Tom DeLay, Who Else?

Try as we might, we here at "A Better Nation" cannot today resist saying just a few things about Tom DeLay, who today stepped down as majority leader of the House.

DeLay's stepping down is sort of like Michael Brown resigning from FEMA; Brown is still on the payroll at full pay. And so, of course, is Tom DeLay, as long as he remains a Representative employed by the United States taxpayers.

DeLay may be a more suave power wrangler than his nickname, "The Hammer," might imply. But he certainly seemed to earn the title as he launched into his remarks, obviously feeling that the best defense is a hammering offense. Here's how DeLay opened his remarks (well worth reading, especially for those of you who are snake oil salesmen or FEMA wannabees considering a run for office). DeLay today:

Good afternoon. Thank you all for attending.

This morning, in an act of blatant political partisanship, a rogue district attorney in Travis County, Texas, named Ronnie Earle charged me with one count of criminal conspiracy: a reckless charge wholly unsupported by the facts.

This is one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history. It's a sham and Mr. Earle knows it.

It's a charge that cannot hold up even under the most glancing scrutiny.

This act is the product of a coordinated, premeditated campaign of political retribution; the all-too-predictable result of a vengeful investigation led by a partisan fanatic.

Mr. Earle is abusing the power of his office to exact personal revenge for the role I played in the Texas Republican legislative campaign in 2002 and my advocacy for a new, fair and constitutional congressional map for our state in 2003.

Now, as I said months ago, in a post about DeLay in the first week of this blog last November, DeLay is innocent. He is innocent until proven guilty. We don't decide. A jury decides. So the questions are: Does the grand jury have a good case? Is District Attorney Ronnie Earle right to press the charges? Was DeLay himself personally, directly involved? If it's murky, he may not be found guilty, end of case.

But so many (even in his own party) consider DeLay smarmy, in general. And these days, he'll have coat tails that smell of sleeze spirit.

In his announcement today, DeLay said that district attorney Ronnie Earle's case against him was "an act of blatant political partisanship," saying Earle himself was a "partisan fanatic." But whose record really smacks of blatant political partisanship? Whose career of "public service" reeks of fanatical partisanship? Who's been the 'reckless' 'rogue'?

Ah, there, the jury is already in: Tom DeLay takes the cake.

He may now have to eat it, too.

...