He's Back! How Tom DeLay Could Destroy The GOP All Over Again

[babylonsister]

He's Back!

by John Avlon


Into the GOP vacuum comes an even riskier spokesman: Tom DeLay, back from the political dead. John Avlon on why listening to him could destroy the party all over again.


As the Republican Party debates whether it should remake itself as the Party of No-bama or the party of Limbaugh, I’ve got different advice for what remains of the party faithful.

Ask yourself, “What Would Tom DeLay Do?” And then do the opposite.

It’s a gut-check question—easily mass-produced on plastic bracelets that read “WWTDD,” and consultable in a quick fix. Most importantly, it accurately places the blame for the Republicans’ current travails on a dead-end hyper-partisan approach to politics and governance.

More than any other figure, Tom DeLay was responsible for the rise of not just the unprecedented pork-barrel spending that conservatives now blame for their defeats, but also the cronyism and corruption, and the odd combination of religious self-righteousness and amoral political opportunism.

Since his indictment in the fall of 2005, the discredited DeLay kept a mercifully low profile. But recently, “the Hammer” has resurfaced on cable-TV news, positioning himself as the leader of the conservative true believers—saying that President Obama’s “world view is socialism”—and castigating the GOP for losing its way. It’s time for a reality check: Republicans lost their way under his congressional leadership.

More than any other figure, Tom DeLay was responsible for the rise of not just the unprecedented pork-barrel spending that conservatives now blame for their defeats, but also the cronyism and corruption, the odd combination of religious self-righteousness and amoral political opportunism, the enforcement of group-think ideological extremism that leads politicians to mistake partisanship for principle.

more...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-03-08/hes-back/

[valerief]

1. Stop saying dirty words like TD! It's as bad a RS or RL. nt

[Demeter]

2. I Think the GOP Is Setting Itself Up in Direct Competition With

the Comedy Channel, Jon Stewart, and Saturday Night Live.

[NOW tense]

3. "the Hammered" n/t

[BirminghamExaminer]

4. They're already dead

[HillWilliam]

5. Christian? Nobody is mentioning the "miraculous conversions"

resulting from closed-door meetings in his office -- that all led to very lucrative arrangements from pushing nutwing agenda.

Why isn't that sumbitch in jail yet?

[DrDan]

6. the hammer and joe-the-plumber - an unbeatable combination

[struggle4progress]

7. R = W: the gift that keeps on giving

http://img.photobucket.com.nyud.net:8090/albums/v228/displacedtexan/blogstartdatesept232005/delaybushrelationship0109.jpg
http://ascrivenerslament.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html

http://www.tatteredcoat.com.nyud.net:8090/images/tom-delay.jpg
http://www.tatteredcoat.com/archives/2005/09/28/caption-this-photo-76/

[mwb970]

8. There is only one republican leader who hasn't said something butt-stupid in the last two weeks.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

9. Weeeeeeeeelllllll, there they go again...

Someone tell those Bozos to STFU before a punch a hole in my decomposed skull!!!