CNN's Congressional Correspondent, Ed Henry, just did a segment on DeLay. Seems the House GOP Caucus had a meeting this morning and were urged to "mount a public defense of DeLay." Henry reported that there was some disagreement about whether the applause for DeLay was strong or mixed.
For some perspective about why this is important, yesterday's Washington Post has a key passage:
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) says Democrats suffered major setbacks in the 1990s when an ethics-challenged leader -- House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.), who resigned in 1989 -- became a larger symbol of his party than its platform issues. "That's a cocktail for disaster," Graham said. If a political leader's personal problems are coupled with "some policy decisions that are disconnected to the public, then you've got an opening" for trouble, he said. "If we don't watch it, it could happen to us."Basically, the Democrats can destroy the GOP agenda if they take advantage of opportunities presented to them by DeLay in the House and John Cornyn in the Senate.
Clearly, the agenda for the GOP in the House is to save DeLay. To fight the nuclear option in the Senate, make Cornyn the issue. When you are in the minority, the agenda really can be that simple. And Lindsay Graham told us it works.
Time to start a pool on how long DeLay can stick around?
