Tom DeLay Era Ends

You won't have DeLay to kick around anymore...

The Democrats have to be very unhappy about this.

WASHINGTON -- Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will announce that he will not seek re-election to Congress and will not finish his current term, sources told FOX News late Monday.

The Texas Republican may make a farewell speech on Tuesday via video on his Web site with a transcript included. DeLay will resign his seat effective in the late spring or summer after the House Appropriations Committee, of which DeLay is a member, is done with its business, a high level Republican source said.

...In interviews Monday with The Galveston County Daily News and Time magazine, DeLay said his decision was best for his district, and internal polling numbers contributed to his decision to step down.

"Even though I thought I could win, it was a little too risky," DeLay said.

So, the Dems have lost one of their favorite pinatas.

No doubt Howard Dean and the lib media will claim victory and cheer DeLay's departure, but they have to be sorry to see him go.

If DeLay chose to fight for his seat, he would have been much more useful to the Dems. They would have continued to demonize him, setting him up as the embodiment of the evil, corrupt Republican Party.

In April 2005, I wrote about DeLay as the new Newt.

In the 1996 elections, it seemed as if every Democrat in America was running against Newt Gingrich. With the mainstream media as their messengers, the Dems turned Gingrich into the Great Satan.

At the time, I remember thinking, "What does Gingrich have to do with my state's senate race?" Even in the presidential race, it looked like Clinton's opponent was Gingrich rather than Bob Dole.

Wisely, DeLay has announced that he's stepping aside -- a nightmare for Dem strategists.

Time interview

(Excerpt)

TIME: Your smiling mug shot—what made you think of that and what do you think the consequence of that has been?

DeLay: Oh, I don't know. I said a little prayer. First of all, you only get one take. It's a very humiliating thing, to be booked. And I said a little prayer before I actually did the fingerprint thing, and the picture. And my prayer was basically: "Let people see Christ through me. And let me smile." Now, when they took the shot, from my side, I thought it was fakiest smile I'd ever given. But through the camera, it was glowing. I mean, it had the right impact. Poor old left couldn't use it at all. They had all kind of things planned, they'd spent a lot of money. It made me feel kind of good that all those plans went down the toilet.



TIME: So what would you do differently?

DeLay: Nothing.

TIME: My last question is a two-part question: What do you THINK your legacy will be, and what would you LIKE your legacy to be?

DeLay: Well, first of all, I'm incredibly proud of the 22nd District, that is a conservative Republican district that has allowed me to advance the conservative agenda and build the Republican Party. I think that, probably, is the legacy. I'm not dead yet, so the legacy is still in the making. And I'm very proud of what we've been able to accomplish, particularly in the time of the majority. And I'm kind of excited about what the future holds and continuing to work for those issues, that world view and that political party.

TIME: But you'll be known for some things that you don't want to be known for?

DeLay: Only by people that I don't care about. [Laughs]

TIME: So you don't think history will have a mixed —

DeLay: I don't care what history writes. What I care about, what's important to me is who I am, what I've done and what I can accomplish in the future. I don't do things, worried about what history might write or what my enemies might write. What I care about it what I believe in and how I conduct myself in fighting for what I believe in.

Nothing bugs the Left more than a man comfortable in his own skin.