Sunday, October 9, 2005

Wheel O' Morality--turn, turn, turn


Ah, me. Where to begin?

For anyone who's been waiting--hoping--for signs that the GOP might finally be on its way to a well-deserved implosion, it's an embarrassment of riches.

Which branch of government does one pick first?

Legislative (Where DeLay, Nay, Abramoff, Savafian, Reed, Norquist, and maybe more are involved in more ethical and legal breaches than I have time to link to)? [Note:Thanks to the success of the K Street Project, I'm including GOP-connected lobbyists with the legislative branch.]

Executive (Possible Plame indictments for Rove and Libby, maybe more)?

Judicial (Religious right jumping ship over the Miers nomination)?

Or the unofficial fourth branch of the GOP government, the cowed establishment media (Judith Miller of the NYTimes, shill for the neocons and involved way deeper with Plamegate than her Jeanne d'Arc/Martha Stewart performance in jail would have you believe)?

It's a tough call, but for tonight, I think we'll return to that evergreen of GOP excess, Tom DeLay. It's small, and it's already made the rounds in some places, but it pleases me, so here we go:

About.com has gathered--and source-linked--ten simply appalling comments by Tom DeLay. (Props to James the Elder for alerting me.) Here are my three favorites; go to their site for the rest and see which ones you like best.
"I AM the federal government." ˆTom DeLay, to the owner of Ruth's Chris Steak House, after being told to put out his cigar because of federal government regulations banning smoking in the building, May 14, 2003

"So many minority youths had volunteered "that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like myself." --Tom DeLay, explaining at the 1988 GOP convention why he and vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle did not fight in the Vietnam War

"Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes." Tom DeLay, March 12, 2003

The thing that's stunning about these "I am the government" remarks is that, unlike those Spoonerisms and malapropisms that come out of Junior's mouth, they're not the rattled product of a dysfunctional mind; DeLay really means them.

It's been a quiet news weekend on the GOP corruption front; let's see what the beginning of the week brings.

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