DeLay starting to resemble Nixon; How many more days will this crook twist in the wind? Shays and Santorum want DeLay to go away

Shays Says DeLay Should Step Down

Apr 10, 4:44 PM (ET)

By LOU KESTEN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep. Christopher Shays said Sunday that fellow Republican Rep. Tom DeLay should step down as House majority leader because his continuing ethics problems are hurting the GOP.

'Tom's conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election,' Shays told The Associated Press on Sunday.

DeLay, R-Texas, has been dogged in recent months by reports of possible ethics violations. There have been questions about his overseas travel, campaign payments to family members and his connections to lobbyists who are under investigation.

A moderate Republican from Connecticut who has battled with his party's leadership on a number of issues, Shays said efforts by the House GOP members to change ethics rules to protect DeLay only make the party look bad.

'My party is going to have to decide whether we are going to continue to make excuses for Tom to the detriment of Republicans seeking election,' Shays said.

Rick Santorum, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, said Sunday that DeLay needs to answer questions about his ethics.

'I think he has to come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it and let the people then judge for themselves,' Santorum told ABC's 'This Week.''But from everything I've heard, again, from the comments and responding to those, is everything he's done was according to the law.

'Now you may not like some of the things he's done,' said Santorum, who is up for re-election next year in Pennsylvania. 'That's for the people of his district to decide, whether they want to approve that kind of behavior or not.'

DeLay's spokesman, Dan Allen, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the congressman 'looks forward to the opportunity of sitting down with the ethics committee chairman and ranking member to get the facts out and to dispel the fiction and innuendo that's being launched at him by House Democrats and their liberal allies.'

The majority leader was admonished three times last year by that committee. The committee has been in limbo since March, when its five Democrats balked at adopting Republican-developed rules.....'

I hope he stays in his post. He reflects the reality of the republican party, the others just try and hide their bribes and mass corruption better. Delay is so arrogant with power he believes he can do anything he wants and if anyone questions it then they are just leftist anti American traitors. As long as FOXnews and Rush is around to back him up no matter what kind of crimes he does there is no telling how long he will lead the republican party.

So what?? He's emasculated the ethics committee, so all they can do is nod their heads up and down..... Hell, he could confess to murder and they would ... nod their heads up and down....

The longer he twists in the wind and shows the Republicans for what they really are, the better I like it.

Joe Blow