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Poor Tom DeLay- Innocent Victim of The ‘Politics of Personal Destruction’

Tom DeLay is arguably the man most responsible for turning the (then new) Republican Congress into a pack of greedy, self-serving liars that they became during their tenure as majority stewards of Congress. Yet to listen to Mr. DeLay tell it, he not only never did anything wrong, he’d do it all over again in exactly the same way.

In an interview Tuesday morning on NPR Morning Edition, DeLay admitted that getting his legislation passed through Congress gave him a “rush everytime we won.” Sounds like DeLay was indeed an addict to power and control, but that in and of itself isn’t unusual in politicians. No, what made Tom DeLay a special case was his own insistance that his brand of partisan politics was not only the only right way to go, but that any politician or voter who did not see things his way was an enemy.

Asked about his early life, DeLay talked about his disfunctional family and how it taught him to “rely on others” and that it helped him “learn to reach out.” By others, I assume he means corporate lobbyists and by reach out he must mean threaten and coerce.

When asked about his habit of turning away Democratic lobbyists, DeLay answered, “Why would I want to meet with the enemy?” NPR’s Steve Inskeep replied, “Well, some might say, “Maybe because he’s an American interested in helping the country.” DeLay’s response? “He’s not an American with my interests or the interests of the agenda we were trying to promote.” In other words, no compromise, no quarter, no bipartisanship on anything. Gee, that sounds like a person I’d want to represent me in Congress. Actually, that sounds more like the ideologue DeLay really is, not the one he’s pretending not to be.

DeLay went on to say that no members of the Republican caucus were threatened for not jumping on board legislation DeLay and the Republican leadership wanted passed, but he admitted that some were punished by losing positions of leadership on various committees. An example brought up was New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, who while chairing the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee tried to push for increases in VA funding. Laughing in response, DeLay said that Smith just wanted “too much funding for veteran’s healthcare” and that even in light of the recent revelations at Walter Reed he was right and Smith was wrong. In short, DeLay thinks we already spend too much money keeping promises to our veterans. Another example of Republican leadership ’supporting the troops.’

DeLay further painted himself as a victim of the ‘politics of personal destruction’ insisting that the charges against him are false and politically motivated, something he insists he and other Republicans never engaged in where President Clinton was concerned. Saying there was no “concerted strategy to demonize Clinton” and that “nothing done to Clinton was done for political reasons” Delay alternately says that politics is the sole reason for the charges against him. I know…it’s all a vast left-wing conspiracy, right Tom?

DeLay has a new book out in which he defends his record and actions. An excerpt is shown at the end of the NPR article. DeLay says unequivocably that if he had the opportunity, he’d do it all again. Let us be thankful he won’t have that opportunity any time soon.

[tag]Tom+DeLay, NPR, politics+of+personal+destruction, political+corruption, Chris+Smith, veterans+affairs[/tag]