Opinion: Tom DeLay anguishes over the GOP’s immediate future

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The Washington Times on Sunday teased a recent interview some of its staff had with Tom DeLay with a short story reporting that the conservative firebrand is having no success persuading his wife to back presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

Christine DeLay, the once all-powerful House majority leader from Texas told the newspaper, is planning to vote for Libertarian candidate Bob Barr.

Today, the Times gets to the guts of DeLay’s comments: His dire view of what looms for the GOP, at least in the near term.

The core problem, in DeLay’s view, is that in the age of the Internet, Democrats have adapted more adroitly than Republicans to tapping into the power of independent groups who share their philosophy but don’t want to be part of a traditional party structure (think MoveOn.org).

‘People out there that are making decisions are not focusing, in my opinion, on what it’s going to take to rebuild the conservative movement and rebuild the Republican Party. They’re living with 10-, 15-year-old technology. They still believe if you raise enough money, go on television enough, you’re going to win. Those days are over,’ DeLay says in the story (which can be read in full here.)

-- Don Frederick