Making An Offer They Can`t Refuse

The Evans-Novak Report has a piece postulating the end for Tom Delay. It looks like our fearless friends in the Republican Party are running for cover over Delay, and are prepared to throw him overboard to protect their shivering skins. What cowards they are!

You know what the Democrats would do if the situation were reversed? They would bring prosecutor Ronnie Earl up on ethics charges, or even indict him for racketeering. The Democrats understand power politics, and they will not allow one of their own to be trampled, lest another of their own meets a similar fate. Basically, the Democrats are a mafia family, one who`s area of interest is government rather than unions or gambling or prostitution (well, that one`s debatable). They operate like the mob, and they understand the manipulations of pure power as opposed to moral behavior for the sake of electability. OF COURSE they will find a corrupt prosecutor to indict a high ranking Republican! They`ll do it again if it works-which is why it must be squashed immediately.

There is the problem; the Republicans will let this sort of thing work over and over. Remember former Interior Secretary James Watt? Remember Bork? Shoot, we can go back to people like Spiro Agnew and Tricky Dick himself. (Keep in mind that Saint Hillary Rodham, while working as a lawyer on the impeachment panel of the Judiciary Committee argued against the confirmation of Gerald Ford as Nixon`s veep so that the Democrat Speaker of the House would become President.) Power. That is what they understand, and that is what they crave. Cost is no object; if some people must be personally destroyed, if the the Nation has to suffer, so be it!

I am reminded of this bit of dialogue from Mario Puzo`s novel The Godfather;

``Hagen went on ``I`ll give you some more straight talk. After the Don died, Mike was set up to be killed. Do you know who set him up? Tessio. So Tessio had to be killed. Carlo had to be killed. Because treachery can`t be forgiven. Michael could have forgiven it, but people never forgive themselves, so they would always be dangerous... They would have been a danger to us all, all of our lives.``

This is how the `Loyal Opposition` thinks; to the Democrat Cosca, an enemy of Delay`s caliber must be destroyed. This is kill or be killed politics.

When will the Republicans understand that weakness invites attack?


For the first time in several months, Republicans in Congress have both accomplished something and scored political points in the same week. They came up big with a vote on the Iraq War designed to embarrass Democrats, and with passage of a cost-saving budget. But there was an embarrassing failure as well.

Also, two key House members have begun soliciting support among their colleagues for a run at the GOP leadership this January. This confirms the sense among some House Republicans that the end is near for Rep. Tom DeLay (R), who was forced to step down as majority leader about three months ago.

Leadership Elections: Representatives John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.) are calling members on the Hill, courting votes as they plot to run as a team for the House leadership in January. Boehner, who has long sought to return to a leadership position and has said he will retire if he does not become Speaker, would probably be challenging Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) for majority leader, and Reynolds would seek the majority whip position, now held by Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor. Other contenders could emerge, however, such as Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.).

The belief that leadership elections will occur in the new session stems from a feeling that DeLay is history, and that the problems he faces in the indictment of lobbyist Jack Abramoff could be fatal for both for him and his allies in the House. The damage could spill over to House Republicans generally if he returns to leadership.

The need for new elections may also have been spelled out by the embarrassing failure last week of the Health, Education and Labor appropriations bill. The bill, which would have frozen spending in these areas, fell short by eight votes. Call this a second victory for Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle (D), whose indictment of DeLay in a campaign finance matter forced him out of his position.

Still, DeLay will not likely give up that easily. He is trying to have a quick trial in Austin, and he clearly still had a hand in some of the House GOP's recent successes, including the budget bill.