Rumors and innuendo about Abramoff did the most damage to Delay. But short of an indictment of Delay in an Abramoff bribery charge, he would have survived had it not been for Earle. Unbelievable, and not fair. Still, conservatism is about the principles, not the personalities. Tom Delay deserves much credit for stepping aside.
If DeLay did "nothing wrong," then he was remiss to give up the leadership without a real fight. He would have had to give it up on Feb. 1 anyway, wouldn't he, had not the Earle charges been resolved? The message is always the same, it seems: The GOP is too cowardly to fight.