Why did they think this was just partisan retribution? As pointed out above, many a Dem. has been convicted by the same guy; and DeLay has been slapped, by members of his own party, no less, for ethics violations more than any other Congressman in history. He’s been flirting with blatant impropriety ever since I first heard of him, and given the company he keeps (ahem, Abramoff, ahem), it just doesn’t seem so cut-and-dry politics-as-usual to me. If anything, I’d say DeLay has no one to blame but himself for the trouble he’s in. He pushes the envelope, and pushes it hard, at almost every opportunity. That sort of behavior is bound to catch up with someone as visible as himself, no matter what party.
Anyhoo, I’d be very interested in a brief synopsis of what they said, as I didn’t get to see that program, if you feel inclined. Thanks!
I flipped on one of the news stations earlier today and stopped when I heard them say Delay had been invited, it must have been Fox because they only interviewed Republicans who all made a point of saying it was just partisan politics and a prosecuter could indict a ham sandwich if he wants but it doesn’t mean anything. So that will probably be their slogan “Tom Delay, no more guilty than a ham sandwich.”
I always knew those ham sandwiches were up to no good.
Please. Ronnie “My Name Is” Earle is a rabidly partisan Democrat Party hack. He tried the same stunt against Kay Bailey Hutchison and failed miserably.
Well, good luck storming the castle and all that. But let’s just remember that this is Travis County, home of Bill Burkett and the National Guard forgeries. Remember how excited you guys were about that story for the first five minutes or so? That little stunt kinda backfired and cost a few CBS producers their jobs, didn’t it? And it resulted in the eternally clueless Dan Rather being quietly eased out to pasture.
Finally, why did Earle only go for the conspiracy charge? I’m no lawyer but don’t DAs usually go after the actual charges of criminal wrongdoing and add on the conspiracy charges after the fact? Earle is charging Delay with conspiracy…but what else? I think conspiracy alone would be very difficult to prove without other, more substantial charges. Maybe a lawyer could chime in here…
What I mean is that if Earle fails to get this conviction and/or this turns out to be a politically-motivated sham indictment, then this little stunt could backfire on Ronnie-boy, as well.
Set your TiVo, DVR, or VCR for MEET THE PRESS on Sunday. I’m sure this will be topic numero uno. The guy that CM had on from a Texas newspaper noted that the indictments of Dems were mostly of conservative Democrats. DeLay may indeed have “walked up to the ethical line” a number of times, but this particular instance just doesn’t pass the snif test. But what it does do is pin the “indicted” label on Delay until his trial sometime next year-- an election year to boot.
I agree that he had this coming. Politics is dirty business, and the Republicans played the same game for many years.
“2003 to Present - Stupid pointless raving partisan cunt. In this position, I posted prolifically on message boards, parroting the party line. During this challenging time, I stayed on point, never bothering with actual facts or data. I would sidestep and shift, ignoring salient points by the opposition. Many have remarked upon my unique ability to resist logical thought processes.”
Dan Rather’s daughter held fundraisers for Ronnie Earle, Dan attended some. Other attendees were Ben Barnes. Burkett’s lawyer was David Van Os, former chairman of the Travis County Democratic Party.
Now none of this supports any conspiracies, and I’m not speculating that any exist, just answering how some of these people had some interactions.
Of course, if Stephe wanted to try to hang his hat on the “home of […] the National Guard forgeries” portion of his claim, the Kinko’s in the story is in Taylor County. Although Taylor does start with a T, just like Travis. Perhaps that is as far as Stephe got before he got his woody.
No, no, no. I think you’ve uncovered something shocking - there are active Democrats in the state capital of Texas! Holy shit! And they have fundraisers! And they are attended by members of the Democratic party! In the capital of Texas!