Well, Mr. Delay has saved himself from a "bruising" (please?) reelection fight that would have been quite tame compared to his upcoming legal battles.  Saying one's been undone by rabidly partisan Democrats means you never have to say you're sorry and so goes Tom.  Then again, when the people who ran your congressional office, a number of good friends (ie. campaign contributors and lobbyists) have been convicted of a variety of bribery and public corruption charges, and oh, by the way they're all suddenly wanting spill to the Feds, its gonna be really hard not to say that you didn't notice anything was wrong.  Watch his retirement speech and tell me the man doesn't seem more than a little nervous.  Whatever happens to Tom Delay from here on out its worth remembering that the Republican Party that holds Capitol Hill is Tom Delay's Republican Party, he built it, paid for it, and gave it its corrupt "ends justify the means" ethic and although the man is gone, his stench remains. 

 What is hard to believe is that by stepping down Delay can just convert his campaign chest into a legal defense fund?  Did those contributors give money to Mr. Delay with the thought of helping him avoid criminal prosecution?  Do you think most of the people that gave the man money did so knowing it would cover his legal bills?  I don't, nor should they, the man has his own money and plenty of fat-cat friends he's done favors for for years that he can go to if he needs it.  Knowing him he'll even raid one of those phony charity organizations he's set up for the money, but please, just leave the political contributions and contributors out of it.  If anything Democrats should introduce legislation to overturn any such provision in federal law as soon as possible because it in effect endorses all the crap Mr. Delay has pulled over the years. 

Make the Delay Republican Party vote to protect their man one more time... you know they want to and I can't think of a better opportunity to put their lack of principle or integrity in perspective.