TRANSLATION:We in the biased MSM have not yet gone far enough to smear the Congressman. But, we can hound President Bush about it and see if we can embarrass the White House.
Posted on 04/09/2005 1:20:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
ANALYSIS
Administration has yet to target DeLay for ouster
Despite signs of strain, critics need more ammunition to bring him down
WASHINGTON - One way to judge whether House Majority Leader Tom DeLay can survive questions about his conduct in office is to watch for signals from the White House, which was instrumental in the ouster of another Republican leader in 2002.
Unlike former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., who was pushed out of his leadership post by the White House in favor of Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., DeLay has yet to feel any firm shoves from President Bush's operatives.
"Nobody around here is saying that DeLay is a problem the way Lott was," a senior administration official said Friday. At least, not yet.
Unless DeLay is hit with new, clear-cut evidence of wrongdoing or gets indicted by a Travis County grand jury that is investigating political corruption by his associates, the Sugar Land Republican remains protected by the conservatives in his party, despite persistent questions about his overseas travel and political fund raising and spending.
"I think there's a general feeling that (critics) are going to need more before he's in trouble. There's nothing that compares to the moment when we spoke out about Lott," the administration official said.
But there are signs of strain.
On board Air Force One as it headed back to Texas after the funeral of Pope John Paul II, Bush was asked to respond to DeLay's recent attacks against federal judges, particularly those who refused to order the reinsertion of a feeding tube for Terri Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged Florida woman who died last week.
"I believe in an independent judiciary. I believe in proper checks and balances" between branches of government, the president said, joining other high-profile Republicans, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Frist, who have distanced themselves from DeLay's strident critique of judges.
Just a month ago, Bush was calling DeLay a "close ally," adding, "I have confidence in Tom DeLay 's leadership, and I have confidence in Tom DeLay."
While House Republicans are keeping a stiff upper lip in public, some GOP lawmakers privately worry that DeLay's troubles are becoming a major distraction.
Congressional analysts also note the absence of a strong public statement of support by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., DeLay's longtime ally.
Lawmaker's powerful role The "moment" the White House turned against Lott came when the president, in a high-profile speech, disavowed the senator's praise for the 1948 presidential campaign of pro-segregation Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond.
The firestorm around Lott's comments began as a slow burn, but the heat was turned up by civil rights leaders, as well as by conservative commentators who were unhappy with Lott's willingness to compromise with Democrats.
In the DeLay case, "the White House is going to have to operate with stealth because of DeLay's relationship with the right," which is the party's base, said Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council who once worked for the Christian Coalition. "This is much dicier for the White House than Lott was."
DeLay's staying power so far has more to do with political pragmatism than with his relationship with Bush, which has been testy at times.
Republicans and even begrudging Democrats agree that DeLay is a masterful majority leader, managing to drive through Congress some of Bush's most challenging legislation.
Democrats face challenges DeLay is being increasingly compared to former House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, who was forced to resign in 1989, but their circumstances differ. Wright, a moderate, "did not have the kind of emotional support in the Democratic base that DeLay has in the Republican base," Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., recalled recently.
Also, Wright resigned before receiving the official findings of an aggressive House ethics committee investigation.
Currently, the ethics committee is virtually nonexistent. Democrats are protesting the Republicans' re-writing of the rules that make it harder to investigate members.
DeLay also is helped by the complexity of the financing of his trips and political activities.
"The challenge (for Democrats) with the attacks on DeLay is that you cannot, in two sentences, explain what the charges are," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.
But critical news reports could eventually change that.
Former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., who was on the verge of becoming House speaker in 1998, listed Lott, Wright, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and himself among those who were forced to step aside or leave office because of intense media scrutiny.
"We all faced that sort of thing and it's not comfortable at all," Livingston said. But DeLay "is a fighter and he's effective," and it will take more than what has emerged so far to force him out, Livingston predicted.
gebe.martinez@chron.com
Tom Delay believes in getting even, not forgiving. the RATS are doing their best to trash each and every Christian they meet. I hope they keep it up, because they are becoming a useless Party really fast :-)
Bob Livingston could have been a big force in the Republican party -- he was tapped to replace Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House, but he was just another hypocrite who couldn't keep his pecker in his pants.
Tom DeLay isn't my most favorite person in the world, but it remains to be seen whether paying his wife and his daughter a generous salary is a crime or just politics as usual.
Through suggestion, the left is trying to drive a wedge between members of the GOP.
Dems are Rats, if nobody had noticed.
Democrats/msm hate DeLay because he's effective and he doesn't cower from their baseless assaults.
Rush: Media Ignores Rampant Harry Reid Corruption But Goes Nuts Over Martinez, DeLay -- Rush: The media's out for DeLay's scalp --
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1379223/posts
Today's Attack on Tom DeLay Involves Guilt by Association
Judiciary has `run amok,' DeLay says
Impeach Judges without further Delay, Congressman
Rush: Media Circles Wagons Around DeLay - The media's out for his scalp
BUMP!
I'm hearig a full court press on NBC Houston local news. They are after him..IMHO.
After the press hounds baying after Senator Lott's remark about a great American, Senator Strom Thurmond, brought down Senator Lott, the pack is now out for another. None of us are perfect, and I wonder just how these reporters would fare with the same sort of scrutiny: certainly cases such as the Jayson Blair contretemps show no light of saintliness emanating from the MSM.
You're darn right, they're after him.
He's the sheriff and they want an open town.
Tom DeLay is the man they love to hate.
In my book, that makes him our champion in government.
I did not say that the payment was "excessive." It does appear to have been generous, perhaps unusually generous.
I've been solicited by Tom DeLay for funds every year for many years, but given that he's in Texas and I am in VA, I haven't felt any desire to give him any money. Now I am glad that I did not do so.
Nevertheless, I have no bone to pick with Tom DeLay.
And, anything that Moveon.org is for, I am against.
To quote a Texas Democrat asked by the Houston Chonicle for a comment on Tom DeLay:
"If you've seen a chicken in the barnyard get a peck on his head so a little blood is showing, then the other chickens all rush in and peck him to death, that is the danger for Tom DeLay right now," said Charlie Wilson, a former Democratic member of Congress from Lufkin. "He's got a little blood on his head, and sometimes that is enough to get you killed." Source
TRANSLATION:We in the biased MSM have not yet gone far enough to smear the Congressman. But, we can hound President Bush about it and see if we can embarrass the White House.
The lie is all they have and they wield it with practiced skill.
They're trying to bring down DeLay with a disgusting campaign of innuendo and lies.
The efforts to destroy the Marxist propaganda press need to be increased. Firing off blistering letters attacking the integrity and truthfulness of these hacks works. Most of them are flaming egoists who believe they are more intelligent than the avergage citizen and they believe their mission is to change the world according to their narrow views.
Any letter criticizing them chips away at their fragile utopian ego and gives them stomach aches the entire day.
Then again, there is the chance if you peck to much you may get a sore pecker. Keep it up Rats!
This article is heavy on snide innuendo and totally light on real facts.
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