A moderate Republican from Connecticut who has battled with his party's leadership on a number of issues, Shays said efforts by the House GOP members to change ethics rules to protect DeLay only make the party look bad.

"My party is going to have to decide whether we are going to continue to make excuses for Tom to the detriment of Republicans seeking election," Shays said.

Your  party???  What's this "we", paleface?

The GOP is going to have to decide whether it wants to stand up to a cartel of political thugs and bloody their noses, or make like you and start with the blowjobs.  And may God help us all  if it's the latter.

DeLay's spokesman, Dan Allen, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the congressman "looks forward to the opportunity of sitting down with the ethics committee chairman and ranking member to get the facts out and to dispel the fiction and innuendo that's being launched at him by House Democrats and their liberal allies."

The majority leader was admonished three times last year by that committee. The committee has been in limbo since March, when its five Democrats balked at adopting Republican-developed rules.

Rules, I might add, designed to protect congresscritters, not from legitimate investigations, but from Torquemada-style witch-hunts for which the Demoscum have become so  very well known.

A senior Democratic senator, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, had this advice for the Republicans who control both the House and Senate: "Be careful about how closely you embrace Mr. DeLay."

Is that a threat, Chriththy-poo?  Are you planning to go all McCarthy-ish on us here?  Is Mr. DeLay going to have to name names  for you, Chriththy dear?

Dodd cited the new rules for the ethics committee that House Republicans rammed through in the wake of DeLay's difficulties. Those rules require a bipartisan vote before an investigation can be launched. DeLay's office also helped mount a counterattack last fall against Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., who was the ethics committee chairman when it came down against DeLay.

"Unfortunately, in his particular case, there's a process that he's tried to change so they could actually reach a determination as to whether or not he's innocent or guilty of the things he's been charged with," Dodd said.

Maybe that's because we're tired of constant carping a la  Watergate about how these Eeeeeeeeevil Republicans are so damned corrupt by a party who had an excuse-for-a-President lie under oath to a Grand Jury!!!

Hypocrisy much, Chriththy?

"But this is not going to go away."

Certainly not as long as you bastards think you can make some political hay with it.  Certainly you want  to make political hay, anyway.

But what's that about "want in one hand, and..."?