Black Wednesday

A rainy day for the GOP

September 28, 2005 will be seen as the day, Black Wednesday, the first day of the death of the conservative movement.

Tom DeLay's fall from grace is no small thing. In some ways, it's more important than Karl Rove facing trial. DeLay ran a network of influence peddling which ran from K Street to the Texas Lege. To get him under oath, and he's shitting his pants now, could mean the end of GOP rule. Naked corruption is a bad thing in American politics, especially when it reaches into the White House. And this does.

People may want to pretend that DeLay is a victim here, but the thing about courtrooms and jails, they make people squeal like pigs. Does anyone think DeLay will go to jail alone?

The problem is when Earle gets the small fry, the messengers and secretaries who will confirm the details. the corporate execs who will do the same. A "great man" like DeLay doesn't notice them, but Earle does.

But this is just the latest disaster to befall the GOP.

It's a culture of corruption which spreads from Baghdad to Washington to Texas. It's cronyism and incompetence for all to see. It's cowardice on display.

Take a hard look at George Bush. He looks more beaten and hollow with each appearance. That swagger is replaced by a nervous smirk. He fumbles his words with hesitancy. Whether he's drinking or not, he's under a lot of visible stress. He's failing and he knows it. It's the past come back with a vengence.

And now, Bush is facing the loss of the Hammer, just not for now, but permenantly. Why? Because the trial won't happen until next year, and by then, Jack Abramhoff may be facing charges a lot more serious than bribery. Seems they found some bodies attached to a scandal he was involved in. DeLay would need a serious miracle to recover from this and a serious race in Texas 22.

What I don't think people see is this: once you start having scandal after scandal, you start to bleed political power. DeLay's indictment and Frist's SEC problems (the kind you NEVER want) mean that an independent Katrina commision will be formed. Also, Social Security theft is now dead. Bush lost his main Congressional allies, after all Hastert does nothing but say stupid things on camera. And Roy Blunt has his own ethical problems.

People have been jumping on the Dems for being slow to act, except they haven't. They've just picked their shots. And they can pick a lot more with First and DeLay jumping through legal hoops. The Congressional GOP is basically leaderless. Just wait until Blunt stands on his hind legs and makes sure that DeLay's vacation is permanent, which he will, if he has the smarts of a Missuori mule. The GOP Civil War is coming. It's taken a few months, but the GOP, in two weeks, have been placed on the defensive.

And the best part is that it doesn't matter if DeLay is convicted. By the time that all plays out, his seat will be in danger.

posted by Steve @ 1:13:00 AM