DeLay: I quit for Israel

By · March 22, 2007

Tom DeLay says he
quit the U.S. Congress to fight for Israel and conservative causes.
The former Republican majority leader in the U.S. House of
Representatives was forced to step down from his leadership post last
year to face charges of breaking fund-raising laws in his home state of
Texas. DeLay surprised colleagues by quitting Congress altogether and
joining a conservative think tank.
Appearing on CNN on Thursday to promote his new book, “No Retreat,
No Surrender,”
DeLay said he stepped down because “I had to do two things, push the
conservative cause and support Israel.” He said he felt he would be more
effective doing so as a commentator than as a rank-and-file
congressman. DeLay was one of Israel’s fiercest defenders in the House,
at times deriding bills driven by the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, the main pro-Israel lobby, as insufficiently pro-Israel.