Tom Delay cleared of corruption charges

This story got by me, but former Republican House leader Tom Delay was cleared of corruption charges in relation to his association with Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist found guilty of bribing politicians.  From the  Wall Street Journal:

"Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay was the kingpin in the Democrats’ 2006 “culture of corruption” campaign that helped force the Texas Republican out of office—and swept Democrats into power....But after a lengthy federal probe, the Justice Department has dropped its investigation, according to DeLay’s attorney, Richard Cullen."

Delay still faces charges in Texas for money laundering and conspiracy.  These charges were brought in 2005 by Democrat prosecutor Ronnie Earle.  The trial is actually scheduled to start in October of this year. That's a five years wait, folks.  Seems like if the prosecution had a case, this should have been tried a long time ago.

This is the kind of tactic that makes me believe within the next six weeks we're going to see a flurry of Republican "scandals" hit the media.  Passing notes in class, spitting on the sidewalk, removing the tag from a mattress -- no Republican transgression is so small that the media can't make a major news story out of it before an election.

Call Him Mjolnir*

"There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them." -- Tom Delay

Former House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" Delay was interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show recently. Lauer started the interview with a laundry list of Republican scandals -- Mark Foley, David Vitter, the Republicans caught up with lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- and this is how the interview went:

LAUER: So I went through a litany there, and maybe I should start by stepping back. We've got two members out of 49 Republican senators in office right now embroiled in controversy. So do we have a party embroiled in scandal or do we have two bad apples?

DELAY: Well, I hate to say this Matt, but you just showed the problem, the double-standard, and you just participated in it. You listed a whole lot of scandals that involve the Republicans but you didn't mention one Democrat.

LAUER: But you didn't hear me. I also just said do we only have two bad apples or is there a case of an entire party embroiled in scandal?

DELAY: I think in your premise if you had listed all the Democrats that are having problems right now it would have been different. You see the Democrats re-elect the people with their problems; the Republicans kick them out. If you look at what's going on, it's how you handle it as a party and as a political group.

DELAY: The double-standard in the media is amazing. The feeding frenzy, the sharks in the water that's going on right now because of a Republican. Where is the frenzy on Alan Mollohan from West Virginia or William Jefferson from Louisiana?

LAUER: I think you mentioned William Jefferson. There was an awful lot of coverage of William Jefferson when that story broke, congressman. [Note: NBC's "Today" has never once aired an NBC reporter explaining the Jefferson scandal. All that's dribbled out are a few 50-word anchor-read droplets. - kw]

DELAY: Yeah, for just a couple of days and then we went on. In the case of a Republican, believe me I've experienced this, it's day in and day out in the media, and they write this story over and over and over again. We all know the double-standard in the media -- it's amazing.

LAUER: I'm not going to let it, you know, end with that assumption, congressman, because I clearly don't agree with it, but why don't we just say . . .

DELAY: You exhibited it, Matt!

LAUER: You know what, congressman? I think it's unfair. Because I listed a list of problems and then immediately –

DELAY: All Republicans.

LAUER: Well we're talking about the Republican party. You just said, I invited you on to talk about the GOP.

DELAY: Because you don't want to talk about the Democrats.

LAUER: And I also started, congressman, and then said "is this a misperception that there is a party embroiled in scandal when we may just have two bad apples?" That's exactly how I started my first question.

DELAY: No, you started the first question by listing a bunch of Republicans and didn't mention one Democrat.

LAUER: Because we're talking --

DELAY: About the situation that's going on in Washington today and including both Democrats and Republicans. There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them.

LAUER: Alright congressman, I'll let you have the last word. It's good to have you on.

DELAY: Thank you.

* For those non-comic book readers and Norse mythology non-experts out there: In Norse mythology, Mjolnir is the magical hammer of Thor, the god of thunder, lightning, wind, and rain.