New services around the country are reporting that good ol’ Tom “The Hammer” DeLay is stepping down from his bid to run again for Congress. Couldn’t be better news to me. I just wonder why it’s taken so long. Perhaps he got advanced warning of the extent of Tom Rudy’s cooperation, and pending charges that will be harder to shake.
I also wonder if those who donated to his re-election can ask for a refund, and how the successor is chosen. A run off between the remaining 3 candidates?
I also wonder if Bush and the Rove machine will continue to stand by their man, or will attempt to distance themselves and the White House from DeLay.
I’m sure some answers will come sooner than later, but that’s at least one perpetrator of the culture of corruption that won’t be influencing the laws of our country, and won’t be perpetuating the good ol’ boy network on Capitol Hill come this fall.
Tag: delay
Tom, Can You Hear the Footsteps?
Reuters.com
In case you’ve been asleep the last 4 days, Abramhoff got 5 years 10 months for his role in the Sun Cruz line purchase. Still to come are sentences for his multitude of other indiscretions while a lobbyist. Though that sentence is bound to be lessened based on his cooperation with prosecutors, and run concurrent to these charges. I really hope these prosecutors are holding out for DeLay, and not just Ney.
Put “The Hammer” on the Shelf
DeLay Will Face Voters’ Verdict This Week
Please, if you live in the Houston area, go out and vote against DeLay tomorrow. You don’t have to be a Republican to vote, so what better way for Democrats and independents to send Congress and the Bush White House a message than to vote out their man in a primary?
Proverbial Fox Guarding the Hen House
AP (via Yahoo) So, the old Hammer slips in shit and comes out smelling like a rose. He’s been handed a “coveted” seat on the Appropriations Committee, and get this, a seat on the sub-committee overseeing the Justice Department. Which, just so happens to be who is investigating the Abramhoff scandal. And while he’s at it, he got a seat overseeing NASA (the same NASA that was recently revealed to have a political appointee of Bush’s who’s been censoring its scientists on global warming, that doesn’t have a completed college degree and regardless of his studies, his major was journalism). Anyway, back to DeLay, go figure, he’s up for reelection, and now sits on the NASA subcommittee, and guess what, his home district just happens to be Houston, home of Johnson Space Center. So anyone with half a brain can tell you that was as politically motivated an appointment as they get, and despite what anyone says, the Republicans are going about dirty business as usual.
Hammer on the Shelf
Now that he’s made more mainstream news cycles, I’ve refrained from posting much on the Hammer. But I feel this news is worthy of a shout from the cliff, as it signals to me the pressure from within the party is doing exactly what I said they would do…use him up and throw him on hte scrap heap. He will probably lose his primary in March, as I’d guess the republican machine will throw their money behind his competitor, hoping he’ll have a better chance against a democrat in the fall. From there, he can be a fall guy for the Abramhoff deal, along with Ney, probably taking a bullet or two for several other republicans. So this story is FAR from over, and the dominos have yet to get primary players, but one can only hope the truth mostly comes out.
File Under: “No He Didn’t”
President Says DeLay Is Not Guilty of Money Laundering
I hope that he will, ’cause I like him, and plus, when he’s over there, we get our votes through the House,” Bush told Fox News’s Brit Hume.
What happened to the “if anyone in my administation is guilty…”. Someone must know something we don’t.
Abramhoff’s Cancer Spreads
Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe of Lobbyist I first wrote about the Firm of ASG and DeLay’s wife back in April. Here it is almost December and it’s finally becoming a legitimate news. Some of my favorites, DeLay’s wife was paid over 3 grand a month to determine each Congress man’s favorite charity. One would assume that could be done by a few low level staffers in a week via email and voice calls. And it looks more and more like DeLay is going to be smack dab in the middle of this one too. While we’re at it, might someone look a little further into the Brian Darling connection as well. With Bill Nelson facing a tough election next year, this could be something to take another swipe out of the Republican machine.
Breaking! Scanlon pleads out, to testify against Abramoff
EDIT-Link
Scanlon also admitted… he, Lobbyist A, and others engaged in a pattern of bribery through which one or both of them offered and provided a stream of things of value to public officials, including trips, campaign contributions, meals and entertainment in exchange for agreements that public officials would use their official positions and influence to benefit the clients of Scanlon and Lobbyist A as well as Lobbyist A’s businesses.
So Michael Scanlon, former DeLay aide, has pleaded guilty in a deal to agree to testify against Abramhoff. Does this mean he has some dirt on DeLay as well? Only time will tell. I’m sure the Justice dept is licking its lips at this one!
Another Miss by the Hammer
Good ol’ Tom has now moved to have his judge recuse himself from the case because, among other organizations, he’s donated to Moveon.org. So what does he want, someone who’s donated to the RNC or one of his own PACs? Or simply a judge that hasn’t donated to any political affliations? To me, it’s just another desperate move by a rat backed into a corner.
Keeping Up on the Hammer
Washington Post As I’ve stated in various other online existences, life away from the laptop has changed, some for the good, some not so. Alas, the world keeps turning, and so does the clown rodeo kown as the Tomd DeLay defense. His lawyers are know trying to squash the money laundering because “wire transfers are not ‘funds’ “… if that’s not a backhanded admission of guilt, nothing is. “If the glove does not fit, you must acquit”. And to further the never give in persona of ol’ Hammer, he passed on a plea offer of a misdemeanor charge of violating Texas election laws, thus the felony charges that he currently faces. Tom, you shoulda listened closer to the Gambler, “you gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em…”
And for the Main Event…
In case you missed it, Katrina Vanden Hueval and Ann Coulter were part of Larry King’s panel discussing the DeLay indictment. However, the difference is those two were in the studio with King, whereas the others where off-studio cameras. As usual, Coulter had to try and get the last word, wouldn’t answer King’s questions (I’ll give it to the old softy, he sorta tried to ask the hard questions), and basically came across as her lunatic self. Vanden Hueval surprised me when she even joined the mantra of “culture of corruption”. Ultimately, it was a matter of two diametrically opposed political commentators, and nothing new was added. But at times, it looked like there could be a cat fight.
“Culture of Corruption”
As some who’ve read here before, you know I’ve looked forward to this day for some time. The only thing I look forward to more now is the day Tom DeLay is found guilty of at least some of his crimes against this country. To me, he’s committed treason. He’s cheated and lied to the American people, and circumvented the law, which thereby prevented the people of Texas from rightly electing their officials. But this is all fairly main stream news. What I’ve found more interesting is the mantra the democratic party line is using in the recent criminal charges/investigations…“culture of corruption”. When election time rolls around in ‘06, expect that phrase to be played out over and over. I think that will be the real “platform” for unseating the Republicans. I think it can be used in just about every situation from the appointment of Brown to FEMA to the gerrymandering issues in Texas.
Hammer Sighting…
Ah, we knew it wouldn’t be long, but the Hammer has reared his ugly head, at the behest of the White House, I’m sure, to run interference. The lamb is being dressed…
First Domino Falls
Some may know that I had a string of posts regarding Tom Delay, and though he keeps his nose out of the public eye lately, an associate of his has not had the same opportunity. In a case unrelated to his lobbying shenanigans, Jack Abramoff is facing numerous fraud charges stemming from a partnership he was involved in that purchased the SunCruz Casinos several years back. Coupled with that purchase, is the still unsolved gangland style murder of the man whom the partners purchased the gambling boat line from. At what point does some draw a connection between a lobbyist buying a gambling boat line, representing gambling interests, and a man shot dead in a hail of gun fire? To that, at what point does someone question the nature of his relationship to the Republican power, as in the likes of Delay?