Newsweek's Jonathan Alter - "Tom DeLay's House of Shame"

[Pirate Smile]

Tom DeLay's House of Shame
Congress has always had its share of extremists. But the DeLay era is the first time the fringe has ever been in charge.

By Jonathan Alter
Newsweek
Oct. 10, 2005 issue - A decade ago, I paid a call on Tom DeLay in his ornate office in the Capitol. I had heard a rumor about him that I figured could not possibly be true. The rumor was that after the GOP took control of the House that year, DeLay had begun keeping a little black book with the names of Washington lobbyists who wanted to come see him. If the lobbyists were not Republicans and contributors to his power base, they didn't get into "the people's House." DeLay not only confirmed the story, he showed me the book. His time was limited, DeLay explained with a genial smile. Why should he open his door to people who were not on the team?

Thus began what historians will regard as the single most corrupt decade in the long and colorful history of the House of Representatives. Come on, you say. How about all those years when congressmen accepted cash in the House chamber and then staggered onto the floor drunk? Yes, special interests have bought off members of Congress at least since Daniel Webster took his seat while on the payroll of a bank. And yes, Congress over the years has seen dozens of sex scandals and dozens of members brought low by financial improprieties. But never before has the leadership of the House been hijacked by a small band of extremists bent on building a ruthless shakedown machine, lining the pockets of their richest constituents and rolling back popular protections for ordinary people. These folks borrow like banana republics and spend like Tip O'Neill on speed.

I have no idea if DeLay has technically broken the law. What interests me is how this moderate, evenly divided nation came to be ruled on at least one side of Capitol Hill by a zealot. This is a man who calls the Environmental Protection Agency "the Gestapo of government" and favors repealing the Clean Air Act because "it's never been proven that air toxins are hazardous to people"; who insists repeatedly that judges on the other side of issues "need to be intimidated" and rejects the idea of a separation of church and state; who claims there are no parents trying to raise families on the minimum wage-that "fortunately, such families do not exist" (at least Newt Gingrich was intrigued by the challenges of poverty); who once said: "A woman can't take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure." I could go on all day. Congress has always had its share of extremists. But the DeLay era is the first time the fringe has ever been in charge.

-snip-
The only reason the House hasn't done even more damage is that the Senate often sands down the most noxious ideas, making the bills merely bad, not disastrous. What next for the House of Shame? If DeLay's acquitted, he'll be back in power. If he's convicted, his proteges will continue his work. Reform efforts by fiscal conservatives determined to curb their borrow-and-spend colleagues are probably doomed. The only way to get rid of the termites eating away the people's House is to stamp them out at the next election.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9557669/site/newsweek/

[goclark]

1. Nominated! Wow!!!!

[acmavm]

2. Truer words were never spoken:

<snip>
The only way to get rid of the termites eating away the people's House is to stamp them out at the next election.
<snip>


edit: Please remember that words of this slug when told to put out a cigar in a Washington restaurant.

"I am the federal government."

He has to go folks.

[FourStarDemocrat]

4. Tom Delay's "Little Black Book"

Democrats should repeat that until they make the whole country as familiar with that phrase as "Monica's blue dress" and other famous aphorismisms.

[GOPFighter]

3. And why do the voters keep electing these bastards?

Because they would rather have their Treasury plundered, their children's future mortgaged, the country turned over to corporations and K-Street lobbyists than to vote for a Democrat. Democrats want to take their guns, allow gays to marry, and want to keep god out of public life.

Conservatives have done a masterful job of demonizing liberals and Democrats (which is really the only thing you have to be good at in today's society). IMO the spiteful, frightened, voters who fall for this pap deserve to live in poverty (with their guns and prayers in schools) for the rest of their fricken' lives, singing praises to their anti-Jesus ("blessed are the greedy, for they shall plunder the wealth of the country", "it's good to be rich", "the poor are to be ignored for they are lazy and deserve it").

Unfortunately they're taking the rest of us with them... :nuke:


(nominated)

[spooky3]

5. Pirate, you always find excellent articles.

[Pirate Smile]

7. Well, thank you, spooky!

:)

[AX10]

6. Nominated!

:kick:

[oxbow]

8. Is this web only or does the article come in this weeks Newsweek too?

I would be very surprised and pleased if they print this. It's so unapologetically honest.

[Pirate Smile]

10. It will be in the published edition - so will this one - it is the cover

piece.

"Troubled Waters
War, storms, leak probes--and a growing array of ETHICS CLOUDS. Dark days for the Republican Party."

-snip-
Some backbenchers were gloomy and resentful, but unwilling to say so on the record, for fear that the vindictive DeLay might survive. "Leadership has become ossified and hopelessly out of touch," lamented one such member. "They only care about one thing, hanging onto their own power. I'm not ready to take them on, at least not yet, not unless I have to!"

-snip-
Bush and his fellow Republicans have little margin for error. Three forces-sky-high gasoline prices, the massive costs of rebuilding the Gulf Coast and ever-gloomier public assessments of the war in Iraq-have combined to weaken Bush's reputation as a strong leader, and leave him vulnerable to the kind of second-term fiascoes that tend to befall all presidents: think Ronald Reagan and Iran-contra, or Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Indeed, polltaker Frank Luntz, who helped develop the "Contract With America" message that swept Republicans to power in 1994, was on the Hill last week warning the party faithful that they could lose both the House and the Senate in next year's congressional elections.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9558564/site/newsweek/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=161373&mesg_id=161373

[texpatriot2004]

9. I like Mr. Alter's style. Thanks. n/t

[Stevepol]

11. An article like this makes the need for fair voting all the more urgent .

Unless we can clean up the vote counting procedures in the country, we will never be able to clean up the Congress. DeLay and his cohorts have come to power through the use of vote scams probably in the hundreds, most of them involving the electronic voting machines. But how can you ever know for sure since there's no way to audit or recount in about 20% of the cases and in the rest audits are never done unless there's a close election (and with the electronic voting machines the vote seems to always be just beyond the point that would require a recount)? Our system is an enigma inside an enigma when it ought to be transparent and completely open to the citizen.

The elections system in our country is exceedingly corrupt and irrational. I hope for the country's sake that our election system and our democracy can still be saved.

[FizzFuzz]

12. I remember hearing a cockroach quote

"Women can take care of the family<in a sneering voice>....Now POLITICS, that's a MAN'S job!"

It was seriously puke-inducing.

wonder if the "man to provide structure" is a different one, or what?

[ailsagirl]

13. I like the termite allusion... highly appropriate

I'm happy to see magazines such as Newsweek tell it like it is. Is anyone listening, though? WE know the truth... but do those who are being so royally duped by bushco??

:shrug: