The Party of Morals

I distrust an immediate morality, it involves too much bad faith, all the tepidness of ignorance.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980), French philosopher

Another egregious example of hypocrisy from the GOP of morals. Wednesday, Republican House Representatives banded together to allow the Majority Leader Tom DeLay to remain as leader even if indicted in an investigation of campaign finance violations. This is what a perceived mandate will get you.

According to the magazine Mother Jones, DeLay became majority whip and then majority leader by raising massive sums of money -- a total of $12.6 million between 2000 and 2002 alone -- and by strategically spending it on Republican candidates, in effect buying the loyalty of his colleagues. He has frightened K Street, demanding loyalty and contributions from lobbyists in return for favorable treatment.

One report said that he threaten any lobbyist firms that hired former staff from defeated Democratic Senate Leader Tom Daschle. And that is not an empty threat, according to the Mother Jones article DeLay has derailed legislation to punish a lobbyist firm. The Misanthrope views this not simply as power-grab tactics, but more like mobsters fighting over trash pick-up territories.

Unfortunately, for DeLay, the Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle, 62, has been serving the public for 27 years, and before going after DeLay, he went after misbehaving Democrats. Earle is busy investigating the case and if the evidence warrants it DeLay will be indicted, and most likely rightly so. Despite what Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas) charged as a “partisan crackpot district attorney" who might want to force a House GOP leader to give up a leadership position. Of course, it was Bonilla who instigated the change. He won his district with less than 52 percent of the vote two years ago and 69 percent this year after his district boundaries were changed in a DeLay-engineered Texas redistricting plan. No bias there, huh.

The Misanthrope believes even without absolute power, money and a little power corrupts absolutely.