Well, Sam Rosenfeld at TAPPED gets it completely backward:
The much-cited Wall Street Journal editorial attacking DeLay hadme panicked that Democrats and their allies might actually succeed insecuring the Hammer?s imminent fall, which would prove utterlydisastrous for the prospects of nationalizing the 2006 mid-termelections with a reformist message that could topple many Republicans.
So, he wants DeLay to stick around so that the Democrats can run against him in ’06.
Folks … that is insane. It is the kind of shortsighted thinking that has led to our failures since 1994, which boils down every news cycle to "Good for the Dems/Bad for the Dems", and assumes that things will stay static until the next election. It is unprincipled, not to mention a huge risk: What if DeLay survived, and came back stronger than ever? Disaster.
It’s not worth it to try to keep him around so that the Democrats can run against him. If we can’t make a national case for reform — with or without having Tom DeLay to kick around — then we don’t deserve to win. We want more out of Congress than just more Democrats; if we want real reform, we’ve got to get rid of the anti-reformers.
Tom DeLay is a bad guy. I don’t want bad guys in Congress. He’s drowning — now throw him an anvil.
(Here’s a good discussion of the hopefully ensuing Passion of Tom DeLay.)
(Argh. No biscuit for Oliver Willis, either.)
the-troll says
Right you are Chaley. “Good for Dem, Bad for Dems.”Not the way to do it. Dems need to run people and not candidates carrying the party banner. Repubs run people, not party. Little, but signuficant differnce. We run stepford wife like dem candidates.
marriage-equality-mass says
Totally agree with you. Sad thing is, people might get confused by this guy who’s clearly lacking so much confidence in what he stands for, that he (like the Bushies) needs a “bad guy” to focus on… even if Tom DeLay was out, wouldn’t Bush, Santorum, Frist, Lott, Hastert, Thune, Coburn, Gonzalez, Dums-feld, Rice, and psycho Bunning be enough??
chuck says
DeLay is an insect that should be crushed by the opposition. Problem is: No-one seems to know how to do it. Ethics mean nothing in Sugarland apparently, and the guy is so beholden to big business that even HE doesn’t know how to stop. But he IS a trophy. Like Tom Daschle was to the Neo-Cons. If we take this guy out, it’s just a matter of time on the others…without the “hammer” to protect them.