It's getting DIRE for DeLay

Al Kamen, columnist for the Washington Post, notes in today's paper that D.I.R.E., the Defense Industry Reelection Event, will be a gala benefit for Tom DeLay's campaign. For only $1,000 for an individual, up to $5,000 to be listed as a "host PAC," you get to sit down with defense lobbyists from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, American Defense International, Copeland Lowery & Jacquez, and General Dynamics, plus several members of Congress (some of them not yet indicted!) to hear about what a wonderful guy Tom-tom can be.

D.I.R.E. has to be one of the best acronyms since Nixon's Committee to RE-Elect the President, a.k.a. CREEP. Those were the loyal, patriotic Americans behind the Watergate burglary.

It also turns out that DeLay's former press secretary, Michael Scanlon, used to be a lifeguard in the gay-friendly resort town of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.