Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200
Interesting. It's been 12 hours since Tom Delay made the announcement that he's quitting the House of Representatives. That's an eternity in the blogosphere. Yet so far there has been only one post on the subject from the post-crazy kids over at The Corner, and it comes from an unusually terse Jonah Goldberg:
I've never been much invested in the Tom Delay beat, but I figure someone around here has got to say
something. So let me just say it's good news. Next?
Nice try, Jonah.
Remember, up until now the GOP line has been that there was nothing at all to the Delay charges. It was all a partisan witch hunt. Ronny Earle was painted as a mad dog prosecuter, a partisan hack who was out of control. So it's understandable that the wingers are a little uncertain about how to spin this now.
They know Delay was becoming a political liability, but they have never publicly admitted it.
With the guilty plea of Tony Rudy, Delay's former deputy chief of staff, the jig was up. The partisan-witch-hunt line wasn't selling anymore.
With Delay out of the race, it's more likely the Republicans will retain his seat. But I don't think the Republicans are celebrating. Delay's resignation was a tacit admission of guilt; he knew that Rudy wouldn't have plead guilty unless he had cut a deal with prosecutors to hand Delay over.
Delay has simply cemented the theme of a corrupt House leadership, rife with guys who are one step ahead of the warden. And the pay-for-play political machine he built is still chugging away, still being tended by the GOP leadership.
