Why the Hammer broke

DeLay says he is has abandoned his bid to remain as House majority leader though most say he never had really has a chance to return anyway.

In a letter to rank-and-file Republicans, DeLay said, "During my time in Congress, I have always acted in an ethical manner within the rules of our body and the laws of our land. I am fully confident time will bear this out."

At the same time, "I cannot allow our adversaries to divide and distract our attention," the Texas Republican wrote.

Here's why...

There's an important point here which is so obvious that one might miss it. For years, a decade really, Tom DeLay has helped run the Republican Congress like a thug. It was way back in 1999 when DeLay earned his first slap from the ethics committee for "threatening a Washington trade association with retaliation for hiring a prominent Democrat as its president." It was crystal clear at that moment, if not well before, what kind of operation DeLay was running. But DeLay's power only grew from there, and that action, far from tempering DeLay's behavior, expanded into a massive, unabashed racket called the K Street Project which has become such an entrenched part of Washington that is has its own website for all to see. From there, DeLay went on to collect three ethics admonishments in 2004. Not a single Republican came out for his removal at that point. He then went on to be indicted in Texas, even as stories of his spectacular pay-for-play partnership with Jack Abramoff were streaming out in the media. And still, hardly a single Republican called for DeLay's permanent removal from Leadership, all content for him to continue running the show and twisting arms behind the scenes. For all those years, the Republicans were more than happy to ride the DeLay, Inc. gravy train and vote as he told them.

So what was it that finally got Republicans to revolt, and to ask for new Leadership? Was it the revelation of some action or behavior that took his corruption to new levels? Was it a spontaneous, collective crisis of the conscience?

No. It was a plea bargain by Jack Abramoff. No new information came out about DeLay himself.

DeLay was not kicked out for what he had done. He was kicked out for getting caught.

Update: C&L has the video of his outgoing press conference (campaign rally) in Sugar Land.