Tom DeLay To Become Speaker?
Charles Kuffner takes up the rumor reported by Chris Elam that Tom DeLay might shortly become Speaker of the House, and wonders:
Mostly what puzzles me is that this would make DeLay a lot more visible, and thus a lot easier for Democrats to run against in 2006. I guarantee that one of the first things to happen after this were to be announced would be another round of editorials bashing DeLay and the Congressional Republicans for their ethics problems. All of which is fine by me, of course, but I'm not seeing what the Republicans will get out of it.
The Republicans get effective conservative leadership in Congress. Those of us who remember the days of Bob Michel can appreciate the difference. As Chris puts it,
It is undeniable that Tom DeLay will be a strong Speaker. He is a natural leader, he has persuasive skills, and he has worked hard to lead the Republicans to this historical majority.
As far as lefty bloggers and activists thinking they can build their comeback on being anti-DeLay (and leaving aside the notion that the anti-Bush comeback strategy has not worked out too well), Orrin Judd posted some interesting numbers not all that long ago that suggest this might not work as well the lefties hope:
When Americans have just elected a guy president they're inclined to cut him some slack even if he doesn't thrill them, but some other numbers here are astonishing:
G. Howard Dean
Favorable--31
Unfavorable--38H. House Republican Leader, Tom DeLay
Favorable--29
Unfavorable--24I. The Republican Party
Favorable--56
Unfavorable--39J. The Democratic Party
Favorable--46
Unfavorable--47
Those numbers suggest to me that Howard Dean may be more of a problem for the Dems than the potential elevation of DeLay to Speaker is likely to be a positive for their Party. We'll see how it plays out.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/18/05 14:36 | American Politics | Technorati
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Comments
At the risk of sounding anti-Texas, wouldn't Jim Wright be a more appropriate comparison than Bob Michel at least in perception?
Posted by Tom Hanna @ 23:34 on 02/18/05
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