For Whom The Bell Tolls

I've resisted posting anything about the utter collapse of Tom Delay in the face of imminent multiple convictions, because so many other places have been doing such a swell job of slicing and dicing the man. Bu then I read something:

“This whole thing about not kicking someone when they are down is BS – not only do you kick him – you kick him until he passes out – then beat him over the head with a baseball bat – then roll him up in an old rug – and throw him off a cliff into the pounding surf below!!!!” – DeLay right-hand Michael Scanlon (yes, that Michael Scanlon, the Jack Abramoff buddy who used to work for The Hammer) in an email during the Clinton impeachment trial.

As ye sow, so shall ye reap, eh? So pile on, campers! It's what Tom Delay would do!

Campus progress (from whence I obtained that quote) has a great list of top ten Delay quotes. It's a nice compendium of the bile that's been dribbling from this asshat's pie-hole for years.

Tom Delay. Indictment couldn't happen to a nicer guy. The man who, more than any other, is responsible for the Republican K Street project, turning the American government from a run of the mill bed of mild corruption, to a veritable drive-thru shopping center for corporate interests and power brokers, while at the same time crippling the Democratic opposition by forcing donors, many of whom habitually gave donations to both political parties to cover any eventuality, to restrict their donations to Republicans. As well as providing for the softest of landings to operatives who become so tainted and foul that they must leave public life, again, as long as they're Republicans.

To paint it in a brighter picture, Tom may be the inadvertent author of some hope: when all the indictments, jail time, and resign-in-disgrace moments come down and the Wrath is Served, the scope and magnitude of the foul stench he served up faithfully may be enough for the American Electorate to demand publicly financed elections. Delay, Abramoff and the long list of rightwing shills currently being dug out of their stinking holes will serve to prove beyond a shadow of any doubt the corrupting influence of money. Who knows, we may even have the idea that Money = Free Speech discredited for once and all. Even that idea that Corporations are entitled to the same rights as a real breathing Person. But then, I'm an Optimist.

As several websites have pointed out, Delay's most recent scum sucking behavior is actually tied up in his own resignation: he gets to use his campaign war chest for his legal fees. So all the people who donated money to the Republican party, and the money got shifted to Delay, or who donated for his re-election, now get to watch their donations get used for attempting to keep his skiving ass out of the pokey.

It is only now, when the indictments and convictions are coming within nipping distance, that this thuggish arm twisting goon decides to back down. He claims he doesn't want to inflict a dirty campaign on his constituents, which is laughable. Tome Delay, for whom a Dirty Campaign is like water to a fish, has never given a rat's ass about his constituents unless they were corporate donors. In reality, the legal entanglements are coming perilously close to snaring members of his family, which is apparently where Tom's conscience suddenly squirms to life. The smart folks over at FireDogLake make a convincing case that he's setting the stage for a deal which will keep his wife and son out of jail. As has been said, follow the money and the money is oozing out of their pores also. Fellow Travelers in a Caravan of Corporate Whores.

It would be so easy to go one, and to keep slapping that smug bastard to within an inch of his crawling life.
As ever, the Rude One has a nice juxtaposition of the obsequieous brown nosing Tom Delay has received from our MIA Press Corpse throughout his slimy career.


Well, good bye to the BugMan, and Good Riddance. But like any serious Curse, I have a sinking feeling that Tom Delay's appearances in Democracy's nightmares are far from over. The lure and addiction to Power and Violence is far too strong for someone as minimally gifted as Delay- returning to stepping on bugs and pulling the wings off of flies will not give the same frisson. So while we may move on to the Republican Criminal du Jour, rest assured Tom will be finding a new Think Tank stone to hide under or Religious Organization bog to squelch about in, and from which to continue to torment Democracy and Bedevil America.


EDIT: the perfect Picture Here. I'm speechless in admiration.