"The Hammer" has become "The Quitter"

Houston Chronicle
Editorial

Out like a lamb

During his two-decade climb to the powerful position of House majority leader, Sugar Land's Tom DeLay fashioned a reputation as a combative and controlling legislator who used party loyalty and the cash clout of his political action committees to bend his Republican colleagues to his will. DeLay could also claim credit for fueling a statewide campaign that enabled the GOP to capture the Texas House and enact a congressional redistricting plan that boosted Republican control of the U.S. House. Thus his decision this week to take his name off the ballot — almost certainly surrendering the seat to Democrat Nick Lampson — is a conclusion to his congressional career that no one could have anticipated. Like a schoolyard bully, DeLay's bravado fell apart when confronted by authority.

Surrendering his seat in Congress and abandoning his campaign for re-election — after soundly defeating three opponents in the primary — is but the latest blow DeLay has dealt himself and his party. His low regard for the rules brought him repeated reprimands from the bipartisan congressional ethics committee. After DeLay's political action committees used corporate donations to affect the outcome of Texas House races, a Travis County grand jury indicted him on campaign finance charges. When he resigned from Congress, DeLay said he did not wish to be the focus of Democratic attempts to portray him as the embodiment of all that was wrong with Congress. DeLay had given his opponents plenty to work with. It was DeLay who promoted the "K Street strategy" that used lobbyists and their money to forward his pro-business agenda. It was DeLay and his aides who allied themselves with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who really does embody the worst aspects of congressional politics.

DeLay watched from the sidelines as the Texas GOP unsuccessfully tried to replace him on the ballot. In a lawsuit filed by Democratic Party officials, a federal appeals court ruled that the GOP could not name a replacement candidate; Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia refused to review the judgment. DeLay then pulled the plug on his candidacy, ostensibly to clear the way for a futile write-in campaign. "To do anything else would be hypocrisy," the former congressman said in a non sequitur that displayed his disdain for his onetime constituents.

The former congressman, who engineered a Republican majority in the Texas House, probably has reduced the number of U.S. House seats Democrats need to regain a majority. He owes residents of District 22 a fuller explanation of his behavior. Whatever his reasons for cutting and running, Tom DeLay will never again be seen in the same light by either friends or foes. As a constituent labeled DeLay in a letter to the Chronicle, it seems "The Hammer" has become "The Quitter."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/4106498.html

Bye bye DeLay!!

for the thousands of voters who just love him. I hope he gets slapped with a lawsuit by the repugs he deceived when he ran in the primary while knowing full well he was going to quit.

and it showed his negatives were too high...so rather than being creamed in the election he dropped out. He is a chickenshit besides a chickenhawk.