Ivins on DeLay

The Free Press -- Independent News Media - Molly Ivins:

"I never minded DeLay being a tough guy -- it was his syrupy claims to carry the banner for Christianity that I found offensive, as he frog-marched the House toward being a cash-operated special-interest machine. The idea of putting pressure on lobbyists to give only to Republicans, pressuring lobbying firms into hiring only Republicans and then letting lobbyists sit at the table during committee meetings where legislation was written -- it was just screaming overt corruption.

Tom DeLay and Newt Gingrich turned the U.S. House of Representatives, 'the people's House,' into a pay-for-play machine for corporations. Put in enough money, get your special tax exemption, get your earmarked government contract, get your trade legislation and your environmental exemption, get rid of safety regulation.

I'd like to address the idea that what DeLay did was only 'payback' for the alleged sins of Jim Wright and then-House Majority Whip Tony Coelho, that it's 'our turn' at the trough, so why not act like Dan Rostenkowski? It's a great way to rationalize misbehavior, even if the misbehavior is as disproportionate as Wright's ethical peccadillo compared to the open corruption of DeLay's 'K Street Project,' selling Congress to the lobby. "

She has more to say at the link.