A Timeline of Today's Events

The events of today, as demarcated by AmericaBlog and other places: 12:39 PM EDT -- John in DC posts that Tom DeLay has been indicted. Under the House rules that DeLay had tried to repeal last year, he must now step down from his leadership position until the legal action is resolved -- assuming he doesn't go to prison. 12:54 PM EDT -- MSNBC mentions that Hastert recommends David Dreier to take DeLay's place as House Majority Leader. 1:26 PM EDT -- John in DC posts a transcript of the key part of the Mike Signorile interview with David Dreier, wherein Dreier dances around admitting that he's gay. Josh Marshall states that Dreier was picked to be a placeholder: DeLay fully expects to beat the rap, and he doesn't want to have to fight off Roy Blunt (R-MO), who actually has a power base in Congress that could lead him to withstand an attempt by DeLay to take back the Majority Leader mantle. 2:52 PM EDT -- Commenter Marky over at Steve Gilliard's News Blog makes the following recommendation: "Call Hastert's office at 202-225-2976 and thank him for standing up to the radical religous right by recommending a gay man as majority leader." 3:05 PM EDT -- Eschaton regular commenter Pseudoymnous in DC notes the following: "Oh, so Dreier may not be a done deal. Blount may well be calling up all the radical clerics and saying that ol' Dave is too poofy, um, Californian to be acting MajLeader." 4:17 PM EDT -- Josh Marshall asks, "Dreier out?" 4:22 PM EDT -- Josh Marshall asks, "Blunt pushing Dreier aside?" 5:15 PM EDT -- Josh Marshall posts the following:

So what's the deal exactly? Clearly, Blunt has pushed David Dreier aside for the Majority Leader's job, allowing Dreier, in turn, to edge out Robert Livingston for shortest ever tenure as Republican congressional leader. But the latest reports I can find have Dreier and Blunt, how else to say it, cohabiting in the Majority Leader's office. Says Reuters: "After a closed-door meeting of House Republicans, lawmakers said Blunt's position was an interim arrangement for the rest of the year and that he would share leadership responsibilities with Rep. David Dreier of California. It was not immediately clear how Blunt, who had had been the third ranking Republican member of the House, would share duties with Dreier, the chairman of the House Rules Committee." How does that work exactly?

Most interesting!