Momentum v. DeLay.

“Tom‘s conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election.” Calling Boss DeLay “an absolute embarrassment to me and the Republican Party,” moderate Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) calls for the Hammer’s removal. And even right-winger Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), forced to shore up his centrist cred for a tough 2006 reelection bid, now says DeLay has some questions to answer.

And here’s even more trouble for the Hammer: The investigatory noose is tightening around “Casino Jack” Abramoff, a sleazeball GOP lobbyist of the first order and one of DeLay “closest and dearest friends.” Can the DeLay Ring be saved? While the Dems may even want him around at this point, it doesn’t look like it, not with Dubya already suffering terrible poll numbers. “‘Within six months, Karl will force him out,’ a senior administration official from the first term says.“

Feeding Frenzy.

American Airlines is not alone. “‘Neither the House nor Senate offices responsible for keeping records on K Street’s activities have audit or investigative powers,’ said Roberta Baskin, the center’s executive director. ‘It is impossible, for example, to determine how many lobbyists there actually are in Washington.’” A report by the Center for Public Integrity finds that, while lobbying expenditures have doubled in the past six years, nobody in DC is minding the store.

Send Bolton to the Blue.

“The case against Bolton, which has been made here a few times, rests not so much on his ultra-neoconservatism (an insufficient disqualification on its own) or on his past criticism of the United Nations (the organization merits criticism). Rather, it boils down to his long-standing attacks on the principles underlying the United Nations and to his wholesale rejection of the legitimacy, propriety, and even the political expediency of international law, which, after all, is the United Nations’ currency of enforcement.” With an editorial Hail Mary, Slate‘s Fred Kaplan pleads with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to vote down on John Bolton as UN Ambassador. We can only hope.

Frist gets the gist.

“I believe we have a fair and independent judiciary today…I respect that.” The Hammer may have already mouthed off about federal judges in the Schiavo case, but, Catkiller Frist, like Vice-President Cheney, is savvy enough to realize that the GOP have stepped into serious trouble, and has thus decided he wants nothing doing. (Not a hard call. — Their PR misplay here has gotten so obvious that even Harry Reid is calling ’em out.) Well, if the Republicans want to mitigate the damage, perhaps Cheney or Frist should have a word with Senator Jon Cornyn (R-TX), the latest conservative freakshow to go after federal judges. Update: The WP probes the GOP breach.

Don’t judge the judges.

Without naming names (*cough* DeLay), Vice-President Cheney wisely flees from the idea of “retribution” against Schiavo judges.

By the way, since I didn’t mention this earlier and probably should get it in writing — family, friends, loved ones, and any federal judges forced by right-wing hoopla to get involved — if at some point I fall into a persistent vegetative state with little-to-no hope of recovery, I would prefer to die with some sense of dignity, and not have the Republican Party use my prostrate body as a get-out-the-vote strategy for conservative crazies. Thanks much.

Also, please don’t play any Meatloaf or Celine Dion at my funeral, and try to launch my remains in a direction other than right at Genesis. In fact, a ship to Valinor would probably be preferable.

Everything in Moderation?

Christie Todd Whitman may refuse to name names, but Episcopal minister and former GOP Senator John Danforth got the general point across last Wednesday in the NYT: “By a series of recent initiatives, Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians.” It’s gotten to the point where even Rick Santorum feels he may have to modulate his right-wing schtick in order to get re-elected in 2006.

A tip for Santorum: Being a moderate these days means occasionally taking tough stands against your own party, as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is proving with his compromise Social Security plan. “Graham’s plan would raise Social Security taxes for high-income earners, and reduce their eventual retirement benefits.” So, naturally, “the free-market group Club for Growth, meanwhile, is running TV ads in South Carolina attacking Graham for proposing tax increases.”

Kenny’s with the Angels.

“In 22 minutes, Trey Parker and Matt Stone manage to hammer politicians, the media, religious hypocrisy and every other aspect of the madness that is the Schiavo case. How they were able to put this together so quickly is astounding — it’s more timely than ‘The Daily Show.'” Salon‘s Andrew Leonard sings the praises of the most recent South Park.

Let me Hammer them today…

“The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.” Did Boss DeLay really call for a hit on federal judges overseeing the Schiavo case? Senator Ted Kennedy, for one, seems to think so. If nothing else, his language seems remarkably intemperate for a Congressional leader…but, really, when it comes to the Hammer, what else is new? Update: DeLay tries to get the Judiciary Committee involved.

Wait ’til Next Year.

In a moment of clarity, House Speaker Dennis Hastert joins his GOP colleagues Frist and DeLay in declaring what now seems obvious, that Dubya’s Social Security privatization plan probably can’t pass this year. For their part, the White House immediately disagreed.

Do the Dems have a pulse?

“Instead of allowing themselves to be cowed by the fear of looking like they’re coming down on the immoral side of the moral values debate, Democrats should snap out of it and demand that the president interrupt his next vacation and that Bill Frist hold another midnight session of Congress to address the moral disgrace of 45 million people with no health insurance and 36 million people living in poverty.” Salon‘s Arianna Huffington argues convincingly that the Congressional Dems blew it (again) in addressing the Schiavo fiasco. You’d think they could at least do a better job of hammering on the Hammer’s hypocrisy.