And When The Lamb Broke The Fourth Seal...

My advice - don't eat any of the fish floating in the rivers...

In one of the most shocking moves of the year, Tom DeLay will be resigning from office. After his top former aide plead guilty to influence pedaling out of the former Republican leaders office, the prospects for DeLay's re-election were looking even grimmer.

I can only suspect that there is more to come to incriminate DeLay. While things were looking bad for DeLay, he is not one to give up a fight and he has never been one to give in to political pressure of any sort.

Certainly DeLay stands to gain much in stepping down. He will undoubtedly make 10 times the money he made in office as a lobbyist, doing legally now what he was doing illegally before. He will be able to benefit from the special interest racket that he has helped creat over the last 20 years.

But something tells me there is much more to this story than what we are hearing.

DeLay to Resign From Congress
By Jonathan Weisman and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, April 4, 2006; 8:06 AM

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), a primary architect of the Republican majority who became one of the most powerful and feared leaders in Washington, said this morning that he will give up his seat rather than face a reelection fight that appears increasingly unwinnable.

In a videotaped message aired this morning on stations in his home district, DeLay said that "the voters in the 22nd District of Texas deserve a campaign about the vital national issues they care most about . . . and not a campaign focused solely as a referendum on me. So today I am announcing my intention to resign my seat in the House."

The decision came three days after Tony C. Rudy, his former deputy chief of staff, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and corruption charges, telling federal prosecutors of a criminal enterprise being run out of DeLay's leadership offices. Rudy's plea agreement did not implicate DeLay in any illegal activities, but by placing the influence-buying efforts of disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff directly in DeLay's operation, the former aide may have made an already difficult reelection bid all but out of reach.

DeLay, who will turn 59 on Saturday, did not say precisely when he would step down, but under Texas law he must either die, be convicted of a felony, or move out of his district to be removed from the November ballot. DeLay told Time magazine that he is likely to change his official residence from Sugar Land, Tex., to Alexandria by the end of May. He said he informed President Bush of his decision yesterday afternoon.

(Full Story)