ding dong, the witch is dead

CNN and The Washington Post both are reporting that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will drop out of bid for reelection.

According to the Post, DeLay told House allies Monday night that he will step down from the House rather than face a reelection fight that appears increasly unwinnable.

It should be noted that this announcement comes on the heels of another former DeLay staffer, specifically his former deputy chief of staff, Tony C. Rudy, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and corruption charges. Rudy told federal prosecutors that his criminal enterprise was run out of DeLay's leadership offices.

It would appear that The Hammer sees the handwriting on the wall. Not only is he under indictment for money laundering in Texas, he appears headed for indictment in Washington, D. C., as well.

And I will be smiling insanely for the next several days. Live with it.

I'm guessing that DeLay realized that the 2006 Congressional elections were going to be focused on him, and alluded to that in an interview with Time Magazine that appeared on their website late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, depending on your time zone.

Unfortunately for the Republican from Sugar Land, Texas, it's too late. Tom DeLay fallout will be shaking down around Washington, D.C. and spreading like a GOP cancer across the country for months, if not years.

Jack Abramoff is an iceberg of corruption just waiting to founder. The more the former lobbyist melts, the worse things will get for Republicans.

And, of course, there's the fact that DeLay faces trial for his part in gerrymandering Texas politics to elect more Republicans to the House of Representatives.

With Delay headlines, and likely headlines involving Ohio's Bob Ney and others, springing up regularly, the DeLay ripples will keep coming like donuts on a Krispy Kreme assembly line right through November. And the dirtier DeLay's hands become as this onion of corruption gives up its layers, the more other members of the GOP power elite will be handcuffed to him and his sinking, stinking ship.

DeLay is trying to make himself out as a martyr riding off into the sunset to avoid the religious persecution coming his way because of his devout Christianity.

In reality, he's just the first rat to abandon the sinking ship.

More soon.