Ding, Dong, The Witch Is Dead!

by hilzoy

From Time, via Kevin Drum:

"Rep. Tom DeLay, whose iron hold on the House Republicans melted as a lobbying corruption scandal engulfed the Capitol, told TIME that he will not seek reelection and will leave Congress within months. Taking defiant swipes at "the left" and the press, he said he feels "liberated" and vowed to pursue an aggressive speaking and organizing campaign aimed at promoting foster care, Republican candidates and a closer connection between religion and government."

By the simple act of resigning, DeLay has already brought government closer to any God worth worshipping. And I share the sense of liberation that the knowledge that he is resigning has brought. I don't know how long it will last, what with the prospect of prison and all, but may he enjoy it while he has it. I am certainly enjoying mine, and I feel certain that, somewhere, the ghosts of Washington, Adams, Madison and Jefferson are resting a little easier.

In other news, I am back from Idaho; I got the house; and I'm really, really happy about Jill Carroll.

Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson, is a wonderful novel. You don't a t all have to be religious to read it, but an added bonus is this: if any of you are inclined to think badly of religion, it gives you a wonderful sense of what it is like to genuinely believe that there is a God who is absolutely good, asks a lot of us, and knows the human heart. If Jerry Falwell has given you the wrong idea about what Christianity might be, read this and get the right one. -- As I said, though, enjoying it is in no way dependent on caring about this; it's just a side benefit to the glorious writing.

And does anyone care to speculate about why our government has chosen to disregard disregard the statutory requirement to issue its Social Security report, and seems to have no idea when it will issue one? (Matt Yglesias points out later that the '98 report came out on April 28, but having no idea when it will come out when the deadline has already passed makes it sound as though it will be later.

Yglesias:

"There are two reasons for concern here. One is that the Trustees need to somehow keep coming up with new ways to justify ignoring the past several years worth of productivity growth, years worth of data that other government agencies routinely account for. The other thing is that the Report's immigration projections -- always implausible -- are now seriously at odds with the administration's immigration proposals."

Comments

[CaseyL]

The Hammer has dropped... out. Yippee! But they should go through his offices with a bell, book and candle.

Unfortunately, that means that the GOP will likely keep DeLay's seat, since the voters in that district are SFAIK very Republican. Even The Egregious DeLay had a 50-50 shot at winning.

I wonder if his decision was based on just the odds that he might lose, and how much was based on the odds of him being a convicted felon in the near future.

I've started Gilead. It's a glimpse into a time, place and mind totally unfamiliar to me. What keeps striking me is how constricted his world is - not his mind, or his heart, but his circumstances.

[liberal japonicus]

I think you should start a housewarming thread, unpolluted by any mention of Tom Delay.

[xanax]

Felicidades en su casa nueva, hilzoy! Great news, and, definitely, what lj said just above (on all counts).

And how'd you find Idaho? (no "rimshot" answers please).

Congrats to the Nat'l. Champ Florida Gators. They must be swingin from the lamp-posts in Gainesville tonight.

As has been said on this blog in the context of many a scoundrel... RE: DeLay - couldn't have happended to a nicer more deserving guy.

[Slartibartfast]

I certainly won't miss him. I'm glad he's bailing.

Enjoy your new home, hilzoy. Wait...were you just in your own private Idaho?

[Gary Farber]

"Unfortunately, that means that the GOP will likely keep DeLay's seat, since the voters in that district are SFAIK very Republican."

This isn't at all as true as it once was; you may or may not be thinking of DeLay's old district, before the redistricting scam. As part of that hat trick, which involved spreading solid Republic districts more widely, it was necessary as part of gaining more pretty-likely Republican seats to give up the solid hold previous districts held; and DeLay, as the chief plotter in all this, gave up more solidly Republican areas than any other Republican Representative in Texas.

As a result, his distrct, the Texas 22nd, raised the Democratic number of voters about 5%. See here. DeLay only managed to get 55% of the vote in 2004, before his Abramoff problems. He was on a sure course to lose this time, and couldn't even pull out an impressive primary win.

Nick Lampson has a fair shot at winning the seat now, although I certainly wouldn't count on it. The odds are still somewhat against him, but I wouldn't call DeLay's only managing 55% in 2004 evidence of a sure thing for the Republican nominee, either.

Nick Lampson's site is here. You can donate to his campaign here. (He did a podcast with Wes Clark last week, by the way.) Individuals can donate up to $4200, but they'll take donations as small as $5, too. More about Lampson here.

[hilzoy]

Slarti: I haven't seen the movie or read the book, so actually I don't know exactly what 'my own private Idaho' refers to. (I know that didn't stop me from using the phrase; I've always liked it.) In this case, I was in the public one too.

Thanks for the good wishes on the house. -- Six figure sums always make me very, very nervous, but I think this house is a good one. (Townhouse: I'll be moving in from the country. Three floors plus unfinished basement. 1850. Quite nice. But Mr. Nils, the cat who has very much enjoyed having acres and acres all his own, may never forgive me.)

[Debbie(aussie)]

Good luck and best wishes Hilzoy for you and your new home.
Re Delay- are the chances good that he will be convicted? After every thing I have read and heard, re he, Abramoff and friends, they deserve to be sent to gaol. However it seems that people like him somehow seem to get away with it,(the power of money).

[John Thullen]

The witch is dead.

So far, so good. But he plans to keep releasing flying monkeys.

The flying monkeys must be purged. Thousands throughout government, perching gargoyle- like on those buildings in Washington, and in state and local capitals throughout Oz.

One house has fallen. Many more must go crash from the sky before the Munchkins emerge giggling from the flowery verge.

[hilzoy]

[sucks helium]

giggle

[/sucks helium]

[Gary Farber]

"Re Delay- are the chances good that he will be convicted?"

I'd probably want to at least wait for him to be indicted before making a guess, myself. It's unusual for someone who hasn't been charged with a crime to be convicted, as a rule.

ObSpelling: it's "DeLay," not "Delay."

My Own Private Idaho. Reviews. Ebert. Script.

I seem to recall trying to watch it on cable some years ago (obviously, at a time I had cable), and falling asleep.

Which I've been doing uncontrollably like mad again the last six weeks, particularly during the day, which is driving me crazy, and keeping me from writing much, or doing anything, save in brief periods late at night, but I digress. I'm quite sure Gus Van Sant has not been indicted in this matter.

[rilkefan]

I didn't enjoy _My Own Private Idaho_, but it's worth seeing for Keanu Reeves's performance and for his dialogue - both are, uhh, sui generis.

[Anderson]

"Private Idaho," you cultural illiterates, is a B-52's song: "You've been living in your own private Idaho," etc. What have y'all been wasting your time on?

Thanks for the buzz on Gilead, Hilzoy. Reminds me that Marilynne Robinson has a great book of essays, The Death of Adam, which among other things does more to make John Calvin seem plausible than anything I've ever read by a Calvinist: no small feat.

She also introduces the new Vintage Spiritual Classics anthology of Calvin (which incidentally addresses a glaring need: for his effect on Western culture, there is NADA by Calvin in the typical bookstore).

I want it but I have so far stuck to my 2006 pledge not to buy any books, but rather to read the books I bought last year, & in 2004, etc.

[matttbastard]

I'd probably want to at least wait for him to be indicted before making a guess, myself. It's unusual for someone who hasn't been charged with a crime to be convicted, as a rule.

Gary, where were you last fall?

;-)

[Anarch]

hilzoy, is there - is there balm in Gilead? Tell me - tell me, I implore!

[Anarch]

No, seriously. I'm itching like crazy over here.

[Slartibartfast]

Anderson has the reference as I intended it to be taken. B-52s are a hoot.

[kenB]

Did Anarch just say there was a bomb in Gilead? Damn Al Qaeda, they're everywhere! Or was it ETA?

[Anderson]

Great, kenB, now we *all* have to be taken in for questioning. Thanks a lot.

[Gary Farber]

"Gary, where were you last fall?"

Oh, yeah. I knew I shouldn't post when I can't stay awake. :-(

[KCinDC]

Gary obviously was quite rightly ignoring that indictment as the act of an out-of-control partisan prosecutor out to persecute Christians.

[Anarch]

As always, the Medium Lobster has the perfect epigram:

He has endured one of the cruelest smear campaigns in recent political memory, a bitter and protracted effort to paint him as a criminal simply because he broke the law.

[pedro]

hilzoy-

I had been thinking about buying and reading Gilead, since a lot of people I care for and respect seem to have a reaction to it similar to yours. Instead, I bought Housekeeping, by the same author, and found it to be unremarkable enough that I forgot about my plan to read Gilead. I hope you take it as a compliment that I am now again seriously considering reading it.

[Slartibartfast]

I blame von for not blogging about this.