Texas paper takes on DeLay

Wow:

It’s a sad sign of how starved Republicans in the House of Representatives are for leadership that they continue to rally around Majority Leader Tom DeLay, even as doubts deepen about the ethics of the former Texas exterminator whose delicate touch earned him the nickname "The Hammer." For the sake of the party — but even more importantly, the institution — Republican colleagues should ask DeLay to give up his leadership post until all the allegations against him have been investigated and resolved.

Failure to do so will further damage whatever reputation the GOP retains as the party of good-government types and reformers — a reputation tainted by a recent series of rules changes that seem designed to shield DeLay from scrutiny and water down ethics standards. But it also seems to us confirmation of how lacking congressional Republicans are in leaders of vision, stature and unassailable integrity.