Here’s how bad things are among House Republicans: After the collapse of the coup attempt against Newt Gingrich, the speaker is being described as ” utterly contemptuous” of his fellow GOP leaders Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, and John Boehner. Having forced Bill Paxon’s resignation, Gingrich is eager for DeLay to step aside as well. Meanwhile, Armey and DeLay are said to have suffered an irreparable breach. The two Texans, close friends during their 12 years in the House, didn’t speak or make eye contact at a lunch held by the Texas GOP delegation in the Capitol on July 17. DeLay feels he was hung out to dry by Armey — who denies any involvement in the coup attempt he was very much a part of — and tensions are exacerbated by Armey’s frantic effort to get back into Gingrich’s good graces. No one seems to trust the cagey Boehner.

As the fights rage, rank-and-file House Republicans also have lost faith in their leaders. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Not long into Gingrich’s tenure as speaker, the conservatives who dominate House Republican ranks realized he wasn’t the ideological ally they thought he was. They complained he was too solicitous of GOP moderates, too reluctant to address hot-button issues like racial preference programs, and, in negotiations with congressional Democrats and the White House, too ready to compromise without getting much in return. What reassured the conservatives was that they had ideological soulmates in the leadership slots just below Gingrich. While the speaker might say one thing and do another, the conservatives believed they could trust Armey, DeLay, Boehner, and Paxon to play straight and fight for their issues.