Tom DeLay is crying crocodile tears about the criticism he’s facing:

It is unfortunate in our electoral system, exacerbated by our adversarial media culture, that political discourse has to get so overheated that it’s not just arguments, but motives are questioned.

There’s no question that the trend is unfortunate. But it is breathtaking for DeLay to decry it. The man is a key factor in the polarization of American politics. He engages in outrageous attacks on Democrats’ motives all the time.

Let’s review a couple of examples. First, here’s DeLay suggesting opponents of the war in Iraq don’t want to protect the American people, CNN’s “Inside Politics” (transcript), Sept. 25, 2002:

He [former Republican Congressmen Dick Armey, who questioned the war in Iraq] is not doing what others are doing that are questioning the president’s leadership, that are constantly throwing up hurdles to keep us from doing what we have to do to protect the American people: using the false arguments, these constantly — throwing up, Well, I have to have answers to this question, and when they get the answer, they come up with a new question. These are people that don’t want to protect the American people. They don’t see — they will do anything, spend all the time and resources they can, to avoid confronting evil.

And here’s DeLay claiming Democrats want to destroy the economy, CNN’s “Saturday Edition” (transcript), July 20, 2002:

“The Democrats are working to extend America’s misery for their own political gain, and we just think that’s just outrageous.”

He’s a paragon of reasonable discourse!