Three Cheers for DeLay

HuffPoster Cenk Uygur is uncorking the Champagne:

"The Hammer is down and out! It's a good day to be an American.

"If I sound festive, that's because I am. One of the cornerstones of Republican corruption and fundamentalism has been knocked out. Greed is not good. Justice does prevail. There is hope in the world.

"For six long years, a lot of us have been asking, 'How long can this go on?' It seemed like there was never going to be any check on these out of control Republicans running the country into the ground. Now, it looks like the American system does work after all.

"Let me be the first to say -- before DeLay even announces his resignation -- that he is not resigning because he wants to spend more time with his family. It might very well be because he needs to spend more time in prison.

"Last week, prosecutors were singing the praises of Jack Abramoff in open court, telling a judge in one of his cases how cooperative he has been with federal prosecutors. . . . No way DeLay steps down unless they've nailed him. What, he was afraid of a tough electoral fight in November? It's inconceivable that would scare him away."

Hey, nobody likes to lose.

Andrew Sullivan questions the silence on the right:

"You know it's bad for the GOP when National Review and Instapundit barely mention the big news of the day. Tom DeLay's resignation from elective politics, barely a year and a half after the triumphant Republican re-election campaign of 2004, is a remarkable fall from grace. It happened because the bankruptcy of contemporary Republicanism is increasingly unmissable. And it happened because of obvious corruption, sleaze and a complete lack of broad public appeal. DeLay's skills were not retail; they were back-door: the schemes and deals and handshakes that are inextricable from effective government but not pretty in daylight. DeLay took that ruthlessness too far, got exposed, and now fairly taints the GOP's broad national image."

Instapundit does say he's never been a DeLay fan.

Betsy's Page says DeLay has denied the Dems his seat:

"The Republicans have to be heaving a sigh of relief about Tom DeLay stepping down. They won't have to defend his ties to corruption. And the Democrats must be cursing. We now go from having a close race that could have been a Democratic pickup to one that the GOP will most probably win. The liberals can celebrate this scalp on their belts, but they will have won the battle and lost the war."