DeLay Defender Blunt Hits Conservatives For Defending Corrupt Politicians

Outgoing House Majority Whip and “DeLay protege” Roy Blunt (R-MO) delivered a post-election mea culpa at the Heritage Foundation, entitled “The New Way Forward: Refocusing the Conservative Agenda.”

Blunt said voters’ rebuke of conservatism was due in part to “a seemingly constant stream of ethics issues afflicting a few Members of Congress.” Blunt’s suggestion to fix the problem is to stop covering up for corrupt members:

Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats, neither liberals nor conservatives, is immune from having bad actors in their midst. … The test of any organization or political movement is how it responds when confronted with these individuals. [...]

Before 1994, when conservatives were out of power and were unable to make new laws or rules, we recognized this truth and confronted serious legal and ethical violations by declaring that those who were part of that had no place in our movement. I suggest that we need to recommit ourselves to that standard. For conservatives, holding onto or gaining political power should never come before our obligation to be worthy of people’s trust.

Blunt should take his own advice. Here’s Blunt last year:

Blunt has been among DeLay’s the most visible defenders since the probe into DeLay’s use of corporate donations began. Blunt has contributed $5,000 to DeLay’s legal defense fund and $10,000 to the DeLay Foundation.

He continued that support Wednesday, vowing that DeLay would not stop exerting influence in the House leadership.

“He’s going to be an effective and influential part of what we are doing as he works now to get beyond this terribly unfair thing that’s happened to him,” Blunt said of Delay.

Blunt is currently locked in a tight race with John Shadegg (R-AZ) for Minority Whip, the #2 minority position in the House. The election is on Friday.