Very elegantly done. And if anybody thinks the statement means DeLay is through permanently, that person doesn’t understand politics. If DeLay comes through the lousy Ronnie Earle business in Texas clean, which he probably will, and if he isn’t excessively bloodied by the Abramoff scandal, which we can’t know yet, he will be in a position in a few years to replace Hastert as Speaker of the House (should Republicans remain in charge). We’ve just spent the past several days reflecting on the political career of Ariel Sharon. Sharon staged a comeback from the total disgrace in which he fell in the mid-1980s. DeLay has wisely decided to retreat for now to fight again another day. (Unless, of course, he knows there’s a big shoe to drop against him and he’s just trying to clear the decks.)