So long, farewell

auf Wiedersehen goodbye:

In a letter to rank-and-file Republicans, DeLay said, "I have always acted in an ethical manner."

At the same time, "I cannot allow our adversaries to divide and distract our attention," the Texas Republican wrote.

And thus Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX) withdrew his bid to maintain his position as the House Majority Leader. It's fairly amusing to watch DeLay dismiss the charges against him as "baseless" when the timing of this withdrawal coincides with the guilty plea of his good friend Jack Abramoff.

Hastert and other Republicans had accepted the arrangement by which DeLay temporarily stepped aside last year, and DeLay maneuvered to win the dismissal of charges or gain an acquittal by early February.

But Abramoff's guilty pleas appear to have changed the political environment for Republicans 11 months before the midterm elections.

"The situation is that Tom's legal situation doesn't seem to be reaching clarity," Rep. John Kline of Minnesota said in an interview.

DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden said Friday that his boss "appreciates that a majority of his colleagues recognizes that he remains committed to fulfilling his responsibilities as majority leader and that he'll be quickly exonerated in Texas."

I say DeLay deserves the Optimist of the Year award.

One of the representatives who led the petition to replace DeLay was Rep Jeff Flake (R-AZ):

"People are worried about the other shoe waiting to drop," Flake said yesterday. "Fairly or not," he said, DeLay has "become the public face of a culture gone bad in Washington."

And the Associated Press has the numbers to back that up:

Dissatisfied with the nation's direction, Americans are leaning toward wanting a change in which political party leads Congress — preferring that Democrats take control, an AP-Ipsos poll found. Democrats are favored over Republicans 49 percent to 36 percent.

You know what's sad about that... The Democrats didn't really do anything significant to bring down the GOP. If we could have, I think we would have done it a while ago. So, all THEY really had to do was not do stupid stuff... like launder money. And now the Dems have a clean shot. It's 2006- all of the Decaffers will be 18 by the time of the election and everyone except me can vote. I really, REALLY hope this is a good year.