DeLay offers view on why GOP lost '06 elections

WASHINGTON — Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay knows why his party lost control of Congress last year, and he is not to blame.

In his new book, DeLay, whom Democrats sought to make a symbol of Republican corruption, attributes the November defeat to frustration with President Bush, the Iraq war and "a general perception of Republican incompetence and lack of principles."

"I would suggest that Republicans lost because they did not communicate their message and their victories with enough strength to overcome short-term, media-fed issues that arose right before the election," DeLay writes in "No Retreat, No Surrender" (Sentinel), referring, in part, to the congressional-page scandal.

DeLay, who left Congress last year after his indictment in Texas on charges related to campaign financing, also lashes out at Newt Gingrich, the former speaker, and other fellow leaders of the 1994 GOP revolution.

He also calls former President Clinton "slimy" and portrays leading Democrats as his evil liberal tormentors.

While he praises President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rep. Dennis Hastert, the Illinois lawmaker he helped install as speaker, DeLay does not spare them.

"I consider George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Denny Hastert all to be good men," DeLay writes, "but there is not an articulate voice among them."

Delay's memoir is infuriating critics. One, Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project, a group that monitors Texas Republicans, said that in contrast to the book's title, DeLay left Congress when it appeared he would have to fight for his political survival.

"DeLay titling his new book 'No Retreat, No Surrender' is like Jack Abramoff calling his memoirs 'Ethics and Honesty,' " Angle said. He was referring to the jailed lobbyist who had ties to DeLay.

In the book, DeLay said he chose to quit after weeks of prayer, deciding it would prevent his becoming an issue for other Republicans.

DeLay does admit to a dark side. "We are all flawed," he writes. "And my flaw is that I can sometimes be aggressive, even mean."