The Hammer: Tom DeLay: God, Money, and the Rise of the Republican Congress

Rating:
Summary: A man at the height of his power.
Review: Arguably the most powerful man in Congress, Tom Delay is a master of his domain, a skilled vote-counter, a savvy fund-raiser and an iron-fisted exponent of power politics that has earned him a nickname as The Mammer.

He is the arch conservative, in agreement with if not directly responsible for nearly every conservative issue from gay marriage to the war in Iraq.

Today the House Ethics committee has come down on him for the second time for giving an appearance of giving doners preferential treatment.

Rating:
Summary: Packed Full of Detail on the Corrupt Doings of Tom DeLay
Review: First off, this book is not very well written. It is full of incomplete sentences, the writing is often choppy, and the authors sometimes get themselves tongue-tied. That being said, this (I am assuming hastily published) account of House Majority Leader DeLay is an excellent book for understanding the sewer-like atmosphere that characterizes doing business on The Hill today.

Authors Dubose and Reid give much detail into such activities as DeLay's dealing with far-right Christian Premillinialist groups, his support for sweatshop labor in far away American territories, and his vengeful nature when dealing with anyone who would dare look at DeLay sideways. DeLay's passion seems not in enriching himself personally. He seems much mnore interested in gaining and consolidating power for himself.

The most telling feature of DeLay's leadership is the close relationship detailed in the book between the Majority Leader and industry lobbyists. Early in his career DeLay brought industry lobbyists into his office and set them up to actually write legislation regarding the EPA, which DeLay has a passionate hatred of. Later on, DeLay recieved direct funding for his activities from such companies as Westar and Enron, having Ken Lay write checks for his Texas Political Action Committees so that they can use the money (illegaly) in campaigns in Texas House races. DeLay set this up to ensure that his plan to redistrict the House seats of Texas legislators would pass.

There are many other dirty and underhanded activities DeLay has led detailed in this book, the above mentions are just aming his greatest hits. I would definitely recommend this book for those interested in why Capitol Hill seems like such an ugly place to do business nowadays. It is because of people like Tom DeLay.

Rating:
Summary: The Hammer Doesn't Nail it
Review: I was so disappointed in The Hammer and wish somehow I could get the time back I spent reading it. I first learned of the book when the author was interviewed on a radio program. Based soley upon the interview, I bought the book.
It is poorly organized so it is difficult to read. It does not move much beyond the single theme, which most readers already know prior to picking up the book, Tom Delay is a conservative Republican that has been able to use money to force and manipulate votes in Congress. The way in which he did this was through getting lobbyist to contribute to the Republican Party and Republican candidates to the exclusion of Democrats.
I would have liked to learn more about the details of Mr. DeLay's operation. Additionally, what does Mr. DeLay's strategy mean for the country, if anything?
The book ends abruptly. It seemed as if the author wanted to reach a set number of pages and when he hit it he stopped writing.
I wanted more than what is provided in newspapers and did not get it.


Rating:
Summary: Rip Snorting Hatchet Job on Illegal Political Manipulations
Review: The authors clearly don't care much for Tom DeLay, the House Majority Leader. That distaste colors every example and comment. It also obscures their message . . . which is unfortunate.

Mr. DeLay seems a little like the Archie Bunker of the pest elimination contractors. Many of his quotes sound a lot like a fictional character on a television sitcom.

If that were all, one could write a rather flattering portrait of Mr. DeLay. How many people of limited talent, education and background have climbed as far as he has? That aspect of his life is praiseworthy in and of itself, but Mr. DeLay doesn't get much credit.

The book often takes the tack that a person with certain beliefs is suspect. That's not really appropriate in a political biography. It's more like mud slinging.

The book really overdoes it then by indirectly ascribing the views of the Christian Zionist movement to Mr. DeLay because he has attended services with John Hagee who has been a political contributor.

But there are problems when a person of limited talent has a lot of power . . . people can get hurt. The book has a number of examples. If you are like me, you will find the horrible experiments in free market economics in Saipan to be a chilling look into the possible future of the U.S. economy. You will also be astonished by how a campaign contributor who didn't know the ropes was hung out to dry for a very expensive lesson.

If you get through all of that, you come to a new issue: Mr. DeLay has accumulated so much power that he is about to become a virtual dictator of the United States. While that claim may seem overdone, I'm not so sure after reading this material. Through his extensive fund raising efforts, he has more people in Congress loyal to him than to anyone else. Special interests are so afraid of him that they don't contribute much to Democrats any more . . . or to Republicans that Mr. DeLay doesn't like. Special interests are expected to pull their oars for legislation without even getting their interests looked after. President Bush cannot persuade Mr. DeLay to push his legislation. The last time that occurred in a country was the 1930s in Nazi Germany after Hitler first came to power.

The book culminates in a timely and even more remarkable issue: Mr. DeLay no longer pays any attention to any laws in his attempts to raise money, apply influence and coerce a lasting majority of Republicans who are loyal to him in the Congress.

Since the book was published, a number of Mr. DeLay's fund-raising personnel have been indicted in Texas for using corporate money illegally to influence legislation to redraw Congressional districts there. You may remember all of those stories about the Democratic legislators feeling like they had to flee the state at the time. The book does a pretty good job on this subject. Only time will tell about whether Mr. DeLay will be indicted too, and if so, found guilty. But it is quite remarkable that someone so prominent would so openly flaunt the laws of his native state.

If you can get through the overdone political invective in the book, there are some things in this book that you do need to understand before you vote in November.

May our political processes survive the illegal efforts of zealots!