I just wanted to post this because it's interesting, and I know Josh and like him, he went with me on that voyage-of-the-damned to Scotland. He writes for Redstate.org, a VERY conservative blog.
Josh argues that the last thing the right needs to do is wrap itself around Delay, and thus go down in flames with him. I think Josh is right, about that point at least. In any case, it's interesting to see some conservatives suggesting that Delay should be dumped.
"Conservative leaders across the country are working now to make sure that any politician who hopes to have conservative support in the future had better be in the forefront as we attack those who attack Tom DeLay."
-- Morton Blackwell, 31 March 2005
Good call, Morton. Now that the indictment of the erstwhile House Majority Leader is an accomplished fact, the wisdom of chaining the conservative movement to Tom DeLay is apparent even to the most fervent of the true believers. The fall of Tom DeLay is not merely a parable of hubris in one man: it is the tale of ego begetting ill-judgment in the conservative movement at large.
The pity is that Republicans who care more about their party than about the cult of personality attendant to its key figures have long warned of this day. We knew all along that Tom DeLay was a bully -- ask the Heritage Foundation about his penchant for petty grudges. We knew all along that he was, on a fundamental level, unprincipled -- ask him about the fat in the Federal budget. We knew all along that he was mostly interested in power for its own sake -- recall, please, that he sought a House rules change to protect his leadership position in this very circumstance. And we knew that if it came to an indictment, it would be the end...
