I can't believe Tom DeLay is gone...

And it's only taken, like, two years!

I thought it would never happen. I figured that DeLay was so powerful he'd find some way to weasel out of the charges being lobbed at him (way to mix the metaphors, eh?) and run for president. But, lo and behold, he actually figured out, for himself, that running for re-election might be a bad thing.

In a way, it's too bad for the Democrats. With DeLay running, they stood a chance of swaying enough voters to get a predominantly Republican (oh, wait -- all the Texas districts are predominantly Republican, thanks to Tom DeLay and his federal help to the Texas Republicans...but wasn't that against federal law? Guess not, nothing ever came of it...) district to elect a Democrat. Now the Republican party will find a new candidate.

All this is good for 22nd district -- they, like all Americans, deserve to choose between two ethical candidates, and not be represented by someone who abuses his power.

Which brings me to another point. I never will understand why the Republicans didn't go running, screaming, away from DeLay. This is a party that embraces conservative values. One of those values, I have always thought, was a strict adherence to the law. Tom DeLay, as majority leader, was censured twice for unethical behavior. When he campaigned for my current representative, I spoke out about it.

Still, I thought that, even with the apparent atmosphere of corruption in his office, as evidenced by recent revelations by former staff members, that he would find some way of letting it wash around him without touching him.

The United States Congress, indeed the whole government, should act with dignity and in accordance with the law. Certainly that is no less than is expected of the average citizen. I am glad the Tom DeLay has chosen not to run again for office. Whatever the outcome of the indictments facing him, the Congress is better off without him.

I try not to speak harshly about people, only their points of view. But nothing makes me madder than a Christian who spouts "Christian ethics" and turns out to be breaking the very rules he is elected to uphold.