WH on DeLay: Farewell to “Ally”

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The White House had kind but distant words for the former majority leader this morning. But it’s hard to tell exactly how sad they are to see him go.

Bush confirmed he chatted with Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) last night, who informed him of his decision. “My reaction was, it had to have been a very difficult decision for someone who loved representing his district in Texas,” Bush said. “Congressman DeLay has been a good ally with whom the president has worked to get things done for the people,” spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

Ally, indeed. “DeLay’s relationship with President Bush is not a warm one,” Congressional Quarterly notes in its annual profile of DeLay. “[A]t times he has stood in the way of Bush’s agenda.”

Bush ran hot and cold on DeLay, although recently he’s been more cold than anything else. As TomPaine.com noted in February, “Tom DeLay doesn’t attend White House briefings anymore.”

Latest Muckraker
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: