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Tom DeLay to Seek Lucrative Consulting Job

David Weigel | 4.3.2006 10:26 PM

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That's a kind way of saying that he just told colleagues he's retiring and won't seek another term in Congress. CNN is running it - when another news source posts a story, I'll link it.

UPDATE: How about Time magazine? They're pretty reliable.

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David Weigel is a contributing editor at Reason.

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  1. martin   19 years ago

    Hmm, that doesn't mean he expects to get convicted, does it?

  2. GILMORE   19 years ago

    That was my first read, but I suspect he's planning to fight it out, and potentially take some sort of plea agreement to cut the drama short if possible. He's at risk of getting caught up in multiple secondary indictments cause of tony rudy's plea. I think he's cutting loose to reduce his profile somewhat. I dont think that means conviction, but he's guaranteed to be bad press for a while and that means taking one for the team i think.

    JG

  3. Brian   19 years ago

    There goes a real sack of crap.

  4. plunge   19 years ago

    Yet another incredibly vain, I can't do anything wrong, I'm like Jesus in how persecuted I am... oh wait, no, I'm guilty, and I'm sorry! game.

    How is it that these people can maintain their moral superiority when they know they're full of shit? Ben Domenech had the gall to say that he was happy that the controversy over him had distracted people from "attacking America." Delay, no doubt, will hold a few more rallies and fundraisers where he's heralded as a saint, persecuted by a vast evil.

  5. The Real Bill   19 years ago

    All former members of congress s/b prohibited from lobbying congress for life.

  6. panurge   19 years ago

    Well, it's official. The man has gone down in flames.

    Of course, if I were a Republican I would be dancing in the streets. This probably will make the 2006 election much less painful for the GOP.

  7. panurge   19 years ago

    Well, it's official. The man has gone down in flames.

    Of course, if I were a Republican I would be dancing in the streets. This probably will make the 2006 election much less painful for the GOP.

  8. Warren   19 years ago

    meh
    If he did the crime he should do the time, same as everybody else. But it's no nevermind to me. I mean, it's not like whomever replaces him will be any less corrupt.

  9. SmokingPenguin   19 years ago

    This is all part of a vast, left-wing conspiracy.

  10. Douglas Fletcher   19 years ago

    This is all part of a vast, left-wing conspiracy.

    A conspiracy involves illegal activity, so no, there's no conspiracy. The Democrats have been gunning for this guy for years, though, much in the way Gingrich went after beloved Speaker Jim Wright. I wonder who'll be next to draw the big fire, deserved or not.

    I guess nobody ever said politics was pretty.

  11. SmokingPenguin   19 years ago

    DF: My comment was a joke, based on Hillary's line about her husband, and the point plunge made about him portraying himself as a martyr, which he no doubt will.

    Every politician beyond a certain level of power is going to be scrutinized to the nth degree. There is probably some tipping point where the opposition tries extra hard to nail someone to the wall. Be nice to come up with a formula to determine this - perhaps:

    If (Power * [.875 Attacks on opposition party] * [.625 Media visibility] * [.5 Hubris] > (3 * current poll numbers)), Then feeding frenzy.

    Delay had a powerful position which he used to try to lessen the boundary between church and state, I have no sorrow to see him go, although I doubt we'll do any better.

  12. SmokingPenguin   19 years ago

    errata in previous post:
    ...and the point plunge made about Delay portraying himself as a martyr...
    ...lessen the boundary between church and state, [so] I'm not sorry to see him go...

    Me fail English? That's unpossible!

  13. B.D.   19 years ago

    My guess is that Delay is so full of hubris and self righteous that he believes that he'll beat the rap on the legal front. According to the NY Times this morning, Delay "did the numbers" on his re-election campaign this fall and decided to step down. It's cowardly. He's going to let someone else take the beating, beat his legal rap (or so he thinks), and then hope to stage something resembling a political come back.

  14. Ed   19 years ago

    Looks like the photo editor at Earthlink's home page was being a bit mischievous this morning.

  15. panurge   19 years ago

    B.D.-

    Either that, or he'll have his own show on Fox News in two years.

  16. Mr. Nice Guy   19 years ago

    Christ, I hope this guy goes away. I haven't seen a smile as plastic as his since Steve Forbes. It's fucking creepy. It's like the guy is a replicant or something.

  17. joe   19 years ago

    Tom's just delaying the inevitable. Get it?

    Delaying...DeLay-ing?

    It's a pun, see.

  18. SR   19 years ago

    "It's like the guy is a replicant or something."

    Does that mean he'll be assassinated by Sean Young?

  19. VM   19 years ago

    "My guess is that Delay is so full of hubris and self righteousness"

    good call. that sums up the executive branch, too.

    always love it when the smug and self rightesous get some comeuppance. snicker.

    a republicrat i know (likes dubyah) doesn't like the taste of his own medicine and has discovered that he whines at least as much as the libs do. talk about the matter and anti matter of bullshit - the two main parties (or the true believers of them)

    BUT: might a dem get that district? what does November look like? that might actually be interesting beyond the schadenfreude aspects...

    and "Bullshit" was great last night. (boy scouts and life coaching)

    cheers

  20. Sphynx   19 years ago

    From the Texas Desk: From what I'm hearing (hear-say warning!), Delay was in a tight run-off race with a Republican challenger for his seat, with the winner facing a strong politically clean Democratic challenger in the fall. This appears to be as much about minimizing his loses this year as anything.

    This is a win for the Republicans, and (imho) a "win" for Delay's district in getting a representative undistracted by the issues facing Delay. -- I do wonder if any State or National party preasure was applied to generate the "retirement"?

  21. P Brooks   19 years ago

    "All former members of congress s/b prohibited from lobbying congress for life."

    I prefer "shot on sight" within a 150 mile radius of the Capitol.

    ---------

    Mr Penguin- I believe it was Virginia Woolf who said, "Never apologize, never explain."

    Power to the Penguins

  22. FatDrunkAndStupid   19 years ago

    I really don't think the legal issues played into this all that much. From an objective standpoint, the charges against him are pretty weak. Unless the jury is totally biased against him, he's got nothing to fear there. His problem is more on the ethics end and how that was effecting his re-election. He had a strong Republican challenger and even if he survived that, he'd still have to beat another opponent in the general election. And even if he wins that- to what end? He's already lost his job to Boehner! I think that's the biggest issuse driving this. Somebody else has his fancy office, all the perks, and all the power. Even if he managed to clear all these obstacles his prize would be to rejoin the House as some nobody. For a guy who used to run the whole damn show that isn't going to be acceptable. His ego is too big.

  23. Kevin S.   19 years ago

    From the Texas Desk that actually in Texas:

    http://www.fortbendnow.com/elections/817/2006-primary-election-results

    Delay won his primary early in March but locally they are saying that he is polling very close to the democratic challenger to his seat.

    I'm with the majority opinion that I'm glad to see him go fo all the reasons mentioned in the above comments.

    However, I would prefer to see him de-throned because his constituency was disgusted by his politics and ego rather than some politically motivated fluff charges.

    No, he is not likely to get a fair trial in Travis County (my home) because it is by far the most liberal county in the State and we hate him....and by DeLay's redistricting plan Travis County apparently shares enough in common with the Rio Grande Valley that we share that same house district which is connected by a 250 mile long by 10 mile wide ribbon of land.

    Ingoring the potential Abramhoff problem, he is being charged with collecting campaign contributions from corporations and giving the money to state legislative candidates which is illegal in Texas. Why corporations cannot donate to state legislative campaigns, I'm not sure.

    So what we have is a stupid law being used to bring down a guy that I'm really happy to see go and who deserves to be run out of office for counless other reasons other than the charges against him. Does this not presnt any conflict for anybody? or we just happy to see him go?

  24. Ken Shultz   19 years ago

    We're almost at the end of of this congress as we know it, and I feel fine.

  25. some dude   19 years ago

    Sic semper tyrannis

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