Washington, DC — In a worrisome signal for House majority leader Tom DeLay, the highly influential editorial page of the Wall Street Journal writes today that DeLay, “who rode to power in 1994 on a wave of revulsion at the everyday ways of big government, has become the living exemplar of some of its worst habits.”
The editorial, “Smells Like Beltway” sends a signal to a wide swath of mainstream conservative opinion
leaders that DeLay is in for a rough ride ahead, and that it’s okay to consider some of the allegations against him as credible — even as the Travis County/Ronnie Earle allegations are blatantly political, which they are.
More: “Rather than buck this system as he promised to do while in the minority, Mr. DeLay has become its undisputed and unapologetic master as Majority Leader.”
Concludes the editorial, which is the talk of DC this morning, “Whether Mr. DeLay violated the small print of House Ethics or campaign-finance rules is thus largely beside the point. His real fault lies in betraying the broader set of principles that brought him into office, and which, if he continues as before, sooner or later will sweep him out.”
That’s a legit observation.