Thank God

Tom DeLay is resigning.

We make a policy here at Shades of Gray never to wish private ill on individuals, and while an individual as loathsome as Tom DeLay tests that policy absolutely to its breaking point, it holds: I hope he lives out his days in good health, having served his richly-deserved prison sentence for corruption of a scale not seen down South since, at a guess, the days of Huey Long.

The worry I have is that DeLay will take on the role of scapegoat for all of the wrongdoing-and it is, of course, extensive-of the Republican Congress, and they'll win a majority in the House for the seventh consecutive election. Given the haplessness of the Democratic Party, that's not a bad bet. But for now, I'm just very happy that one of the most egregious individuals in a party filled with shady and awful characters is finally getting the hell off of the stage.