CNN: in private Bush never that close to DeLay (CNN has no shame)

Never a Texas two-step

By MATTHEW COOPER, MIKE ALLEN


Monday, January 9, 2006; Posted: 4:01 p.m. EST (21:01 GMT)

When legal and ethical questions began spinning around House majority leader Tom DeLay last year, President George W. Bush was publicly supportive. Privately, though, he questioned his fellow Texan's mojo. Bush had scored 10 points higher than DeLay in the Representative's district in 2004, and that was only after Bush had recorded a telephone message to help rally local Republicans. "I can't believe I had to do robocalls for him," the President said bitingly to an Oval Office visitor.

To people who know Bush well, the remark said it all about the longtime chill between the two pols -- a distance that is only sure to grow with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty plea. Both camps describe the two conservative Texan's relationship as professional -- an alliance, not a friendship. "DeLay admires Bush's leadership but still thinks of himself as the strongest conservative on the block," a DeLay friend says. "They perceive DeLay as a bull in a china shop. They appreciate him as their protector and retriever." Like many of his colleagues on Capitol Hill, DeLay suffers under what officials call this Administration's general lack of respect for Congress. But he is also in the unique position of being the most prominent modern Republican politician in Texas to rise without the help of White House senior adviser Karl Rove, and the two have never been close. "Karl thinks of him as someone a little bit too opinionated for his own good," says an official close to both men. "And DeLay thinks of Karl as a former mail vendor, not some great guru."

Even before DeLay's announcement that he would abdicate his leadership post, top Bush advisers tell TIME, the President's inner circle always treated DeLay as a necessary burden. He may have had an unmatched grip on the House and Washington lobbyists, but DeLay is not the kind of guy -- in background and temperament -- the President feels comfortable with. Of the former exterminator, a Republican close to the President's inner circle says, "They have always seen him as beneath them, more blue collar. He's seen as a useful servant, not someone you would want to vacation with."

During Bush's first run for the presidency, that uneasy relationship was already on display. Eager to establish himself as a compassionate conservative, Bush took an oblique shot at DeLay while campaigning in California in 1999, saying of House Republicans, "I don't think they ought to balance their budget on the backs of the poor." DeLay never got a major speaking role at either of Bush's conventions. Still, the White House has had no qualms about using him to advance its agenda, and he has delivered. Without DeLay's deftness as the Hammer, Bush could have lost battles over the energy bill, the establishment of a new Medicare prescription-drug benefit and the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

more...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/09/texas.tm/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Rove: White House 'strongly' behind DeLay

Bush aide says embattled House majority leader 'a close ally'
Monday, April 18, 2005 Posted: 9:31 PM EDT (0131 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House stands "strongly" behind Tom DeLay amid ethical questions over the House majority leader's fund- raising and overseas trips, deputy chief of staff Karl Rove said Monday.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/18/rove.delay/

DeLay indicted, steps down as majority leader

House leader calls charges 'sham'; Blunt picked as replacement

Thursday, September 29, 2005 Posted: 1314 GMT (2114 HKT)

Snip...

White House spokesman Scott McClellan praised DeLay as "a leader who we have worked closely with to get things done for the American people" and a "good ally" of President Bush. Asked about the charges, McClellan said, "The president's view is that we need to let the legal process work."


http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/28/delay.indict/