All Aboard the S.S. DeLay

by rayman

Josh Marshall has a great take on the slow-mo hari kari that movement conservatives are committing by firmly attaching themselves to Boss DeLay:

When DeLay says 'bring it on' to his critics and marshals the full host of movement conservatism to defend him, I can't imagine that worries his critics a wink. I don't say that because these folks are impotent or can't raise a ruckus; they can. It is rather that in purely partisan terms the aim of the people leading the charge against DeLay is to raise his profile, to make him the face of the Republican majority on capitol hill -- with all his full measure of snarl, extremity and venality.

So if DeLay's cronies want to go to war with Public Campaign or the Campaign for America's Future or anyone else, I can't imagine they mind. Because that's just another way to drive home the reality that these groups are trying so hard to demonstrate: that Tom DeLay is the Republican majority -- extreme on a few key 'culture' issues and, beside that, on the block for the highest bidder.

When Democrats go corrupt, they betray their principles. And certainly it's happened enough times. With someone like DeLay, there are no principles to betray. It's just money and power from the git-go. And really that means just power. A cash-and-carry operation.

The thought of someone like Morton Blackwell shepharding his fellow conservatistas toward political oblivion all in the name of rallying around DeLay gives me a warm, tingling feeling inside, y'know? What's interesting is that Republicans had no compunction when it came to tossing aside Bob Livingston, Newt Gingrich, or Trent Lott after their assorted foibles. The fact that they're tenaciously clinging to DeLay, however, buttresses Josh's point that he is the Republican party, beholden to no one, not even the White House. These next few months will provide us with schaudenfraude aplenty, and I'm looking forward to every minute of it.