All Intensive Purposes

It is inconceivable to me that the White House would actually hire Tom DeLay for any job, let alone to replace Josh Bolten as budget director. Notwithstanding that they both hail from Texas, DeLay and Bush have never been close, and DeLay has his own power base. In short, he is not a Bush loyalist and he's not going to become one. Moreover, hiring him would bring the Hill's corruption problems over to the White House, which has largely avoid that stigma. So it seems obvious to me that someone is floating DeLay's name to score some points. But why are smart people taking the bait?