REPUBLICANS JUMPING SHIP ON DELAY AS HIS CRIMINAL EMPIRE CRUMBLES

I'm a little jet-lagged after a mad dash from Essaouira by bus, Marrakech by train, Casablanca, Madrid and Atlanta by plane in the last 2 days. I can't sleep right now but I was gratified to see so many noble Republican salons jumping on the dump DeLay bandwagon even before he has been officially implicated in the murder of Miami Subs founder Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis! Even lowlife Republican bribetakers like uber-endangered New Mexico crooked Rep Heather Wilson (who returned some of the tainted loot she got from both Abramoff and from GOP Crime Boss DeLay) are jumping ship on the indicted right wing liege. "I do not want Tom DeLay to return," she whined to the Associated Press yesterday. And I bet she doesn't! Wilson points out that 3 of DeLay's "former senior staff members have admitted or have been implicated in corrupt and illegal activities to get money for themselves by influencing legislation. Whether or not Mr. DeLay was involved himself or knew this was going on, he is responsible for his office." Doesn't she sound brave, even brazen, all of a sudden!
Now that the American public overwhelmingly perceives DeLay as the epitome of corrupt politics (a CNN poll shows that 84% of Americans do not think he should be allowed to regain his post as Majority Leader, nor even as Minority Leader after November when most Americans hope to see enough GOP congressional losses to root them out of the power positions they have so grotesquely abused for so long), Wilson is very nervous that New Mexico voters will start asking why she was one of the biggest recipients of DeLay's largesse in the whole country. Many other endangered Republican crooks are also finally breaking with DeLay and calling for his ouster.

One of the dirtiest DeLay backers in the country-- a congressman who ranked in the Top 10 of recipients of DeLay's dirty money-- John Kline of Minnesota has been feeling the heat. With ex-FBI heroine Coleen Rowley looking like a potential winner against Kline in Minnesota's swingin' 2nd district, Kline is doing all he can to distance himself from his former Lord and Master. "The situation is that Tom's legal situation doesn't seem to be reaching clarity," mumbled Kline recently (although for 84% of Americans clarity has very much been reached in this matter). "There are stories of more indictments or questions associated with Jack Abramoff. And I think that Tom DeLay is going to have to concentrate on that." Now is that a leader or what?!!

Turns out two Republicans, far right Arizona congressloon Jeff Flake and very endangered New Hampshire tap-dancer Charlie Bass (each of whom accepted only relatively small bribes from DeLay in the past), are circulating a petition in the GOP House caucus calling for the rank and file to break their chains and dump DeLay and his fascistic leadership team (which has kept the illicit money flowing into the coffers of almost every Republican in the House). According to Flake "The developments with Abramoff have brought home the fact that we need not just new leaders but a course correction" (or maybe some good solid time in a house or correction!)

While the vast majority of Congressional Republicans are assiduously avoiding the press in matters DeLay, many are saying if they don't hang together they will all hang separately. And with more GOP rats turning states evidence to save their own hides-- there is wide speculation that the targets of Randy "Duke" Cunningham's agreement to wear a wire and gather evidence for the FBI against fellow Republican lawmakers was aimed at his former high profile colleagues in crime Jerry Lewis and Duncan Hunter (two extremely corrupt California Republican congressmen Cunningham was long divvying up the illicit loot with)-- many DeLay backers are ready for a bloody last stand. Although the usual Republican response-- "yeah, we take bribes but so do Democrats" isn't resonating-- the Texas delegation he rules with an iron first and DeLay puppets like Denny Hastert and Roy Blunt are holding firm. Hastert, who is likely to be indicted himself for taking bribes from Turkey to screw over Armenian Americans, as well as for his financial relationship with Abramoff, thinks instituting mandatory ethics-awareness seminars for GOP legislators will make the problem go away. DeLay's own flack, Kevin Madden, the man with probably the least credibility in Washington DC, said his boss "appreciates that a majority of his colleagues recognizes that he remains committed to fulfilling his responsibilities as majority leader and that he'll be quickly exonerated in Texas." A WASHINGTON POST cartoon this week was a little clearer in it's view of the impact of the Republican culture of corruption on American politics and yesterday's Bloomberg.com carried an interesting story by Michael Forsythe showing how "DeLay, Inc" is tied to 3 major financial scandals. And with all this hubbub swirling around DeLay in DC, Ronnie Earle back in Austin is still making his life a living hell with all the damned money laundering charges against him, broadening the investigation into his dealings with Abramoff.


NOON UPDATE: LITTLE BUG MAN THROWS IN THE TOWEL

As Ken has been hammering away the whole time I was in Morocco, sometimes actual reality does catch up with these crooks and imbeciles. This morning Republican Crime Boss, Tom DeLay-- who once bragged "I AM the government" when a waiter told him it was against government regulations to smoke a cigar in a restaurant-- faced hard, cold reality and admitted that his tenure as House Majority Leader is O-V-E-R. Although he's still spinning like mad and holding himself up as a paragon of ethical norms, the indicted crook, who most knowledgeable observers expect to go down in the history books as the most corrupt American politician of the century, knows enough about counting noses to bow out of his ridiculous attempt to hold onto the Majority Leader position. AP has a story up already.