If there's one thing Republicans really hate it's when a Democrat goes on the attack with as much passion & fire as Republicans do on nearly a daily basis. Typical schoolyard bully stuff: he carries on at will, shoving kids around, poking fun at those weaker, but once you actually stand up to him and fight back, he is stunned and then becomes petulant.

The latest example of this is House Dem leader Nancy Pelosi, who recently came out with very strong language against Bush. Of the Republicans who have quickly denounced her words, I think Tom DeLay's criticism strikes me as the most hypocritical (surprise!). DeLay bemoans, ""She apparently is so caught up in the partisan hatred for President Bush that her words are putting American lives at risk.... This nation cannot afford the luxury of her dangerous rhetoric.''

What a laugh, DeLay tagging someone else with the "partisan hatred" label. DeLay, with the help of Gingrich, single-handedly converted the Republican Party from being at least somewhat moderate when it came to dealing with their fellow Democrats, to a party that has become absolutely intolerant of not just Dems, but also moderate Republicans. The party as it was under Reagan now looks like a fairly liberal party compared to the current version ruled with an iron fist by religious zealots, corporate lobbyists, affluent cronies, and neocon crazies.

Never mind the way in which DeLay treated our former president with such respect & honor for eight years (!), but let's just recall some of the statements he made with regards to Clinton's Kosovo war:

"Clinton's bombing campaign has caused all of these problems to explode"

Clinton "has no plan for the end" and "recognizes that Milosevic will still be in power.... The bombing was a mistake. ... And this president ought to show some leadership and admit it, and come to some sort of negotiated end."

DeLay called this refusal "really disappointing" and a failure of "leadership.... The president ought to open up negotiations and come to some sort of diplomatic end."

DeLay suggested that the United States should pull out unilaterally: "When Ronald Reagan saw that he had made a mistake putting our soldiers in Lebanon ... he admitted the mistake, and he withdrew from Lebanon."

You think Tommy-boy will say this same thing (Reagan/Lebanon) about Bush & Iraq? Highly doubtful. And oh yes, of course he would not regard such statements as "dangerous rhetoric." Nope, only if it's directed against his guy. We won't even get into how night-and-day different Clinton's Kosovo operation went in comparison to this Iraq debacle.

A party who has a fool and a scoundrel like DeLay as their leader can only have much bigger fools as supporters.