What’s wrong, Lassie? What is it? Is it Tom DeLay? Has he fallen down a well, while screwing the pooch? Has that political pustule finally pushed his luck a little too far? Is it time to put on our gloating shoes, and our schadenfruedian slip!
Those of you without short term memory issues may remember a conversation we were having, about whether or not the Bushiviks were in any kind of serious trouble. And I said watch Tom DeLay, he’s got a bit of trouble brewing.
Congresscritters are a feral breed, pack hunting and savage. If they smell that the future belongs to the Bushiviks, they will continue to cringe before Tom DeLay (R-Undead). But if they smell blood in the water, they will turn him on, and rend asunder.
(You might not remember all of this, you might just remember the feeling of being profoundly impressed by my sagacity, probity, and insight. Perfectly understandable.)
Well, looks like Ol’ Tom has dangled his Nixon in the piranha pool, one time too many.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43219-2004Jul11.html
"In May 2001, Enron’s top lobbyists in Washington advised the company chairman that then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was pressing for a $100,000 contribution to his political action committee, in addition to the $250,000 the company had already pledged to the Republican Party that year.
DeLay requested that the new donation come from “a combination of corporate and personal money from Enron’s executives,” with the understanding that it would be partly spent on “the redistricting effort in Texas,” said the e-mail to Kenneth L. Lay from lobbyists Rick Shapiro and Linda Robertson…"
“…The e-mail, which surfaced in a subsequent federal probe of Houston-based Enron, is one of at least a dozen documents obtained by The Washington Post that show DeLay and his associates directed money from corporations and Washington lobbyists to Republican campaign coffers in Texas in 2001 and 2002 as part of a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts…”
Can’t do that, Tom, even in Texas, there are limits. Not many, but there are some.
[Kingston Trio]
Hang down your head Tom De-Lay
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head Tom De-Lay
Poor boy, you’re bound to bite it…"
OK, a bit much, but this is such a hoot!
See, before looked like he could brazen it out, since four of the members of the Ethics Committee are beholden to him…
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/2674446
"Four of the five Republicans investigating an ethics complaint against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay have received campaign contributions from DeLay’s political action committee, records show.
The contributions – $28,504 split among the four during the past seven years – were all delivered before the ethics committee received the DeLay complaint June 15. But it is an example of awkward situations spawned by the U.S. House’s decision to police itself on ethics…"
“Awkward” is such a good word for that context, don’t you think?
So, you have a paper trail of money donated by civic-minded corporados in furtherance of Mr. DeLays efforts to restore virtue and honor to Texas politics (though perhaps “restore” isn’t quite the word…) Which is expressly forbidden under Texas campaign finance laws. Receipts. Fingerprints. las pistolas del smokado
And to top it all off, like a poisoned maraschino cherry atop a turd sundae…it was Enron money! Kenny Boy and His Merry Band of Creative Entrepreneurs!
So now we’ll see. If the band of craven and corrupt political whores sniffs the wind, and senses that the Bushiviks coat-tails might not be the most advantageous position, they will chop him into Congressional chum so fast he won’t know what hit him. They will vote him off the island, they will feed him to the wolves, they will put him on hold.
Conversely, if they think that the real clout, and their main chance, lies with the Jacobite Republicans, they will diddle, they will dawdle, hem and haw. They will form committees to investigate the prospect of a possible maybe, with a report due out no later than 2007.
I think he’s toast. Like minded persons (you know who you are) are invited in for a good cold cup of gloat. Ol Tom’s about to be cored and buggered, Turkish style, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!
No doubt.