DELAY REVIEW
NO SURRENDER, NO RETREAT—TOM DELAY’S POLITICAL ODYSSEY, AND A
BOOK WELL WORTH READING
by
Ken Eliasberg
I have just finished reading Tom DeLay’s autobiography, and I found it a compelling read. Compelling not merely because DeLay is a man for whom I have the greatest respect, but because it is one of best expositions of the 1994 revolution that I have come across. In short, it is an invaluable piece of history that I wholeheartedly recommend. DeLay deals with the pressing issues that confronted him and directed his energies into the political arena. He also deals with his flawed humanity in a moving, poignant, and courageous manner. The latter quality is one of the reasons that I hold DeLay in such high regard. There is a paucity of courage in this country, particularly in the Republican Party, and when DeLay left Congress, we lost a great deal of what little courage was in attendance. Back to why I like DeLay and his story.
Three values are the cornerstone of my life—Faith, Family, and Freedom. I shall not go into these at length since, as you know, I have written extensively of them in the past. And, as I pointed out then, Freedom is the most important, for without it you cannot enjoy the other two. Virtues that I respect—and personally strive for, although, admittedly, not always with success—are Honesty, Intelligence (and here I don’t mean just I.Q., I mean judgment, common sense, and, hopefully, a quantum of wisdom), and courage. Without honesty, the rest mean nothing; if you can’t believe or trust someone, who cares how smart they are and how bold they are in their expression. Clinton was a perfect case in point; since you could not believe anything he said, who cares what it was or how audacious he was in making his point. This is an important point to make—do not confuse audacity with courage; the left has an abundance of the former, and very little of the latter. Republicans, unfortunately, tend to confuse cowardice with good manners.
What does all this have to do with DeLay. He upholds my values and reflects the virtues that I deem worthy of respect. He is a man of faith, his family is of transcendent importance, and he values freedom and liberty above all (and has not only worked diligently to uphold both, but has put his life and reputation on the line in support of his efforts). Moreover, despite the left’s vigorous attacks on him, he is an honest man. Perhaps that, more than anything, else is the reason that the left had to bring him down; honesty is a virtue that does not exist on the left. He is quite clearly an intelligent man—intelligent in the sense that he is both prudent and practical. And he is, above all, a man of courage, and, as I have frequently pointed out, who cares what your convictions are if you don’t have the courage to pursue them. This is what has so infuriated me with the Republican Party; we have all the right convictions, but lack the courage to fight for them.
Also, as DeLay points out, we lack a charismatic spokesman. I once wrote Bush a letter, asking him how come the left does a better job of marketing lies than we do of telling the truth. We invented Madison Avenue, but seem not to have the foggiest idea of how best to present our ideas to the public. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of George Bush, who frequently appears to be falling on his tongue. A bad joke that circulated at one time was the story of Jeb Bush. It pointed out that not only did he speak Spanish fluently, but, what was unusual for a member of the Bush family, he spoke English as well. To compound Bush’s communication problems, I was particularly incensed when he picked Scott McClellan as his communications director. I wrote him at the time, pointing out that if you looked up “pathetically weak” in the dictionary, you would find a picture of Scott McClellan (a dear friend of mine, who is familiar with the ways of D.C., made me take this line out). Fortunately, shortly thereafter, and I’m sure no thanks to me, McClellan was replaced with Tony Snow, a likeable and extremely competent man (who, unfortunately, is facing a serious illness problem). Please don’t get me wrong, I like George Bush, although my enthusiasm is waning considerably as I watch him mishandle one phony scandal after another. You will recall that when Bush was elected, I said I didn’t care what sort of type he was; after Clinton, we didn’t need a leader, we needed a fumigator (then 9/11 came along and proved me wrong; we did need a leader, and we got one “I only wish he would start leading again).
Back to DeLay’s book. In it DeLay pulls no punches and makes no excuses. He tells you what happened, and why it happened. He does it in a simple, direct, and, at times, compelling manner, providing great insights into the people and events that were responsible for the conservative revolution. Moreover, there is no hint of bitterness in his portrayal of these people and events, nor is there anything resembling a whine about the shabby treatment that he received, even, on occasion, at the hands of fellow Republicans.
DeLay remains an optimist, looking at our recent defeats as a wake-up call, a rebuilding opportunity, if you will. He offers this message:
“The stakes are too high for the Republicans to miss this opportunity. Liberal ideas are dying. What you hear is the death
rattle of an outworn and misguided worldview. Most thinking people
understand that big government, high taxes, a managed economy,
weak defense, an activist judiciary, a low regard for the law, a low
regard for American values and traditions, and a refusal to both protect our nation from invasion at its border and to pass our distinctive values on to the next generation will mean the death of
America. The future belongs to those who hold to time-honored values, who get government off the backs of the people, who liberate
creativity in a free market, who upold the rule of law, who insist on American exceptionalism, who protect that exceptionalism with a strong defense and impregnable borders, and who live to fashion a world of freedom and prosperity for the next generation. In my view history will view the Republican revolution as merely the great rehearsal for a glorious American age, and conservatives must prepare to fashion that age if it is ever to become a reality.”
To which I can only add, hear, hear.
Notwithstanding, the pummeling that DeLay has experienced at the hands of an unscrupulous left and a complicit media, as noted, DeLay remains an optimist. He has served his country with distinction, and his story—NO SURRENDER, NO RETREAT—is a book you would do well to add to your library. I thoroughly enjoyed it.