DeLay's days had long been numbered

Departure highlights problems within Republican Party

WASHINGTON -- Imagine that: Tom DeLay speaking truth to power.
“We don't have an agreed agenda,” DeLay told a group of sympathetic reporters this week. “Breaking up our leadership has taken its toll.”

Self-serving? Absolutely. DeLay is saying the Republicans have been in a mess ever since he stopped being majority leader. But with his comment on the GOP's agenda shortfall, The Hammer hit the nail on the head.

DeLay's fall is not the moment's most striking political event. His departure could be foreseen at least a year ago when he apologized for his “inartful” attacks on the federal judiciary after Terri Schiavo's death. Once DeLay was forced to say he was sorry about anything, you knew his days were numbered. No, the most important development is the collapse of purpose in the Republican Party and the sense of exhaustion at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Other than the desperate scramble to make something go right in Iraq, our national government seems to have no energy, no coherence and no sense of direction.

This was brought home to me recently by a very smart Republican consultant whom I had queried about the splits in his party over immigration. He said something surprising: that however divided Republicans were over how to deal with illegal immigrants and border security, at least they were trying to solve a problem. His point was that there aren't many other solutions being proffered in Washington these days by either side.

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=20612