The single most effective member of the congressional majority is bound to be the top target of the political minority. When he is as aggressive and creative as Majority Leader Tom “The Hammer” DeLay, his frustrated enemies are as aggressively creative in drumming up allegations in the hope of bringing him down. The most recent charges leveled at DeLay revolve around laws not broken, bad things he didn’t do, and the good he does do; these accusations have no more merit than the phony charges DeLay has fought off in the past.
Republican congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia explains why DeLay is the Democrats’ target of choice: “He outworks, out-hustles, out-thinks them, and then out-strategizes them when it comes to floor action.” Cantor believes that Democrats view a Republican congressional majority as so contrary to the natural political order that only deceit can explain Republican success. One of Cantor’s more liberal Republican colleagues, Fred Upton of Michigan, agrees, saying DeLay is a target because “he’s kept his head above the foxhole. We’ve had a ton of victories this year. I think he’s damn effective.”
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