So you have several indictments against you for nefarious fund-raising deeds, to include a charge of money-laundering. If your first instrinct is to launch a website to solicit donations for your legal defense, you might be Rep. Tom DeLay:
Tom DeLay Legal Expense Trust
The Tom DeLay Legal Expense Trust was created to help Congressman Tom DeLay defend himself against frivolous charges filed against him. All funds collected will go to pay legal bills and other costs for matters that have been approved by the U.S. House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Most recently, Congressman DeLay has come under partisan liberal attacks from Travis County, Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle and House Democrats for his conservative leadership.
Help Tom DeLay fight these frivolous charges and stop the partisan witch-hunt. Dontate $25, $50, $100 or more to the Tom DeLay Legal Expense Trust today!
I guess the spelling errors are just for added humor…
James C.
Thanks for the hat tip, John. I just donated $100 in your name.
Stormy70
Delay is a hack, but these indictments are a joke. Even the liberal Austin newspaper recognizes Earle’s a partisan idiot. Read their articles on the Grand Jury shenanigans that have gone on here. Very enlightening.
Rome Again
I fear the day when corruption happens openly and on a massive scale yet Stormy endorses it. Oh, that day has already come, hasn’t it?
Stormy only believes news that sets her party in a good light.
Zifnab
Earle’s not a partisan and this has nothing to do with Dems vs. Repubs. This is entirely personal. Those two have been at each others’ throats for practically a decade now, and if either one decided to change parties tommorrow, they’d still be at each others’ throats.
DeLay has stepped on and screwed over a very large number of people in the Sugar Land/Houston area and he’s made alot of enemies who span the political spectrum. If the Democratic National Committee were running this investigation, it would have been fucked up and dropped a long time ago. But these are Texas politicians ducking it out Texas style and if you think Ronnie is being sleazy on his end, you haven’t seen the filth he’s had to wade through – the number of snipes that have been taken at his job, his family, his friends, his neighbors, his colleagues.
Five years ago, this might have been a high minded, emotionally distant, partisan dispute. Now it’s just slap-fight-in-the-mud ugly.
DougJ
The smearing of Earle as a “partisan idiot” is idiotic. That’s why I’m not surprised to hear Stormy saying it. There may very well be legal grounds on which to contest these charges. And for all anyone knows, they are politically motiviated.
But to call him partisan when he has investigated twice as many Democrats as Republicans is just plain silly. And to call him an idiot when he’s had convictions in 10 of his 15 investigations of political figures is even sillier.
That isn’t to say that there is merit to these current charges against DeLay. That’s not for us to decide, that’s for a jury to decide.
James C.
In Texas, Earle is considered a hack by BOTH dems and repubs. And as to his prosecuting twice as many dems as repubs, that of course is the party line put out by Media Matters and others on the lunatic fringe, but is merely a reflection of the fact that until very recent times there were almost no repubs elected in Travis County (or across the state, for that matter).
DougJ
James C, so if something is true, then we should ignore it if it can also be considered the party line? If Earle is such a poor prosecutor, a hack as you say, then how did he manage to convict so many politicians? Also, if he is such a poor prosecutor, then DeLay has nothing to fear,right? If he has nothing to fear then why is he making such a big fuss? Why doesn’t he sit back and wait until the charges are dismissed?
James C, you ought to keep your powder dry so that you can smear Fitzgerald when he indicts Rove or Libby later this month.
Darrell
You need to advertise your dishonesty more prominently. As if many people will not be influenced by the fact that DeLay was “indicted”, regardless of whether or not such indictment was justified.
DougJ
Darrell, if the charges are thrown out by a judge, I think the indictments won’t have much effect. Don’t you agree?
I agree that there certainly circumstances under which DeLay may be acquitted yet be seen as tainted in the eyes of the public. I will certainly grant you that. But if the charge are entirely without merit, the I would expect them to be thrown out by a judge or to be laughed at by a jury. I do think that in either event, the political harm to DeLay will not be that great.
You can call that dishonest if you like. To be completely honest with you, I’ve read a bit aobut the case and have no idea if DeLay is guilty or not. I think that he *is* guilty of unethical, if not illegal, behavior in his dealings with Abramoff, but that’s another matter.
Ancient Purple
Not to worry, Stormy. Even if DeLay is convicted, he won’t have much to fear, since all we do is coddle prisoners in the U.S.
DougJ
I love when righties start their sentences with “even the liberal.”
James C.
DougJ – The plain and simple truth is that Ronnie Earle has a VERY LOW success rate in prevailing against those he charges, whether they are dems or repubs. The facts are clear…he is a HACK, and very obviously he is YOUR kind of HACK.
DougJ
So James, 10 convictions out of 12 indictments is a LOW SUCCESS rate.
Well, if he were my kind of hack he would be convicting a lot more people of both parties. From what I’ve read, Texas politics was a hotbed of corruption when the Dems ran it and it still is now that the Republicans run it. Corruption is not a partisan issue.
“The facts are clear”? I’d like to hear some of the facts. You haven’t given me any. And I mean facts plural. I know he screwed up an investigation of Kay Bailey. One lost case does not a bad prosecutor make. Give me more evidence. I’m all ears.
Look, James C, you seem like a nice guy. If you want to argue, find some facts. Remember, you can’t smear all the people all the time.
Darrell, Stormy, and James C, please anwer this honestly: will you start smearing Fitzgerald if Rove or Libby gets indicted? Tell me the truth.
Rome Again
Yes, anyone who would bring charges against themself (or at least turn themselves in to be charged and admit wrongdoing) MUST be a hack. As for his failures being more numerous than his successes?
From Wikipedia:
note: there is a dispute to the neutrality of this article
Now, you may dispute the above, but let’s see some specifics.
ppGaz
The question is whether the Bushmonkeys will put their money where their mouths are, and contribute to the DeLay fund.
I propose that any B-monkey who posts here on this topic either show proof of a contribution, or STFU. If you put DeLay’s indictment inside quotes, and made no contribution, then you are just singin’ spuds.
James C.
That’s a very nice list from kos…and I believe it makes the point very well: Ronnie Earle is a HACK. Just read the description of the Hutchinson case, for example. It’s almost a direct parallel with the DeLay case…an incompetent district attorney making charges that are so obviously flawed that they are dismissed almost out of hand. On the other hand, Earle makes a few cases stick against conservative dems, as shown in the Kos list. So what!
Rome Again
I didn’t get it from Kos, I didn’t get it from Kos’ encyclopedia, called DKosopedia either, I got it from Wikipedia, which is owned by
Wikimedia, and is NOT a Kos production, despite what you may think.
Know what you are talking about before assuming something like that, will ya?
Despite what you may think, Kos is not the end all of the liberal blogosphere.
Zifnab
Man, James. You totally didn’t read the rest of the article did you? How many Democrats does Earle have to indite before he’s not partisan anymore? How much money does he have to contribute to TRAMPAC before you’re convinced he’s going after DeLay and not the party?
You know what? Fuck it. There’s no point in trying to convince someone the sky is blue if they don’t want to look up during the daytime. Why bother spelling it out? You could give a laundry list of Earle’s merits and a rolladex of DeLay’s sins, and some people won’t be convinced.
OJ Simpson had a better defense. If the attorney ain’t Right, you can’t indite.
Rome Again
First of all, it’s NOT a Kos list, and as soon as John approves my last post (waiting for moderation because of numerous links) you’ll see that.
Other than that, as you’ll see, most of those cases were either convictions or plea bargains (hint: those who are innocent and are convinced they did no wrong should not take a plea bargain, it only makes them appear guilty when they supposedly did nothing wrong).
Earle did not make “a few cases stick”, he prosecuted MOST of those cases. The failure to prosecute was far less than the success rate… but what do I know, since I got that from a “Kos list”.
Talk about a hack!
rose
In light of what has been admitted by Delay I think these donation solicitations should come with a caveate that the money may be used for any number of things instead of the stated purpose. Delay has openly admitted that once you give him money he feels free to give it or spend it any way he wishes.
Rome Again
Oh NO! Not BLUE, that’s a “Democrat color”.
/snark
Stormy70
Earle indicts his political enemies, period. Why did he have to Grand Jury shop over the weekend? Because his first indictment was falling apart. Do you guys even read the articles, or do you assume we are tarring Earle. We who actually live in this state, and have gone on record in the past of thinking Delay is dirty. Earle is a running joke in Texas and participated in Democratic fundraisers, while claiming he was going to get Delay. Are you hanging your hopes on this idiot? Go ahead. There is a reason the Dems in Texas are going the way of the Dodo bird.
I don’t defend Rove and said if he is dirty, then burn him. But Wilson and Plame are partisan hacks, and outed themselves, in my opinion. The CIA should be dismantled, it is so full of itself, and gets every major thing wrong.
DougJ
I’ve read several articles about Earle recently and he sounds like a very moral guy, maybe too moral. He’s obsessed with getting the corruption of money out of the system. That doesn’t make him a partisan hack. It may make him an overzealous prosecutor. But the fact is he usually does get his man.
And the fact you live in Texas doesn’t influence me. If George Bush said the sky wasn’t blue, you’d go around repeating it and calling anyone who didn’t agree a traitor.
Stormy70
I’ve never called anyone a traitor, so go paint someone else with your broad brush. So what did you think of the article about the prosecutor having to scramble last weekend because the first indictment was for a law not enacted at the time? What did you think about him getting an indictment from a grand jury on the first day it was impaneled? What did you think about Earle’s temper tantrum when the second Grand Jury would not indict? You did see all this last week in the Austin Statesman, right?
Rome Again
Please elaborate, and, if you would be so kind, could you also include the insignificance of the absence of yellowcake in Niger as it pertains to our current war with Iraq, please?
Stormy70
Go back and read the back threads when this was getting hot and heavy. Why repeat everything I wrote back then, when you won’t agree with it anyway in a million years. Desperate Houswives and Rome will be on soon, and a much better use of my time.
Rome Again
Rome I can understand, it is an interesting time to study (and even the entertainment productions leave much to study), but Desparate Housewives? Yuck!
Of course, I’ve been led to understand that GOPers are the type that Desparate Housewives caters to. I’d rather pull my tonsils out than suffer through that personally. The family values crowd seems to be the type that just LOVES that sort of thing.
As for trouncing back through archives to find out what Stormy thinks about Plame/Wilson, no thanks. If you care to make the claim here and now that Wilson/Plame outed themselves and yet don’t wish to back it up here and now, then maybe you should stop saying it?
ppGaz
Biting my tongue here.
As promised.
I hope you appreciate it.
ppGaz
Scotch is a terrible thing to waste.
Martin Kn
Ronnie Earle is a partisan/political hack.
As evidenced by the many comments in this thread, the Left’s inevitable response to this assertion is to repeat the silly talking point that he has prosecuted Democrats as well as Republicans as proof that he is not. But that’s just responding to an argument by vigorously beating a straw man in answering a charge no-one has made, i.e. Earle only prosecutes for partisan/political purposes. He is a District Attorney (albeit the only one in Texas with jurisdiction over political/electoral felonies) after all and it would stand to reason that he would prosecute Democrats over an extended period of time in which practically every single statewide/federal official in/from Texas was a Democrat.
Either way, the fact that he has prosecuted Democrats does not refute the charge that he is a charlatan and political hack. That’s because it does not negate the fact that he has proven himself time and again to be willing to use the powers of his office to assault those he considers political foes (some of whom have been Democrats). Not one single Leftist defending Earle here in all the comments on this issue has had the courage to even mention (if only to discount) his ridiculous crusade (laughed out of court when he could not produce a single shred of evidence) against Kay Bailey Hutchison in 1994. Meaning that he had her indicted and took her all the way to trial. Without any evidence that she had done anything wrong.
That’s what makes him a hack.
The fact that his office (illegally, mind you) leaked grand jury information on the case to his friends in the Press (Kay Bailey Hutchison had to suffer the same treatment); the fact that, in violation of any notion of justice used the supposedly impartial investigation as a subject of a political speech at a party fundraiser in which he attacked the person he was supposed to be impartially investigating (prior to the conclusion of the investigation, no less); the fact that he was supposedly investigating for three whole years and somehow “coincidentally” only manged to secure an indictment on the very day prior to the statute of limitations for the supposed felony was to come into force.
All this is what makes him a hack.
Rome Again
Actually, the reason is because of Gerrymandering; but of course, you being a Texas Republican, you would never admit that, would you?
DougJ
How could Wilson have outted himself? He wasn’t a CIA agent.
These Bushies are crazy, really crazy.
ppGaz
You have no idea, man. Everything is about their team. Everything. There is no objective truth about anything.
War in Iraq? It’s about the team. Espionage laws? The team. Corruption? Protect the team. Truth, morality, justice, good v. evil, any idea of America that is worth a damn? All take second place to the the team.
orogeny
Re: the Hutchinson indictment:
“Trumped up”…”ridiculous crusade”…”laughed out of court”???
http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/1994-06-23/news/feature.html
Ancient Purple
Party before country.
I swear I’ve heard what happens when people put party before country somewhere in history.
Hmmm.
DougJ
Look, Kool-Aid drinkers, we know that Earle screwed up his case against Kay Bailey. That doesn’t mean he’s wrong here anymore than it means that because DeLay had three ethics violations that DeLay is therefore guilty. This may be news to you, but everyone has made mistakes. Even George Jesus Bush. Even though he won’t admit it.
That’s what’s so fucked-up about the smearig. Absolutely everyone has done something wrong in their lives — whether it’s Rush Limbaugh with the smack, George Jesus with the coke, Bill Bennett with gambling, Bill O’Reilly with the falafel. In fact, all of you boys have done things much worse than anything we’ve heard of Ronnie Earle doing. You talk about Earle like a criminal because he lost one case, yet you worship the ground George Jesus Bush walks on despite the fact he’s a serial liar and a former coke head.
You need to pull your heads out of your asses before it’s too late for this country. You can do better. I want you to do better. But stop acting like drooling morons and then whining about elitism when others try to help you think like a real human being.
I’m sorty to go bonkers but the smearing of Earle and this idea that Joe Wilson “outed himself” is just putting me over the edge.
Otto Man
Yeah, and DeLay got indicted for it.
Otto Man
You say “as well as” as if Earle prosecuted 100 Republicans and threw in a Democrat there for diversity. He’s indicted 12 Democrats and now, with DeLay, 3 Republicans. In other words, four times as many Democrats as Republicans. How is that an indication that he’s biased against Republicans?
And yes, can we get a statement on what’s so evil about Patrick FitzGerald before the indictments come down? Or do you all need to wait for the RNC talking points on that one, too?
Rome Again
When this country lies totally in ruins, and there is no longer a reason to cheer the team, I hope they look back on all they’ve done with astonishment and shame.
DougJ
They won’t. They’ll blame it on Clinton.
Zifnab
When the country lies totally in ruins, and there is no longer a reason to cheer the team, the rich and the privileged will do what they have always done. They’ll leave.
They’ll head north to Canada, or east to China, or west to Europe and they’ll leave their Hilton hotels and their JP Morgan investment firms and their Haliburton construction companies behind with just enough corrupt politicians to keep the plebians in line. And then we’ll start looking alot like Mexico – from the cheap, forced, illegal labor, to the military cum drug lord police system, to the joke of a representative one-party democracy.
Rome Again
I know you’re probably correct, but I still hope that one day they will finally figure it out, even if it is too late to bring this country back from the brink. I have two children in their teens, I would really like to see them grow up into productive and happy adults with families of their own (and a world to live raise those families in)… but ultimately, even if that never happens, I think closure on this mess is necessary, and that comes from acknowledgement of what screwed up all of our children’s chances to become happy and productive adults by the people who perpetrated this mess.
Rome Again
Yes, I’ve considered this myself. Orwell was only off by a few years, it seems.
Anyway, gotta go to work, have a great evening folks.
The Disenfranchised Voter
Does that include the charges he brought against himself?
Heh.
If you guys really believe Tommy Boy was innocent you would be donating money. Either put your money where your mouth is or can it already.
DougJ
Rome, I believe that a certain proportion on the right has gone past the point of no return. Actually, I believe that about a portion of the left as well, but it isn’t as many people and the government doesn’t cater to them. What these “Wilson outted himself” lunatics on the right don’t realize, in fact, is how much they have in common with the “the government invented crack” crazies on the other side.
DougJ
How long until John shows up and defends Stormy and the rest? He’ll tell us we’re just as bad for defending Joe Wilson as Stormy is for defending DeLay. Just watch.
Jon H
James C writes: “In Texas, Earle is considered a hack by BOTH dems and repubs. And as to his prosecuting twice as many dems as repubs, that of course is the party line put out by Media Matters and others on the lunatic fringe, but is merely a reflection of the fact that until very recent times there were almost no repubs elected in Travis County (or across the state, for that matter).”
Er, if he was a politically motivated Democratic hack, he *would not* have prosecuted the Democrats.
His record shows that he prosecutes abuses of power. When the Democrats held power in Texas, they abused it, and he prosecuted them. When the GOP gained power, they abused it, and he prosecuted *them*.
If the GOP has a problem with being prosecuted, they should have tried avoiding the abuse of power.
Jon H
“Rome, I believe that a certain proportion on the right has gone past the point of no return. ”
Heh.
Indeed.
Rome Again
That’s how I see it too, and if I were in his shoes, I’d do exactly the same thing.
I have to say, I have some ancestors named Earle, and perhaps Ronnie and I are cousins. If so, I would count him as a great cousin.
Now, I’m all showered and clean, and I really do have to go to work… but I’m off again tomorrow, so I’ll be back! ;)
ppGaz
Follow the page views, Dougster.
DougJ
What does that mean? Are page views some cool new xml thing I should be familiar with?
ppGaz
One never knows when you are joshing, Doug.
Page view
It’s always about the page views, Doug. Always.
Steve S
Let’s just get this clear…
Tom Delay is a hack. Even Republicans admit this.