Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

Be the death literal or figurative, in recent days Democrats and their MSM claque have demonstrated a ghoulish penchant for dancing on the graves of their political opponents. As documented here, on the very day of his death last week, MSNBC's Alison Stewart, subbing for Keith Olbermann on Countdown, took nasty parting shots at Caspar Weinberger. Stewart disparaged as both a budget "slasher" and a big spender the man who, as Ronald Reagan's Defense Secretary, contributed mightily to winning the Cold War.

Today, it was Tom DeLay's retirement announcement that brought out the worst in the left. Bob Shrum was Chris Matthews' guest on Hardball, and so avidly did Shrum exult in DeLay's predicament that former GOP Rep. Susan Molinari was plainly repulsed. But far from taking Shrum to task for his unseemly asperity, Matthews commended him.

Shrum is the Dem strategist whose place in history is secure, having served as a chief consultant on a record-breaking seven losing presidential campaigns. He immediately went for the jugular, branding DeLay "the father of the culture of corruption," while claiming "his simply getting out of the way is not going to remove this as an issue. Richard Nixon resigned in August of 1974 and Republicans got killed in those 1974 elections."

Cavuto said this over video of students rioting in Paris:

All right. Tom DeLay dropping out of his house race and resigning from congress. By the way, he's going to be with me live tomorrow during a special program we're planning from Washington, D.C. Democrats calling DeLay's resignation more evidence that the GOP is out of ideas and out of energy. We're going to play this out. If this further weakens the Grand Old Party, and Democrats sweep the mid-term elections, will they increase taxes and entitlements and if so, is this a glimpse of the future - [video of rioting French students] - violent protests like what we've been witnessing in France these last few days because its citizens were given cradle to grave entitlements that can't be sustained long-term?
A graphic appeared over Cavuto's shoulder: "We're Next?"

CAFFERTY: "Wolf all the tough talk was reduced to, "I quit!" To borrow a phrase from Roberto Duran, " No Mas." Mr. Delay suddenly became another disgraced public servant who couldn't take the heat." He would strut around on capitol hill like a cocky little, bandy rooster, but today he slithered away from Congress to await his fate at the hands of the criminal justice system. Good riddance...

I was on the Young Turks radio show tonight to talk about Delay. I'll have the audio up soon. I addressed a problem I'll call the Devil's Gambit, and that is this concern that some people have that Delay's resignation is a bad thing for Democrats because 'then we won't have him to kick around anymore'. The Devil's Gambit is a disease of losers. It's a disease that has infected the Democratic Party to the point where no matter what, the latest political news (a) is bad for Democrats and (b) means we shouldn't attack Republicans.

The Republicans ran against Clinton for the first three years of the Bush presidency, and they ran against Carter until 1996. We can do the same. Tom Delay is gone, but his corruption remains. Therefore Tom Delay is a valid campaign personality. When extreme right-wing Republican leaders get put out of office, it's a good thing. Period.

"I am actually very proud of the K Street Project," DeLay said. "When we came in, I realized right away in 1995 that we may have taken the majority, but we haven't changed the culture of Washington, D.C. And I immediately started strategizing to change that culture.

DeLay was an effective leader, albeit too liberal in recent years.

• DeLay Congressional career exterminated

Tags: Tom Delay, Politics, Republicans, GOP, Congress