Denial and self-delusion

You know, I'd pretty much decided to let Tom DeLay's resignation pass by without comment. After all, the Hammer's decision to flee Congress under the guise of "protecting" his beloved GOP is being given the treatment it so richly deserves by many writers far more gifted and entertaining than yours truly.

But I just couldn't resist linking to his "Address to the constituents of the 22nd District of Texas," if for no other reason than to remark that it is an invaluable example of the total denial and self-delusion that have come to characterize the 21st Century Republican Party - or at least those of its members who remain blindly loyal to the empire of George the Younger. Highlights:

At home, we moved from policies that had long empowered government to finally empowering citizens, taxpayers and communities...initiating sweeping and positive change across all facets of American society...

We adopted year after year of tax relief, which led to growth so strong it has not only propelled our economy, but has spurred economic growth across the globe.

We reformed welfare, moving tens of millions of good Americans from poverty to work and opportunity.

We passed litigation reform, to begin freeing our economy from the shackles of frivolous lawsuits.

And, we approved reforms in energy, telecommunications, transportation and other areas as well, all of which had been bogged down and blocked by those who ran Congress for the 40 years before our election...

It has also been an honor to work closely with one of Texas' favorite sons, a president with great moral integrity and leadership, George W. Bush. His Administration has done much to restore the type of principled leadership that President Reagan demonstrated and that first drew me to seek service in our Nation's capitol...

With the news of my decision, there of course will be great speculation among the political pundits and media about my reasons both for this decision and its timing. I am quite certain most will put forward their opinions and conclusions devoid of, and unencumbered by accuracy, facts, and truth, so I thought I might try to make everyone's job a little easier.

And my favorite,

I know first hand how important it is for Republicans to maintain their national majority. A Democrat Congress in 2007 would, without doubt or remorse, raise hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes, summarily cut and run from the war on terror, and immediately initiate an unconstitutional impeachment of President Bush.

However certain such antics might make a Republican resurgence in 2008, the times are too grave to waste even two years in the life of this nation...and allow even one more vote for their agenda of pessimism and failure.

I honestly don't know which is worse - the sheer arrogance of reciting such a laundry list of blatantly false doublespeak that can be so easily disproved point by disingenuous point (except, of course, that "impeachment" prediction, which we can only hope is true), or the thought that DeLay might actually believe this drivel.

No matter. The Hammer has fallen. It is truly a day to rejoice. But we must remember to make this victory dance a short one, because the type of corrupt government that DeLay was instrumental in creating will continue to threaten the very foundation of our grand democratic experiment, even in his absence. As John Nichols writes today in The Nation:

Histories of this dark passage in the American story will record that no political figure fought harder or longer to dismantle traditions of compromise and cooperation in Congress than DeLay, a man who targeted those with whom he disagreed as zealously as he had once gone after the vermin he chased in his previous career as an exterminator. As far as DeLay was concerned, the niceties of democracy were a cruel impediment to his new career path. So he went to war with the process itself on behalf of his own political advancement--and that of the paymasters in the industries he served more diligently than his Texas constituents, his conservative ideology or his Republican Party...

DeLay will soon be gone, and there is a good chance that he will be convicted of at least a few of his crimes against democracy. But his greatest crimes will go unpunished, at least for so long as the Congress Tom DeLay created and the presidency that he made possible continue to punish America and the world.

I told you - I couldn't have said it better than that.