Tom DeLay is a certified stinker

[Robbien]

THE LATE Okie troubadour Roger Miller sang about a man who treated his wife so shabbily that, during her testimony in divorce court, his own lawyer shot him a dirty look. That's when you know you're in for it. Poor Tom DeLay.

The House majority leader is now being pilloried by the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, whose specialties include cleansing right-wing lepers. But earlier this week, the Journal lit into the Texas Republican for a series of improprieties involving free-spending lobbyists, trips that Henry and Myrtle have to save 40 years to take, and Mr. DeLay's keen interest in legislation that the lobbyists who allegedly sprang for the junkets happened to be pushing. The Journal castigated Mr. DeLay as "the living exemplar" of some of Big Government's "worst habits."

The indictment, alas, fell short. In counting Mr. DeLay's ethical shortcomings, the editorial confined itself to his cowabunga dives into what is nonetheless conventional Beltway sleaze. His truly inspired offense against the Republic, in our view, was his engineering of a special redistricting in the Texas legislature before the 2010 Census--a novel gerrymandering ensuring GOP dominance of both Austin and Texas' congressional delegation. Now in-parties elsewhere are following suit, redrawing political boundaries in a way that robs voters of real choice as it enthrones incumbents.

What he has taken from democracy, however, Mr. DeLay has added to national unity: Here is a Texas Republican all can despise.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/042005/04012005/1720114

[lthuedk]

1. The Pimp Canonizes DeLay

Regards,

Stephen Pitt