DeLay Still In Power in the House

In the day of Lyndon Johnson, Tip O'Neill, the Speaker of the House was the leader of the Majority Party in the House, setting the agenda, and determining the legislative direction. Not any more.

Even though DeLay has been indicted and forced to relinquish his title as Majority Leader, he's still in charge. How do we know?

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert nominated "Rep. David Dreier of California, chairman of the Rules Committee and an affable leader who would step aside should DeLay be cleared and seek to return to his post."([see Baltimore Sun article]). And how many votes did he receive in the GOP House Caucus? ZERO. None. Nada. The House Speaker's hand-picked candidate got no support from the membership.

ALL votes when to Roy Blunt of Missouri -- who is now the Majority Speaker. And who is Roy Blunt? Well, we now know that Roy Blunt is a congressman who took $150K from DeLay -- who had ostensibly raised the money from corporate donors not for political purposes, but to pay for "entertainment at the 2004 Republican National Convention." National Election Law takes a dim view of raising money not for political purposes (which the Federal Election Commission does not control) and then using it for political purposes (which it does).

So, it was DeLay's co-conspirator in dirty money-laundering scandal who is now the Majority Leader.

And the guy is toast.