Tainted conservative Though charity may begin in the House, few have so brazenly blended the altruistic with the self-serving as Tom DeLay. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Joe Conason - April 15, 2005 | "The time has come that the American people know exactly what their representatives are doing here in Washington. Are they feeding at the public trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, getting wined and dined by special-interest groups? Or are they working hard to represent their constituents? The people, the American people, have a right to know. I say the best disinfectant is full disclosure." That populist polemic was delivered on the House floor in November 1995 by well-known reformer Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Now nationally notorious for his own lobbyist-paid luxury trips to Scotland, Russia and South Korea, among other places, where he has been wined and dined by a bewildering variety of special-interest groups, the House majority leader is no longer quite so strict about full disclosure, either. Even the trait often described as his most admirable -- his concern for abused children -- has been tainted by his penchant for backroom influence peddling.

I think that hypocrisy is one of the primary elements composing the ideologies of a good neoconservative.