From BNA (no link):

Can you believe this guy?

But in an interview with The Washington Times, published Thursday, DeLay charged that Democrats had shut down the panel to prevent him from clearing his name.

"The only way I can be cleared is through the ethics committee," he said, "so they don't want one."

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet notes that the "drip, drip, drip of negative stories" about Tom DeLay "dashes" any hope he had of succeeding Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) as Speaker of the House. The Boston Globe reports that Tom DeLay is becoming a liability for GOP members facing tight races.

Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT), from The Hill:

“I voted against Tom DeLay on changes to the House rules,” Simmons said in a release put out by his office, referring to the proposed rule changes that would have protected DeLay in the event that he is indicted by a Texas district attorney. The statement was released in response to Shays’s comments.

First, there's Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), who said on ABC News this morning:

"I think [DeLay] has to come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it and let the people then judge for themselves," said Santorum, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

Rich Lowry of the National Review Online whines too much. He writes up a complaint that the stories in the newspapers are not news and that the attacks against DeLay show that Democrats dont have ideas.

Sorry, I thought this was about whether Tom DeLay is fit to serve in Congress. Lowry forgets to mention a few things in his whining essay, like:

Repeated ethics violations.

Just in from National Journal's CongressDaily, a report from ousted Ethics Committee Chairman Joel Hefley (R-CO) on the response of GOPers when an "unidentified member" (House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO)) spoke up for Tom DeLay at the weekly Republican Conference meeting:

Political commentators Steve and Cokie Roberts offer up these tidbits on DeLay, his ethical woes, and what should be done about them and DeLay:

"Thanks to his repeated refusal to play by the ethical rules, DeLay has stained the reputation of the institution he leads. And his fellow Republicans have compounded the damage by sabotaging the system for holding members accountable.

The Tri-Cities Herald in Ethics Committee Chair Doc Hasting's district writes up the Washingto state Republican's place in the center of the DeLay battle. We began running ads in Hastings' district on Thursday:

Public Campaign Action Fund is unveiling three TV ads today in a campaign to take Tom DeLay's scandals directly to members of Congress. Tom DeLay is a walking scandal, and Republicans should answer for why they continue to let him be their leader. He should resign immediately.