The
Hammer's consolidation of control was complete; his pink fists clutched tightly to the stings of the purse through which all power flowed. When he said "I am the government" he wasn't just high on expensive cigars.
So first of all, we should all take a bow. If you wrote a letter or signed a petition or sent along an article to a friend, take a bow. Then an encore. Then another. Because in Texas Monthly, Paul Burka
reminds us -
A feeding frenzy engulfed DeLay with such intensity that the public came to regard him as a cartoon character: a one-dimensional caricature of the corrupt, devil-may-care pol. They saw him as a crook. A cheat. A right-wing fanatic whose motivation never changed. Like Elmer Fudd, he wanted only to kill the wascally wabbit (who pwesumably was a Democrat). An entire industry sprang up—manned not just by leftist operatives but also bloggers, investigative reporters, and watchdog groups—for the purpose of shining a light on his and his associates’ every move....
There's some very good news here. Wonderful news, really. Ronnie Earle, Texan and able nemesis, says things like this to a room full lobbyists:
“Corporations are not people. They are things that exist solely for profit with, in the words of Judge Learned Hand, ‘neither an arse to kick nor a soul to damn.’
“I submit to you today that the problem is the corruption of representative democracy by large amounts of money, both corporate and private. It would surprise no one that the root of all evil of our political system is money. Large moneyed interests pay $10,000, $25,000, and up for ‘face time’ with a powerful politician so that big corporations and rich individuals can get special deals. But there’s no face time for John and Jane Citizen, who are raising three kids, holding down two jobs apiece, and they have no health insurance. Something is wrong with this picture. It is corrupt. It is a corruption made possible by corporate money. We must do something about corporate money in politics… . It is our job—our fight—to rescue democracy from the money that has captured it.”
Tingly? Me too :blush:
That's the kind of thing that makes you think maybe this might still be America.
But even now, in this expansive epitaph that recounts Bugboy's multitude of sins, both large and larger, there's a whiff of profit for him as he preens for his New Life-
“When I was elected to Congress, I was a self-centered jerk,” DeLay told Time in the April 3 interview in which he revealed his intention to give up his seat. He went on to relate the tale of his religious conversion, of how a Republican colleague went door-to-door to visit each freshman, invite him to Bible study, and show a James Dobson video called Where’s Daddy? “And every bad thing he was talking about was me,” DeLay said. “That’s when I came back to Christ....”
Then, without the first reference to the theological paradox, the
very next paragraph begins:
He had acquired a taste for power and position, and his timing was perfect....
Now I don't want to be too judgemental here. People of faith can be leaders and some of the
effects of leadership could be tagged as "power and position". Those may be naturally occuring results. However, who can square a thirst for power with any part of the religion that Tommy So Over is ramping up to exploit? The first shall be the last, baby.
Wherever he goes next, his influence can still be controlled. No matter how many times Blitzer embraces Falwell or Robertson as the voices of American religion, the public doesn't see them that way. Less than half of
evangelicals have a favorable opinion of the pair. Among non-evangelicals they're in Crashcart territory.
In Tom DeLay territory!
So Over
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