GOP should drop DeLay as majority leader
It been heartening the past few days to hear a few Republicans finally voicing public criticism of Rep. Tom DeLay. More should join the chorus. It's time for Republicans to renounce his leadership and choose a more principled and temperate representative as House Majority Leader.
For the past few years GOP members in Congress seem to have been intimidated by the ruthless tactics of the man they call "The Hammer" or overly solicitous of the political infighter they believe can claim much credit for the party's political gains.
Finally, however, matters seem to have reached a tipping point.
On Sunday, Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., said, "Tom's conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election," Shays said.
In a development that shows the changing political climate, the story even made the Fox news Web site. In an even more surprising development earlier, the Wall Street Journal's editorial page — perhaps one of the most conservatively doctrinaire in the country — also took shots at DeLay.
In an editorial titled "Smells Like Beltway," the newspaper said DeLay has odor issues. "His real fault lies in betraying the broader principles that brought him into office, and which, if he continues as before, will sweep him out."
Over the years, DeLay has been criticized three times by the House Ethics Committee. His usual response has been to brush the criticism off as partisan politics led by enemies in the Democratic Party.
Recently, however, DeLay has come under fire for lavish junkets paid for by people for whom DeLay is in position to bestow favors. In 2000, for example, DeLay and other House members and their staffers took a $70,000 trip to the United Kingdom allegedly paid for with funding arranged by lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Adding more tarnish to DeLay's reputation were reports last week that his wife and daughter had been paid almost $500,000 by his political action committee.
Some are questioning whether DeLay has lost his political touch. DeLay helped pull Congress into the battle over Terri Schiavo, and then criticized "a judiciary run amok" and vowed that judges will "answer for their behavior."
From his comments one might conclude that the judges were liberal activists taking law into their own hands. In reality, however, some of them were conservatives like Florida Appellate Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr., appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, who were simply upholding the law as it is now. And polls showed that 80 percent of respondents opposed the attempt by Congress to intervene in the case.
The most imperative reason the Republicans in Congress should renounce DeLay's leadership is not that he is guilty of political miscues, however. It's that his lack of respect for principles and ethics is showing. The Republicans can do much better.
For the past few years GOP members in Congress seem to have been intimidated by the ruthless tactics of the man they call "The Hammer" or overly solicitous of the political infighter they believe can claim much credit for the party's political gains.
Finally, however, matters seem to have reached a tipping point.
On Sunday, Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., said, "Tom's conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election," Shays said.
In a development that shows the changing political climate, the story even made the Fox news Web site. In an even more surprising development earlier, the Wall Street Journal's editorial page — perhaps one of the most conservatively doctrinaire in the country — also took shots at DeLay.
In an editorial titled "Smells Like Beltway," the newspaper said DeLay has odor issues. "His real fault lies in betraying the broader principles that brought him into office, and which, if he continues as before, will sweep him out."
Over the years, DeLay has been criticized three times by the House Ethics Committee. His usual response has been to brush the criticism off as partisan politics led by enemies in the Democratic Party.
Recently, however, DeLay has come under fire for lavish junkets paid for by people for whom DeLay is in position to bestow favors. In 2000, for example, DeLay and other House members and their staffers took a $70,000 trip to the United Kingdom allegedly paid for with funding arranged by lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Adding more tarnish to DeLay's reputation were reports last week that his wife and daughter had been paid almost $500,000 by his political action committee.
Some are questioning whether DeLay has lost his political touch. DeLay helped pull Congress into the battle over Terri Schiavo, and then criticized "a judiciary run amok" and vowed that judges will "answer for their behavior."
From his comments one might conclude that the judges were liberal activists taking law into their own hands. In reality, however, some of them were conservatives like Florida Appellate Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr., appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, who were simply upholding the law as it is now. And polls showed that 80 percent of respondents opposed the attempt by Congress to intervene in the case.
The most imperative reason the Republicans in Congress should renounce DeLay's leadership is not that he is guilty of political miscues, however. It's that his lack of respect for principles and ethics is showing. The Republicans can do much better.
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