GOP Leadership sees the light!

House G.O.P. Voids Rule It Adopted Shielding LeaderWASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - Stung by criticism that they were lowering ethical standards, House Republicans on Monday night reversed a rule change that would have allowed a party leader to retain his position even if indicted.

Lawmakers and House officials said Republicans, meeting behind the closed doors of the House chamber, had acted at the request of the House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay, who had been the intended beneficiary of the rule change.

When they rewrote party rules in November, Republicans said they feared that Mr. DeLay could be subjected to a politically motivated indictment as part of a campaign finance investigation in Texas that has resulted in charges against three of his associates. The decision, coupled with other Republican proposals to rewrite the ethics rules, drew fierce criticism from Democrats and watchdogs outside the government, who said the Republican majority was subverting ethics enforcement.

I actually can't believe this. The DeLay rule was one of the most controversial ethics rules in the last ten years in the House and I thought that it ws just going to be passed no matter what the electorate thought. All of the signs were lining up saying that DeLay was just going to ram this one home to save his own sorry ass.

Apparently there are more than a few GOP lawmakers who value their own tushies a bit more than they value "strong leadership." I am very glad to hear that they are seeing (or possibly hearing from constituents) that this course of action may be worse for the country than it's benefits would be good.

It seems to me that to be the party of "moral leadership" you might want to practice what you preach. Allowing Delay to serve in a leadership position while under indictment in Texas for campaign finance abuses, after hammering others for the same thing, might seem a bit hypocritical. Finally this message seems to be getting through.

The GOP Leadership in today's annnouncement also stated that they were leaving untouched the curent, tough ethics rules that, as recently as last night, were under threat of eviceration. This might signal that there is beginning to be a genuine moral backlash to the "morality" party's ill concieved relaxation of ethics rules.

More will almost certainly be made of this in the next few days. I will endeavour to bring more detail as it comes available.