Shays It Ain't So

So now the media feeding frenzy surrounding Tom DeLay -- and don't get me wrong, this is a completely overdue and delicious buffet line -- is speculating that the Texas Republican's days must be numbered because a fellow GOP lawmaker, Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, is calling on DeLay to step down as House majority leader.

Umm, let's not be toasting DeLay's political demise just yet. First, the ostensible criticism from Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has been decidedly bland ("I think he has to come forward and lay out what he did ... but from everything I've heard ... everything he's done was according to the law"), while other GOP lawmakers have been even noticeably quiet.

And Shays is hardly a typical Republican. The guy is pro-choice, a leading proponent of campaign finance reform and a frequent critic of DeLay's. Hell, he was one of the few House Republicans to vote against the Bill Clinton impeachment. Trying to deduce anything about DeLay's future by what Shays has to say is like asking Zell Miller where the Democratic Party is headed next.