Tom Delay Must Go

What do you get when you cross a whole bunch of PAC money with some foreign travel, a little nepotism, snake oil and a lot of self-righteous religiosity? Tom Delay. That over-zealous little devil is up to his exisiting tricks again, this time on the hotseat for using lobbysists' money for overseas trips and for allegedly laundering $500,000 from his PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority, or Armpac, into the hands of his wife and daughter. Delay's blatant disregard for Congressional ethics, the judiciary process and, quite frankly, the U.S. Constitution, is a disgrace to our political system and a stain on America. He is one of the most ruthless, calculating, polarizing, power-hungry politicians in modern history, and he needs to be stripped of his House GOP leadership post. But will his fellow Republicans do it? Not a chance. They're either too afraid, too in awe, or both. Too afraid because, if you you don't support his initiatives, Delay will commit political homicide. His standard m.o. is to "primary" Republicans who resist his votes, threatening to throw his support to the challenger in the next primary. He also quite effectively dangles the committee chairmanship carrot as a bargaining chip to get his way. And others, the fanatic Christian conservative base of the party, love the vitriole and venom he spews on the hot-button wedge issues like judicial appointments, abortion, gay marriage and Terri Schiavo. Delay's a downright hero to the head Jesus freaks like the Bush Brothers, Frist and Santorum, for whom he does the dirty work but whose hands never get dirty themselves. One day though, he will go too far even for them, and he'll implode. And they'll finally toss him to the curb like the trash he is, but not until he's finished the job (sometime right after the mid-terms perhaps). Right now he's pretty damn good to have around, as he is to the religious right what steriods are to Bobby Bonds. So what's an angry Democrat to do? We can mobilize. We can make noise. We can donate money to help pay for the anti-Delay ads. We can sign petitions and we can demand that our leaders in Congress bring his reign of terror to an end. Visit web sites like MoveOn.org, WithoutDelay.org, OurFuture.org and American Progress.org to take action. Let's strap a bullseye on his back like the Republican's did with Tom "the Obstructionist" Daschle. It's time for Tom "the Law Breaker" Delay to go. Andy