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Jewish World Review April 13, 2005 / 4 Nisan, 5765 Keep Delay, or pay the price By Tony Blankley
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I understand why the Democrats are going after Tom DeLay. Snakes
gotta slither, mosquitoes gotta bite, hyenas gotta laugh, and Democrats
without a blooming idea in their heads gotta go negative.
I also understand why the New York Times is out soliciting Bob
Livingston to write an attack op-ed against Delay (he refused), and why they
report legal, ethical, common and specifically Ethics Committee-approved
activity like Delay employing relatives on his campaign — as if it were a
crime. The owner and staff of that once great paper are so overwhelmingly
committed to the Democratic Party that they are willing to destroy in a
short decade the paper's reputation, which was over a hundred years in the
making — to advance the great cause of soft-headed liberalism. (There must
be ancient Sulzbergers and Timesmen in their graves crying yet-human tears
at the sight of their heirs' profligacy.)
But, as to the couple of Republicans up for re-election in a
difficult Northeast district and state who, in the name of their
consciences, have said slightly rude things about the majority leader of
their party, I can only quote that shrewd discerner of character, Oscar
Wilde: "Conscience is but the name which cowardice Fleeing the battle
scrawls upon its shield."
I have been a card-carrying Republican since 1963, when my
candidate Barry Goldwater suggested cutting off the northeast and letting it
float out to sea. It was a good idea back then, and it still has some merit.
Too many Republicans up there are born without backbones — which in the
Republican Party is a communicable disease. Any other Republicans currently
feeling their knee muscles turning to jelly should wrap their knees tightly,
stick a ramrod up their dorsal side and get back in the fight.
They should remember the political maxim that while the law will
take care of the guilty, when a politician is innocent of the charges being
thrown at him, he can only be brought down by his own side. I have been in a
lot of political fights — from the Goldwater campaign in '64, to almost all
of Reagan's fights, to slugging it out side by side with my old boss Newt
Gingrich back in the '90s — and I've never been in one where sacrificing
innocent comrades helped in the long run. Human sacrifice had been almost
completely extinguished with the passing of the Aztecs — until the
Republican Party came along.
Tom DeLay has been the most effective majority whip in living
memory, never having lost a vote. He has engineered passage of every vital
piece of Bush legislation as majority leader (sometimes with as little as a
single hard-sought vote difference). By his tough work in Texas he has
almost assured Republican control of the House for at least another decade.
(I say "almost," because a party of nitwits and cowards are capable of
throwing away anything.)
And he has done what every able leader of men has been doing
since the dawn of man — he has gone hunting and brought home the meat to
nourish the whole tribe. Yes. Money: The lawful collecting of which is the
essential condition to politically function. If a political party doesn't
have money, it doesn't have a chance.
And I can assure any of my fellow Republicans on the Hill or in the
media who think the party can thrive without fighting for every last dollar:
You have neither the idea nor the parentage to pull it off — even if
there is a Roman numeral after your name.
Tom DeLay has provided (and continues to provide) vital service
to the party with his stubborn effort to urge K Street to follow the "one
congressman, one former party staffer employed" rule in dishing out its
influential positions and dollars. The informal power of Washington
reflected in lobbying and public relations firms, trade associations and
political law offices had been ludicrously over-represented by Democrats,
years after they no longer had the committee chairman or assistant
secretaries to justify it — until Tom DeLay fought for the Washington
equivalent of one man, one vote.)
That was an honorable and legal fight — even though DeLay got
plenty of bad press (and its derivative bad image) for doing the work at
which daintier Republicans sniffed. In a thousand ways that are hard to
publicly spot, the K Street effort helped all Republicans win elections,
pass legislation they believed in and generally govern the country. That
process will continue as long as K Street continues to respect the manliness
of the Republicans.
If a party can be stampeded — by phony charges and a run of
shoddy stories in whorish newspapers — into dumping their most effective
congressional leader, I wouldn't give two cents for their near term future.
A party that would voluntarily cut off its own testicles and FedEx them to
their opponent as a trophy is not likely to manifest any regenerative
powers. That's the thing about losing those organs.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Tony Blankley is editorial page editor of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
© 2005, Creators Syndicate |
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