More Leaks in the S.S. DeLay

DeLay's thus-far impenetrable armor got at least a couple of dents in it this weekend. As I mentioned earlier, Sen. Santorum said DeLay should answer questions about the ethics allegations against him. The AP how has a story out about Santorum's comments, as well as those of Sen. Dodd on the same program.

As Joshua Micah Marshall notes today, citing a Greenwich Time story, Rep. Chris Shays, everyone's favorite RINO, went after DeLay on Saturday before a group of fifty or so constituents at an open meeting in Greenwich, CT. "He is an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party," Shays said. Asked if he thought DeLay would hold onto his position, Shays responded "Do I think Tom DeLay will be the majority leader by the end of the term? No. I don't think Tom DeLay is going to survive. He goes to the edge and he goes beyond ... Even knowing there's a microscope on him, he continues to do these things." Shays told his audience that he will never vote for DeLay as House Speaker, adding "With all due respect, I can be accused of a lot of things, but supporting Tom DeLay is not one of them."

Would that there were two hundred more Republicans like Chris Shays in the House of Representatives.

Finally (with thanks to Marshall and the Bull Moose for the alert) Newsweek reports in this week's issue that Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who arranged the funding for the trips that are now getting DeLay into some hot water and worked with him on many other issues, is feeling abandoned and is beginning to lash out. "Everybody is lying," Abramoff has reportedly told a former colleague. Following denials by DeLay and his staff that they knew of Abramoff's role in the funding of several trips and other lobbying efforts, Abramoff said "Those S.O.B.s ... DeLay knew everything. He knew all the details."

[Update: The AP has just released a story featuring an interview with Chris Shays. "Tom's conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election," Shays told the AP, "calling for DeLay to step down as majority leader." Shays continued: "My party is going to have to decide whether we are going to continue to make excuses for Tom to the detriment of Republicans seeking election." I'm glad that there's at least one other Republican who's ready to stop making excuses. -- 6:02 p.m.]