Chris Shays Runs for the Hills

Or, more accurately, runs away from the lunatic on the Hill.

"[Tom DeLay] is an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party," U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, told more than 50 Greenwich residents yesterday morning at Town Hall. He was in Greenwich to host a public forum, open to all political parties, on whatever pressing issues attendees were interested in discussing.

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"He knows that . . . if he ever runs for speaker, I get to vote on the House floor, and my 'No' vote combined with the Democrats means he will never be speaker," Shays said, drawing applause from the room. "One of the things I want to say here is that Tom DeLay will never be speaker in Congress."

"With all due respect, I can be accused of a lot of things, but supporting Tom DeLay is not one of them," Shays added.

Amusing. However, I’m not convinced that DeLay is somehow more uniquely corrupt, radical, bad for the Republican Party, or deserving of rebuke than a number of other current GOP officeholders, right to the top. DeLay is, perhaps, exceptional in his bravado, making him, well, ripe for the picking. But I’d be more impressed if Shays would denounce the entire cancer of extremism that is crippling the GOP and the country, rather than focusing his ire on a single, easily removed tumor.