It's About DeLay, and That's Okay
Following up on the thought about a possible schism among the Republicans, we see in the aftermath of Terri Schiavo's death that the stakes are about to get even higher: Tom DeLay now wants to remake the federal judiciary. The Hammer is looking to nail those federal judges who "let Terri die" and "thumbed their noses" at Congress and the president. As you've probably heard, he issued a written statement that sounded distinctly like a threat: "the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."

Sen. Frank Lautenberg of NJ, still hugely enjoying himself after coming back from retirement three years ago, wasn't amused:

Democrats continued to criticize DeLay yesterday, with Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) charging that the Republican might have broken a federal statute against threatening U.S. judges.

"Threats against specific federal judges are not only a serious crime, but also beneath a Member of Congress," Lautenberg wrote. "Your attempt to intimidate judges in America not only threatens our courts, but our fundamental democracy as well."

The Washington Post, where this story appeared, naturally doesn't bother to point out that most of the judges who ruled in the Schiavo case were Republican appointees with solid conservative credentials. Nor that consistently large majorities opposed the grandstanding intervention in the Schiavo affair. Nor that DeLay remains desperate to keep the focus off his atrocious record of corruption and extremism. Good thing they're a "liberal" paper, or else they'd probably be nominating him for the Papacy.

More broadly, it looks like the fundamentalist/absolutist faction of the Republican Party--led by DeLay himself--wants to make this whole argument substantially about, not principle or a vision of governance, but the record and character of Tom DeLay. Republicans who won't defend their leader simply won't be helped by a number of prominent conservative groups.

Frankly, I couldn't be happier about this; I don't see how progressives can possibly lose in this outcome. Beyond the fact that this upping of the ante will push blue-state Republican congressmen like Shays and Simmons of Connecticut to either repudiate DeLay or risk near-certain defeat, making DeLay the face and name of the Republican Party opens the door to potential huge Democratic wins next year.

• DeLay's record absolutely cannot stand close scrutiny, and it's not like his personality exactly helps things. In defending him, right-wingers open themselves to a virtually endless litany of charges on hypocrisy, cold-heartedness, excess and corruption. DeLay is a lot more popular among the money and fundie elites of the party than among the rank-and-file; I've been arguing with Republican friends for years that DeLay represents the true face of their party; they commonly respond that he's an aberration. This will now be an impossible argument to make.


• While "rallying around DeLay" is likely to split the Republican coalition (see below), it's also likely to foster Democratic unity. It's hard to imagine a more damning attack on DeLay than that offered by the DLC; I suspect that the Ed Kilgore and Bull Moose screeds against "the Bug Man" are probably well-received even on dKos, where the organization is generally loathed.


• Back to John Danforth and Glenn Reynolds, the former Senator and prominent blogger who spoke out against the Schiavo intervention and, by extension, the anything-goes/"just win, baby" ethos of today's Republican majority, embodied by Tom DeLay. I've gotten the sense for a long time that the more mature and responsible Republicans see DeLay as something of a necessary evil, occasionally embarrassing but generally useful in twisting arms and firing up the base. That balance is about to change, big-time, and I think we'll eventually see a race by the party's grown-ups to play Joseph Welch to DeLay's Joe McCarthy.

Last year, Democrats weren't sufficiently able to "make DeLay famous." If Republican groups want to do that work for us, the result will be a public perception that will make Newt Gingrich look like Santa Claus.