Power Outage!

Posted by Michael Tackett 4:21 pm CST

Well, that didn't take long.

There is a natural rhythm to the Washington scandal. First, there are strong protestations of denial. Often that is followed by the group photo to show just how many people are supporting you.

Following soon is the hiring of a defense lawyer--always the first inkling that things won't go well. Then, those former friends who were so supportive start to get nervous.

And, as Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, once considered the most powerful man in the House or Representatives, quickly found out, loyalty has its limits. In this case, as soon as it became clear to many other House Republicans their own re-elections were on the line, they were more than willing to cast aside the man also known as The Hammer.

The man that so many of them relied upon for perks, favors, and heaps of campaign cash was quite expendable when it became clear he would be spending a lot of his year with the word "defendant" attached to his name following his indictment on criminal charges in Texas.

Republicans came to quickly realize that if they didn't dump DeLay as one of their leaders, then they could easily expect to see a fall of campaign commercials from the Democrats of Republicans wearing orange jumpsuits.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, established a House of Scandal website many months ago and never tires of the alliteration of Culture of Corruption when describing the GOP.

By moving quickly to dump DeLay and change the subject, Republicans hope to avoid the damage and even try to retake the mantle of "Reform" that helped bring them to power in 1994.

In many ways the non-telegenic DeLay is an easy villain. A former pest exterminator, he's snarling, combative and has no interest in compromise with the other side, seeming to relish every fight. Those same traits made him brutally effective within his own party, but in the end, also a liability.

Look now for the GOP to install a kinder, gentler version of the House Republican leader.

So far, there seems to be no urgent threat to Hastert in his role as Speaker. That does not mean that Republicans will shelve their ideology--quite the contrary. The new leadership will almost certainly be dominated by conservatives.

But they will also likely be the kind of politicians who go down easier on the eye and ear when they appear on television. They need a newer generation now that the Gingrich Revolution has so obviously run out of gas.

DeLay as a leader will be missed in some ways. Not a conventional Washington creature, he could also be entertaining. He used to hold press briefings around the large wooden table in his spacious suite of offices--no TV cameras allowed--and enjoyed batting back reporters questions like so many batting-practice fastballs.

But he now will be linked in the long line up of Washington politicians whose careers were ruined because they thought they were smarter than the rules and laws they helped to write.