Former GOP House Majority Leader Tom Delay: Americans have forgotten that God "wrote the Constitution"

The George W. Bush-era relic still exists, apparently, and is still ridiculous

Published February 20, 2014 9:20PM (EST)

Tom DeLay      (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
Tom DeLay (AP/Carolyn Kaster)

The last time he was in the news, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was celebrating not going to jail for being outrageously corrupt. That was a good moment for him.

But now DeLay is back, this time for saying silly things during an interview with Pastor Matthew Hagee, the son of the influential far-right (and seemingly antisemitic) Pastor John Hagee.

During a recent appearance on Hagee the Younger's program, DeLay started waxing philosophic on just where America went wrong. His conclusion? "I think we got off track when we allowed our government to become a secular government."

That wasn't the totality of DeLay's analysis, however. The former congressman — who was once known as "the Hammer," probably because he was such a nice guy? — continued to explain that America messed up when its people "stopped realizing that God created this nation, that He wrote the Constitution, that it's based on Biblical principles..."

DeLay went on to complain that he and other members of the religious right messed up when "we allowed those that don't believe in those things to keep pushing us and pushing us and pushing us away from the government instead of standing up and being unashamedly a follower of Jesus Christ and fighting for our values in our society."

DeLay then bragged about how, when he was a leader in the House, he "sealed off the rotunda of the Capitol, thinking that, of all people, the leaders of the nation" needed to spend "three hours ... on our knees, seeking the face of God and praying."

Ultimately, DeLay's message was one of hope. "I really feel now, Pastor Matt," DeLay said, "that the Lord has heard us, and I see the Holy Spirit moving, and I pray every day for an awakening in this country, and I think it's coming, and people have been praying for many, many years, seeking the face of God, and it's coming."

You can watch DeLay criticize his fellow Americans for failing to remember that God wrote the Constitution below, via Right Wing Watch:


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

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