Sam Rosenfeld wonders why some of us are pointing out which Republicans think DeLay is naughty and which think he's nice. I understand his point - that it isn't DeLay that's the problem it's the entire Republican House. He's right to some extent, but there are other things going on here. First, one has to keep the scandal going over multiple news cycles. For that, you need "new news" - and, Republicans criticizing their own one by one provides a drip drip drip. The media are in minor feeding frenzy mode, but they still need something to feed on. Second, we need the media to accept that this is a bipartisan issue, otherwise it's just a usual "d vs. r spat." Once Republicans start coming out against him, CNN feels free to describe him with words like "embattled" as they did today. Third, whether or not DeLay goes down, it's great to get enough of them on record saying what a great guy he is.
The most important thing is keeping DeLay's name in the news as long as possible, letting him get tarred in the public's mind as a "bad unethical guy."
