Another Boring Tom DeLay Post

I know this is getting tiresome, but I couldn't resist.  After all, I hated Tom DeLay before it was cool to hate Tom DeLay.  A few readers with good memories might recall when I blogged, a while back, about yet another instance of Tom DeLay's hypocrisy:

---

He [DeLay] boasted about the White House's recent budget projections (unaware that Brad DeLong was lying in wait with a blistering refutation).  DeLay was quoted in the Houston Chronicle:

"The falling deficit projections should come as no surprise to anyone aware of Republican fiscal policies," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, said. "Lower taxes and spending discipline spur economic growth, which in turn cuts the deficit."

But if pending discipline spurs economic growth, then why does he boast, on his own website...

Washington, Jul 29 - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) today announced significant transportation funding increases for Texas, bringing highway funding levels to the highest in state history.

Why? I guess spending discipline is appropriate only for textile workers, not DeLay's own constituents.

---

Well, Mr. DeLay recently appeared at a meeting of the Heritage Foundation.  As reported in the Washington Post, (use this link after two weeks) DeLay had to do a little backpeddling:

Former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who was instrumental in shaping the highway bill in the House, apologized for its excesses during an appearance on Thursday before the Heritage Foundation.

In a speech to a group of conservative academics and policy experts, DeLay blamed the runaway spending of recent years on minority Democrats. When he took questions, the first came from a senior official at the American Conservative Union, who asked DeLay, "How large does the Republican majority in the House and Senate need to be before Republicans act like the fiscal conservative I thought we were?"

"I'm not here to defend the highway bill," DeLay responded. He described the overall 1,000-page legislation, which funds major interstate, bridge and mass transit projects and distributes gasoline tax revenue to states according to a formula, as an important economic development tool. He conceded that Congress may have gone a bit overboard.

"Our responsibility, that frankly we didn't perform very well, is to make sure those are legitimate earmarks for legitimate reasons," DeLay said, referring to the pet projects.

The Washington Post article is a great example of the making of sausage; read the whole thing if you are in the mood to get upset at our government.  

It appears that a little indictment brings a little humility.  Perhaps our entire Congress could use some of the same treatment.