Tom DeLay resigns.
Hmm. Not yet, but I feel confident we'll hear that before the end of the weekend. Hello friends, thanks for stopping in. I want to talk about what angers me about this whole Tom DeLay thing. Believe it or not, it isn't him getting his fellow GOPs kicked off the Ethics panel for exposing him. I don't hate him for funneling illegal campaign donations through his wife and kids. It doesn't freak me out that he has been taking millions from the Ruskies for his campaign. I am not totally freaked out about him hosting the Taliban in the late 90's in Texas to discuss the Afghan pipeline idea. How about him redrawing the voting jurisdictions in a case of Gerrymandering to painfully obvious that Texas dems fled the state to avoid participating in such overt fraud? Nothing there. How about when he used he emergency powers to have the FAA drop everything (like watching for terrorists) to track said Democrats down? How could such a guy wake up to himself every day? Could he be the worst and most corrupt politician ever? Hmm, he certainly has this century wrapped up.
No biggie. Dude is a pig and a thief and a liar and a cheat. This is America though, and certainly in politics that isn't a stretch. What upsets me is not that his crimes are obvious and documented and factual. Dude is SO very guilty of so very many things, no one is sure which one to prosecute on. What I want from Tom DeLay is to quit. Step one, quit. Plain and simple. Now, here comes the genius move he could do to save his ass and his party's as well.
Article comments
1 - gonzo marx
bah...
screw forgiving...toss the miserable goatfucker feet first into the wood chipper
if ya do it on pay-per-view world wide i bet we could even make a dent in the defecit
i can Dream, can't i?
Excelsior!
2 - Lono
I don't know who you are, Gonzo... but I like the cut of your jib. You got moxie, kid!
3 - darkstar
Even as a conservative Republican, I have to agree with Lono for the most part. Though his post is a little dramatic, DeLay is a punk who makes all politiceans and Republicans look like criminals. We need to rally around and get this guy to step down before the Dems do, and before he takes our whole party down.
cheers,
Darkstar
4 - Dave Nalle
Just for the record, Lono is ill-informed and/or suffering from wishful thinking if he thinks that the attempts to bring charges against Delay are going anywhere. Most of the charges originate from a rabidly partisan DAs office which has gone after Republican office holders like this a number of times in the past with virtually no success except to gain publicity for themselves. Even the worst charges they are trying to stick on Delay range from trivial to absolutely silly. There's absolutely nothing to some of them - what do you charge him with on the gerrymandering? He had no legislative authority in Texas at the time and his entire role was basically as a cheeleader. You'd have to make up a new crime before you could charge him. As for the thing with tracking down runaway Dems using Homeland Security, that's not going anywhere in a Texas court. The evidence linking him to it is tenuous, and frankly almost everyone in Texas, both Republicans and Democrats was so pissed at the primadonnas who fled the state that a good chunk of them got voted out of office in the next election. It's also old news and no one really gives a rat's ass about it.
That said, Delay IS an absolute headcase who needs to be gotten out of office as quickly as possible. He's halfway out of control most of the time, as demonstrated in his behavior over Terri Schiavo. Fortunately he has no idea how much he's alienating voters with his behavior. After the Schiavo case support for Delay in his home district dropped about 20 points and if an election were held now he'd be voted out. Kind of like Daschle but on the other side of the aisle. Look for him to go out with a whimper in November of 06 unless his behavior changes dramatically.
Dave
5 - gonzo marx
umm..he CAN be charged under the Rico laws for racketeering..
just my understanding after checking with a lawyer..
Excelsior!
6 - Dave Nalle
Ok, under Rico what exactly was he conspiring to do? For Rico to work he has to be conspiring to commit a crime. That would mean that at the very least whoever he was conspiring with has to have done something wrong, and no one else is being charged over any of this. Getting together with some friends to play golf could be considered a conspiracy, but since there's no crime involved no one could get charged.
Dave
7 - gonzo marx
your raise the correct point, Dave..
conspiracy to defraud, with money changing hands qualifies..
you would need to bring in the "pawns" but all it would take was one to roll over and admit money changed hands..
i am NOT saying he should be, or even that it would fly in Court..
i was merely pointing out how it COULD be done
until there is a Grand Jury and actual formal charges are brought..he gets the same benefit of the doubt as anyone else in my book
which is why i opted for the woodchipper approach...but i ain't bound by the Rule of Law and can gop "vigilante" if i choose..
i joke..i keed..to quote Triumph the insult Comic..
DeLay is an excellent Congressman...
for me to poop on...
Excelsior!
8 - Lono
btw, the excuse that the prosecutor is strictly partisan politics is completely moronic and without base. Of 30 prosecutions, Democrats have been 27 of them. If there is ANY history of political bias with the DA it is against Democrats.
9 - Dave Nalle
>>btw, the excuse that the prosecutor is strictly partisan politics is completely moronic and without base. Of 30 prosecutions, Democrats have been 27 of them. If there is ANY history of political bias with the DA it is against Democrats.<<
This isn't a surprise, but the truth is a bit more complex. I have first hand knowledge of this as a resident of Ronnie Earle's district. Earle's pattern is to make accusations against big Republican figures on the flimsiest evidence, play them up for as much publicity as he possibly can, aiming for maximum personal exposure in the national media. Then he brings his 'case' to a grand jury and it gets thrown out as the pathetic bundle of unsubstantiated garbage that it is.
If he's been successful prosecuting Democrats it's because they're minor local politicians who actually did something wrong here in Travis County. But his reputation as a partisan grandstander comes from his magnificent failed prosecutions of people on the national level who may have only passed through Travis County and attracted his ire mainly just for being Republican.
Dave
10 - Joey D
Comment 9,
Wow..Dave.. Ronnie Earle sounds like a candidate for the 9th circuit court... We'll have to wait for Billery JFK-II to get elected B4 that appointment is made. I can't wait.... RRRRrrrrRRRrrrRRRRrrrAAAaaaAAAAa FUGGGIT
(thanks gonzo for the allowing me the priviledge to use some of your expressive ascii) I feel better now.
Bourbon and coke anyone?
JD
11 - Dave Nalle
Joey, I assume Earle is bucking for a position in the next Democratic administration - if there ever is one.
Dave
12 - gonzo marx
heh..at least ya give me credit Joey D
how many times have ya seen "the Shrub" since i started using it..or some of my other lil idiosyncrosies...
it's all good tho...
Excelsior!
13 - stella
I just heard Tom DeLay resigned. Does anyone have info on this???
stella
14 - Silas Kain
DeLay did not resign, he has stepped aside. This statement was just released: "I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference." He will hang on as long as he can. To hell with the appearance of impropriety.
15 - Nancy
I think a large delegation of citizens who have to obey the laws - Pubs & Dems - should all go stand outside his office & yell: NANNYNANNYNANNY until he falls on his pen.
16 - Silas Kain
I'd settle for him being a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher next week. That would be too delicious for words.
17 - Lono
What can I say, TOLD YOU SO
18 - thealsir
What a punk, this guy needs to get kicked out
19 - thealsir
DeLay, that is.