DeLay'd reaction

DeLay under siege

Poor Tommy. It seems that the public just doesn't understand him. He's been lambasted relentlessly lately, and he's been strangely silent in his defense of these charges of corruption, influence peddling, and illegal campaign finance practices.

Now he wants to come clean. Not with his constituents, but with the Republican leadership. In a closed door session, he laid out his defense plan. Unfortunately, it's not available to the general public. Does this sound like the actions of an innocent man?

He claims to be the victim of a left-wing smear campaign. Well, yeah, when a right-wing fundamentaloid makes it his mission to impose his will on the public in general and the legislature specifically, the opposition is going to try to find inconsistencies in his modus operandi. And find inconsistencies they did, exposing illegal pandering and influence peddling on a wide spread basis.

He's managed to get rid of the head Republican on the House Ethics Committee who had the gall to question his ethics, and now the Ethics Committee is in a stalemate on how to handle the situation.

So now we're waiting for Tommy to defend himself. He asked his fellow Republicans to be patient while he figures out how to spin his tale. We'll have to monitor this situation, since his brethren aren't talking at the moment.

But I think Trent Lott said it best when he advised DeLay:

“strap it on, baby, because you are fixing to get it."