Rossputin.com Rational Thinking About Our World

see "Officials: DeLay Won't Seek Re-Election" (AP via Yahoo, 4/3/06)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060404/ap_on_el_ho/delay

Unnamed "officials" are announcing that Tom DeLay is dropping out of his upcoming re-election race and will resign from the House of Representatives.

I hear a collective sigh of relief from Republicans...at least the smart ones.

The man known as "The Hammer" was a truly effective fund-raiser and arm-twister on key votes. But he represented much that was wrong with the GOP even before being tainted by ties to Jack Abramoff.

The precipitating event for DeLay's decision was the agreement of his former staffer Tony Rudy to plead guilty in the Abramoff corruption investigation. It seems that much more likely that DeLay will get in real trouble despite his protestations of innocence, and despite his likely innocence of the campaign finance charges filed by the politically-motivated Travis County district attorney against him.

Tom DeLay was a stain on the GOP and a cloud over the upcoming elections. It is good news for the country that he is resigning and good news for the GOP that he is doing so well in advance of the November elections.

[Michelle Malkin has some excellent reporting on this story at http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004919.htm]