# Tom DeLay calls Obama a "Marxist" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 10, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029 "2008-01-10T21:30:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/1 "2008-01-10T21:30:32Z")
[Just when you thought no greater depths of dumbth could be plumbed:](http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080109/NATION/377672324/1001&template=printart) > [@](#): > > But for former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who was known as “the Hammer” on Capitol Hill, said Republicans need to start deconstructing Mr. Obama now. > > “Somebody from our side needs to start talking about Obama today. He’s a Marxist but a very smart one — he doesn’t let anyone know it,” said Mr. DeLay, who said he wanted to throw his shoe at the television set when the Republican candidates opted not to mention Democrats in their debates. _sigh_ Listen, Tom: 1. Not al socialists are Marxists. 2. [Obama is not a socialist.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Barack_Obama) 3. There are a lot of disgraced high-profile Pubs right now who need to take the hint and a big steaming mug of STFU. Your name heads the list. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/2 "2008-01-10T21:34:56Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] [Just when you thought no greater depths of dumbth could be plumbed:](http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080109/NATION/377672324/1001&template=printart) _sigh_ Listen, Tom: 1. Not al socialists are Marxists. 2. [Obama is not a socialist.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Barack_Obama) 3. There are a lot of disgraced high-profile Pubs right now who need to take the hint and a big steaming mug of STFU. Your name heads the list. [/QUOTE] DeLay’s quote is that Senator Obama is “… a very smart [Marxist] — he doesn’t let anyone know it.” It’s useless to refute this attack by point to Obama’s declared positions, since DeLay’s claim is not that Obama is openly a Marxist but that he’s ‘secretly’ a Marxist. You would need to borrow DeLay’s mind-reading crystal ball to provide a refutation of this claim. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/3 "2008-01-10T21:36:02Z")
“He’s a Marxist but a very smart one — he doesn’t let anyone know it,” Uh, couldn’t you use those words to say pretty much anything about anybody? “That DeLay; he’s a Martian but a very smart one - he doesn’t let anyone know it”. If he doesn’t let anyone know it how the hell does he know it? And indeed if he’s able to get away with not letting people know it, presumably the way he works is against (or at least not with) a Marxist agenda? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/4 "2008-01-10T21:41:00Z")
Tom “The Hummer” DeLay. Grimly and shrilly trying to be relevent. Nobody cares what you think, Tom. Karma’s a bitch, huh, Tom. \* Hang down your head, Tom De-lay Hang down your head and cry Hang down your head, Tom De-lay Poor boy, nobody returns your calls…\* ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/5 "2008-01-10T21:52:35Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] You would need to borrow DeLay’s mind-reading crystal ball to provide a refutation of this claim. [/QUOTE] I have. Obama is actually an anarcho-syndicalist of distributist tendency, so there! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/6 "2008-01-10T21:55:42Z")
Yeah, so he says, but once a Trotskyist, always a Trotskyist! ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/7 "2008-01-10T21:57:44Z")
So what you’re saying is that he wants to take his turn as a sort of executive officer of the week? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/8 "2008-01-10T22:05:51Z")
I can’t find any up to date info on Delay’s Texas criminal case. Anyone know when he is set for trial? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/9 "2008-01-10T22:06:05Z")
[QUOTE=Gorsnak] So what you’re saying is that he wants to take his turn as a sort of executive officer of the week? [/QUOTE] That’s in the **communal** tendency, yer fuckin’ splitter! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/10 "2008-01-10T22:08:12Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] It’s useless to refute this attack by point to Obama’s declared positions, since DeLay’s claim is not that Obama is openly a Marxist but that he’s ‘secretly’ a Marxist. You would need to borrow DeLay’s mind-reading crystal ball to provide a refutation of this claim. [/QUOTE] Correct. Fortunately, that means this dumb accusation will only be listened to by people who are prone to believing this crap and wouldn’t have voted for Obama anyway. They say this stuff about Clinton, too. I wish they would tell me where their secret crystal ball is, because some of them acknowledge “knowing” she’s a socialist even though she has never actually said or done anything that qualifies as socialist. ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/11 "2008-01-10T22:34:33Z")
Today’s _Sacramento Bee_ [describes](http://www.sacbee.com/749/story/624368.html) how the feds are squeezing Delay’s pal, Rep. John Doolittle. If this were “Law and Order”, you might say that if Doolittle flips on Delay, Delay is toast. But that’s TV. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/12 "2008-01-10T22:35:52Z")
Even I wouldn’t call Obama a Marxist. ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/13 "2008-01-10T22:37:02Z")
Tom Delay fucks dogs. I’ve seen the pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/14 "2008-01-10T22:41:33Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/15 "2008-01-10T23:40:02Z")
Has DeLay stopped beating his wife yet? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/16 "2008-01-10T23:55:41Z")
_Two weeks later…_ "Former Republican House Leader Tom DeLay was arrested last night on charges of disorderly conduct in an undercover sting operation. According to police, DeLay approached an officer in a public restroom and repeatedly made inappropriate physical contact, forcibly attempting to tuck a copy of \*The Communist Manifesto \* into the officer’s belt while exhorting him to ‘cast off the shackles of capitalist oppression and join the glorious international workers’ struggle.’ "DeLay has denied the charge, claiming that his actions were misinterpreted and had been provoked by fear of the officer’s repressive petty-bourgeois demeanor. He maintains that he was merely trolling for some innocent fisting action, citing his well-known Capitol Hill nickname ‘The Hammer’ as evidence. “Meanwhile, former Congressional pages continue to step forward with accusations that DeLay frequently contacted them online to indoctrinate them with his international proletarian ideology…” ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/17 "2008-01-11T00:15:54Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] _Two weeks later…_ "Former Republican House Leader Tom DeLay was arrested last night on charges of disorderly conduct in an undercover sting operation. According to police, DeLay approached an officer in a public restroom and repeatedly made inappropriate physical contact, forcibly attempting to tuck a copy of \*The Communist Manifesto \* into the officer’s belt while exhorting him to ‘cast off the shackles of capitalist oppression and join the glorious international workers’ struggle.’ "DeLay has denied the charge, claiming that his actions were misinterpreted and had been provoked by fear of the officer’s repressive petty-bourgeois demeanor. He maintains that he was merely trolling for some innocent fisting action, citing his well-known Capitol Hill nickname ‘The Hammer’ as evidence. “Meanwhile, former Congressional pages continue to step forward with accusations that DeLay frequently contacted them online to indoctrinate them with his international proletarian ideology…” [/QUOTE] Brilliant. My hat’s off to you. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/18 "2008-01-11T00:22:14Z")
> [@](#): > > “Somebody from our side needs to start talking about Obama today. He’s a Marxist but a very smart one — he doesn’t let anyone know it,” said Mr. DeLay… I do appreciate Delay’s transparency. He’s an asshole, and EVERYONE knows it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/19 "2008-01-11T01:46:28Z")
An asshole? That’s it? An _asshole_? Like calling Godzilla a lizard. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029/20 "2008-01-11T02:23:30Z")
Well, Godzilla is a lizard. It’s all about bracketing the target. You establish that he’s an asshole, and now we can start discussion on what _kind_ of asshole he is. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-calls-obama-a-marxist/433029.md?page=2)