ON NOT GOING GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Texas Democrats flee to Oklahoma and refuse to come back, leaving House at a standstill (APRIL CASTRO, 5/13/03,The Associated Press)

Rebellious Democrats who fled the state Capitol spent a second day in Oklahoma on Tuesday and criticized U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay for pushing the GOP drive in Texas to redraw the state's congressional districts.

"We have a message for Tom DeLay: Don't mess with Texas," House Democratic Legislative Caucus leader Jim Dunnam said at a news conference in Ardmore, Okla. "We did not choose the path that led us to Ardmore, Oklahoma. Tom DeLay chose that path."

Fifty-eight Democrats sneaked out of Austin on Sunday after spending several days discussing ways to derail the GOP redistricting plan. Although three Democrats returned to the Capitol Tuesday, more than 50 remained in Oklahoma, denying Republicans a quorum needed to conduct business for a second day.

Delay, also a Texas Republican, has been the driving force behind the redistricting effort. The Democrats said his involvement in redistricting, which they dubbed a power grab, as the key reason for their walkout.

The GOP redistricting plan could add five to seven GOP House seats to the 15 it already has. The state has 32 congressional districts.

In Washington, DeLay said the Democrats were disloyal for fleeing Texas. "I have never turned tail and run," DeLay said. "Even when I'm losing, I stand and fight for what I believe. It's so Texas contrary."

You have to admire the Democrats for the way they're raging against the dying of the light. The GOP spent sixty years in the political wilderness after the Stock Market Crash in 1929 and, other than a brief rearguard action in the Supreme Court and the HUAC hearings, rarely uttered a peep. Judges got rammed down their throats, the House was run like a banana republic, and they had no say in most redistricting fights. Like the prospective victim in the Confucian adage, they laiid back and enjoyed it.

Democrats, who since 1994 have gotten a taste of what it means to be superfluous and who face even darker days ahead, are at least willing to bring democracy to a grinding halt rather than give up power easily. Bully for them. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 13, 2003 7:09 PM