About one thing, that gaggle of ultras and moneymen rising to David Keene’s call to save Tom DeLay is right: it doesn’t stop with DeLay. And not just because Democrats wouldn’t want it to, which goes without saying.
Much depends on whether DeLay gets nailed on particular instances of criminal conduct. But he isn’t a Majority Leader who happens, possibly, also to be corrupt. The GOP Majority in the House is built on his corrupt practices, his money machine. They define its modes of operation and priorities.
The oft-mentioned Jack Abramoff may be the prime examplar of that species of Washington operator — Homo bagmanus. But there are so many more, all cogs in the DeLay machine.
I don’t mean that the Democrats would be in the majority if it weren’t for DeLay (though it is worth noting that the Republicans only made their modest advances in the House last year because of the criminal conduct DeLay’s lieutenants employed in Texas to get the state redistricted). But the cash-n-carry rules he’s used to run the House have compromised most of the leadership of the caucus as well as many of its marginal members. DeLay has built a political machine that runs on corrupt, pay-for-play money — it’s the water that floats the river boats he makes run on time.
What about Rep. Bob Ney (R) of Ohio, who is knee-deep in the Abramoff/Scanlon Indian tribe shakedown? He’s chairman of the Committee on House Administration. How about the Ethics Committee which was purged of all three Republican members who wouldn’t change conference rules to help DeLay deal with impending criminal indictments.
They’re right. It doesn’t end with DeLay. He and the House Republican party are one and the same.
