Tom Delay is a goner. We can hope and pray that he is successful in hanging on. In which case, we have a golden opportunity to retake the House in 06. But, that's probably wishful thinking.
The next best thing is if we can make the Delay ethics problem a GOP ethics problem. WE, of course, believe that Delay's deep corruption is business as usual for the GOP. But, we need to make the average voter believe that.
Towards that end, I would suggest that all PR efforts against Delay shift away from attacking Delay directly and focus on Denny Hastert and the GOP caucus. Two specific ideas:
- Demand that the GOP remove Delay from their leadership team. Demanding that Delay resign makes it about him. Demanding that the GOP act help makes it about them.
- Demand that the GOP reinstate the purged members of the ethics committee and agree to fair rules governing the committee's ability to sanction.
These two demands could be combined in one ad ... "Today, there is a cloud hanging over the House of Representatives. On
__, the House Ethics committee voted to sanction Tom Delay for
___. As we now know, this was just the tip of the iceberg in an enormous corruption scandal whose magnitude is still unfolding. _ weeks after the committee vote, the Republican leadership purged the committee of three Republicans who dared stand up to Tom Delay. They went even further by enacting rules gutting the committee's power to sanction representatives for corrupt behavior. If this cloud is to be removed, the republican leadership must act now. They must remove Tom Delay from his leadership position. They must reinstate
__, __ and
___ to their positions on the ethics committee. And, they must restore the old rules. The American people need to know that democracy is not for sale. Just do it."
