DeLay, Radical Christians and the Republican Party

Back in the good old days when the Republican party was run by pro business, anti government, anti social programs, economic conservatives the party recognized it needed some help to get back in power. Starting with Lee Attwater they started recruiting the un-Christian Christian white bigots in the South, what was later to morph into the evangelical movement. It worked, maybe too well. The Republicans are in charge of the country but the evangelical Christians are in charge of the party. Many of the old economic conservatives now see the radical Christian control of the party as a threat to the party itself including the Wall Street Journal editorial board. Perhaps no one better represents the new Republican Party than Tom (the bugman) DeLay. His total lack of ethics is an embarrassment even to the normally corrupt Texas politicians. What DeLay lacks in ethics he makes up for with hubris. The Terri Schiavo event is a case in point. In spite of overwhelming evidence the 70 to 80 percent of the US population opposed federal intervention DeLay continues to rant and threaten those responsible for Terri's "murder". It is becoming obvious that the longer the Republicans wait to remove DeLay's feeding tube the more likely it will be that they will lose the House in 2006.

The White House actions in regards to DeLay will perhaps be the most telling. Karl Rove may be lower than pond scum but he's not stupid. It may be Rove who ultimately pulls Tom's feeding tube. A quick call to Rupert Murdoch telling him it's time for FOX news to turn on Tom would do it. I'm sure that Rove does not relish the idea of a Democrat controlled House for dubya's final two years. They might even start investigating some of the administration's lies and deceptions. We will know that DeLay is through when FOX turns on him at the request of Karl Rove.