We thought we had gotten rid of him. Indictments on multiple charges of money laundering, resignation as Majority Leader and then from the House altogether... there was no way for Tom DeLay to stay in the game, right? Wrong.

Not even retirement can keep former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) from the game he loves so much.

Since his resignation from the House this month, DeLay has held at least two meetings with his old friend and political ally House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

The two met yesterday afternoon in Hastert's office, and last week DeLay attended a regular gathering of former House leaders in the Speaker's Capitol suite.

With Tom DeLay professing to live in Northern Virginia, this story begs important questions: just how much power will the Hammer continue to wield even now that he is no longer in Congress? Will Republicans -- and in particular DeLay's "old friend and political ally" Hastert -- continue to let the Hammer dictate the direction of the House?

No one is asking the DeLay-addicted Republicans to go cold turkey. But by allowing DeLay to meet with the Speaker "at least" twice in the less than three weeks since he resigned from the House, Congressional Republicans have shown that they are not yet ready to break the cycle of corruption fostered during their more or less twelve years in complete control of Capitol Hill.