DeLay defends Perry on secession

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, looking tan and rested on MSNBC last night, offered his support to Texas Gov. Rick Perry — who suggested the Lone Star State could secede over the Obama administration's tax policies.

The Hammer seemed sympathetic to the secession cause but dismissed the idea as, basically, a media-stoked lark.

"This is a governor standing up for his state," DeLay told an incredulous Chris Mathews, who looked neither tan nor rested. "Texas was republic when it joined the union by treaty" — adding that Texans could vote to nullify the treaty forcing the "U.S. Senate" to "kick us out" of the union.

When Mathews exploded — invoking 600,000 Americans killed in the Civil War — DeLay reassured him that "No, no they can't secede" but reiterated the legal argument for the state to assert its "sovereignty."

Glenn Thrush is senior staff writer at Politico Magazine.