QUOTE OF THE DAY: "BEWARE THE MAN DRUNK WITH AMBITION"-- TOM DELAY

Robert Novak isn't a literary critic-- we know exactly what he is-- and the erstwhile "Hammer" isn't exactly the kind of writer George Bush reads but No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight is considered a book and is coming out and... well, if not Novak, who?

Not me. But I was happy to see the all vicious and even more frequently vindictive DeLay lashing out madly at everyone he's ever worked with. I don't know where he thinks he's going to find sympathy when they finally haul he carcass off to prison in the near future. Novak notices he "is an angry man after being driven from the leadership, from Congress and, so far, from public life by 'a concerted effort to destroy me legally, financially and personally.'"


And DeLay isn't just blaming Democrats and Texas lawman Ronnie Earle. We've all heard that before. What's new-- and most interesting-- here are his attacks on Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, Denny Hastert, and George Bush, his old comrades in arms. They all conspired against him-- and since he thinks he's the embodiment of American conservatism (I'll buy that)-- against the movement. This goes even beyond his claims that Gingrich was a totally incompetent Speaker of the House and unsuited to lead even the GOP, let alone the USA.

In describing Gingrich as an "ineffective Speaker," DeLay writes: "He knew nothing about running meetings and nothing about driving an agenda." He adds: "Nearly every other day he had a new agenda, a new direction he wanted us to take. It was impossible to follow him."

DeLay also declares that "our leadership was in no moral shape to press" for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Writing well before Gingrich's admission for the first time last week, DeLay asserts: "It is now public knowledge that Newt Gingrich was having an affair with a staffer during the entire impeachment crisis. Clearly, men with such secrets are not likely to sound a high moral tone at a moment of national crisis."

If you think that's nasty, he's far less kind to former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey who he says was "so blinded by ambition as to be useless to the cause" and a "poor leader" who had "few fresh ideas." Armey, he asserts, "resented anyone he thought might get in the way of his becoming Speaker of the House. Beware the man drunk with ambition."

I'll restrain myself from the obvious but point to what Novak-- a huge DeLay fan-- brought up himself:

DeLay has been a subject of controversy on the right before. When American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene attempted to make DeLay the organization's Washington operative, four members of his board resigned. Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a leading conservative reformer, describes DeLay's leadership as concentrating on redistricting, fundraising and distribution of pork.

In light of this week's revolt on the far right against Bush's lame and completely botched education policies, there is one point DeLay makes worth examining (especially if you're a Republican, which I trust no one who reads DWT is):

Deriding Bush's self-identification as "a compassionate conservative," DeLay asserts that "he has expanded government to suit his purpose, especially in the area of education. He may be compassionate, but he is certainly no conservative in the classic sense."

What revolt? Over 50 Republicans in the House and Senate-- including House Minority Whip Roy Blunt and the House member with the furthest right voting record, Eric Cantor-- are introducing legislation today that would severely undercut what Bush thinks of as his signature domestic achievement, the No Child Left Behind Act. The bill allows states to opt out of its ridiculous and counterproductive testing mandates, something probably all states will do. Even Texas' lamest export since Bush himself, clueless Senator John Cornyn, suddenly decided to shirk his solid rubber stamp demeanor and strike out against The Empire on this one.