Years ago, House Speaker Sam Rayburn declared: “Every now and then, a politician ought to do something just because it’s right.”
Which brings us to the carny sideshow of Rep. George Santos, the Republican lawmaker so bizarrely dishonest that even a majority of Congress critters finally gagged and tossed him out. But now we’re being treated to the institutional spectacle of Republican members piously proclaiming that his expulsion shows that the GOP is “the party of accountability,” courageously establishing a “high standard of integrity.”
However, before they have to put their arms in slings from patting themselves so vigorously on the back, let’s put a tape measure to that “high standard” they set. Santos has been exposed as a shameless—almost laughable—crook, grifter, liar and pathetic narcissistic loser. So that is the Republicans’ ethical red line: If you’re not as unimaginably-awful as Santos, we’ve got your back!
Wait, there’s more. It took House leaders practically a year before finally expelling the guy they knew to be criminal and deplorably rotten, and then twice rejected earlier efforts to oust him because, sleazy or not, they needed George’s vote. And even in last week’s final showdown, current GOP speaker Mike Johnson and all of the party’s top leaders voted to keep the scoundrel in Congress—again because they rely on his vote. In fact, a majority of House Republicans voted to keep their totally-unscrupulous colleague in their ranks. Integrity?
Also, pardon my rudeness, but let me note that these same paragons of GOP virtue aided and abetted the scurrilous attempt by America’s former Liar-in-Chief to overthrow the vote of the people in the 2020 presidential election. And now Mike and team are all rushing to pledge their fealty to the re-election of that same rancid ego, whose criminality and delusions of grandeur dwarf the sad fantasies of the guy they expelled.
Yes, Santos is a despicable, unethical stain on the ideal of honest government—but what does that make Johnson & Company?
For our premium subscribers, we thought you might enjoy this blast from the past, reminding you that “godly,” corrupt Congress critters are not new. Remember this guy?
Tom DeLay thinks he’s God’s man in Congress
November 2003
In politics, especially in the South, it’s not uncommon to be tagged with a nickname. In my first run for office here in Texas, I became widely known as “Whole Hog” Hightower after I gave a particularly fiery speech at the state AFL-CIO convention. Noting that our state government had long served the corporate elites, leaving only pork rinds and pigs’ feet for the working families, I declared that it was time for regular folks to go into the smokehouse of Texas politics and, at long last, claim the whole hog for themselves. In some circles, I’m still greeted with fond shouts of “Whole Hog!” whenever they see me.
So if nicknames can characterize you, what are we to make of Mr. Tom DeLay, the Republican leader of the U.S. Congress? Despite his high position, the great majority of Americans don’t know DeLay’s name and wouldn’t recognize him if he walked up and kicked them in their collective butt (which he’s actually doing from the backrooms of Washington). But those who do know Tom have dubbed him not with one nickname but several, all of which attest to his relentless and ruthless pursuit of their extremist causes: The Hammer, Rottweiler, The Bug Man, Dereg, The Messiah and (Tom’s personal favorite) The Exterminator.
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