire system that is corrupt.

[JoAnne Krieger]

Delay is just one of many. In political offices, in business offices, in churches and baseball stadiums...everywhere. No offense here guys, but if the shoe fits put it on damn it. (I meant that in a loving way!):

http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/05/03/int05011.html