Meet the New Boss?

Now, the Republicans are never going to find a Majority Leader that I'm comfortable with or that I like, mostly because I don't want them to have a Majority Leader at all. Of course, Tom Delay is one of the worst people ever, let alone what kind of politician he is. His troubles (i.e., his illegal, unethical and immoral behavior) have been well-documented over the last few months. So, one might be tempted to think that the House, even under Republican control, couldn't get a much worse Majority Leader than Ye Olde Hammer. DavidNYC at Swing State Project begs to differ:

If Blunt takes over for DeLay, it wouldn't be a succession so much as it would be a direct cloning process.

You see, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has named Roy Blunt one of the thirteen most-corrupt members of Congress, at their appropriately-named site "Beyond DeLay." The rap sheet on Blunt is longer than an elephant's trunk. He's done all the usual things, like take money from DeLay and Abramoff.

But he's also taken a trip to Korea paid for by a registered foreign agent (that's against House rules); wrote a letter on gambling favorable to an Abramoff client after taking money from Abramoff (that would be against the law); and tried to insert a stealth amendment benefitting tobacco giant Philip Morris into a Homeland Security bill (that's just plain scummy). The Philip Morris stuff is actually very interesting, because his son Andrew lobbies for Philip Morris; his wife Abigail also lobbies for Philip Morris; his other sonMatt (governor of Missouri) has received tons of questionable Philip Morris cash; and - wait for it - Blunt's biggest campaign contributor is Philip Morris. See a pattern here?

Indeed I do. While we may be forced to put up with Roy Blunt, Majority Leader for about a year, we can at least do our best to make sure he's Minority Leader for the 110th Congress. And if we could clone Tip O'Neill and install him as Speaker, that'd be great too.