Read this passage below. When you have done so, answer these three questions, writing a paragraph for each question.

Your three questions are:

1. What issue is the author addressing?

2. If the author is supporting a position with an argument, restate the argument in your own words.

3. What rhetorical devices does the author employ in this text?

The Passage:

"Another quality that makes [Texas Republican and former Congressman] Tom DeLay an un-Texas politician is that he's mean. By and large, Texas pols are an agreeable set of less-than-perfect humans and quite often well-intentioned. As Carl Parker of Port Arthur used to observe, if you took all the fools out of the [legislature], it would not be a representative body any longer. The old sense of collegiality was strong, and vindictive behavior punishing pols for partisan reasons was simply not done. But those are Tom DeLay's specialties, his trademarks. The Hammer is not only genuinely feared in Washington, he is, I'm sorry to say, hated."