Inappropriate Content: Kakistocracy©

DeLay Is Indicted and Forced to Step Down as Majority Leader

About bloody time. Yeah, yeah, Washington is filled with corrupt politicians, on both sides of the aisle, and so on. [Insert rant about how politics is a dirty business here.]

That doesn't make it any less satisfying to see a truly deserving man get savaged. Pass the popcorn.

Okay, moving on, the Washington Post is covering DeLay's replacement, Representative David Dreier of California. The go-to blog for California politics, Phoblographer noted Dreier's appointment, but only to note that he apparently went to a good college. Keep reading for the sure-to-be-forthcoming profile on the man.

While we wait for the final word from Christiana, I'd like to note the striking similarity, at first brush, between Dreier and soon-to-be-Chief Justice John Roberts. The Washington Post describes Dreier thus:

Skilled at one-on-one politics _ he seems never to forget a name _ Dreier maintains a reliably conservative voting record on economic issues and follows the lead of Republican leaders. He never comes off as extreme. ... Dreier has a more moderate voting record on some social issues than DeLay, for example opposing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage that DeLay supported. He is a frequent face on television talk shows, particularly after serving as one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's top supporters when the actor ran for governor in 2003.

His stance on the marriage amendment is a difference, presumably—we know practically nothing about Robert's actual policy stands on, well, anything. But the archetype is the same: thoughtful, controversial, genial, charming, and so forth. This is the face the GOP is trying to project now, apparently. Not controversial, not angry, not divisive. Why?

A few reasons, of course. First is that the Republicans are the party in power now, and have been for a while, and "things are going well, stick with us" doesn't lend itself to the revolutionary spirit.

Secondly, and paradoxally, is the fact that Republicans in general and the President in specific are in a weakened position compared to six months ago. Their policies and their governance have little support in the opinion polls. In the '05 and '06 elections, they really have little they can gain and much they can use. (Quilly's "60 in '06" slogan had a very short half-life.)

I'm not surprised that the GOP has concluded that a non-abrasive image is what's needed now. I hope that it won't work, of course, but it's probably what I'd try in their place.

In any case, they'll at least win the first skirmish in this particular battle. Dreier will certainly come off as genial, charming, and smart enough to most people. That paragraph I quoted is the brief, heavily edited version of the Washington Post's short introduction. In other words: it's exactly what'll get played on the cable networks and evening news. (I hate television. I hate it without pity.) It's not like there's all that much more in the articles. The Post, for example, includes this sentence: "A native of Kansas City, Mo., Dreier is unmarried." That's an exceedingly boring sentence that has no meaning, except perhaps a veiled one. I'll ask around.