Senior Republican (Roy Blunt) Says DeLay Won't Quit as Leader

Reuters ^ | April 17, 2005 | Reuters

[FairOpinion]

Apr 17, 2005 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior House Republican said on Sunday he thought embattled Majority Leader Tom DeLay would stay on in his post despite the cloud of ethical allegations swirling around him.

"Tom DeLay will stay as leader," said Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Tom DeLay is not going to run away from a fight," he told NBC's "Meet the Press."

DeLay was admonished by the House ethics committee last year on three separate matters involving what critics said were strong-armed political tactics.

In recent weeks more allegations have arisen over ties to lobbyists, foreign trips funded by outside groups, and payment of salaries to DeLay's wife and daughter.

Two House Republicans have suggested DeLay should step aside, while some other Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, say he needs to explain his actions to the country.

DeLay has denied any wrongdoing. He showed a typically combative streak over the weekend when he talked about the allegations against him and then referred to Sarah Brady, the wife of the former White House press secretary Jim Brady, who was shot in the assassination attempt against former President Ronald Reagan.

"Sarah Brady said that when a man's in trouble or in a good fight you want all your friends around them, preferably armed," DeLay said in a speech to the National Rifle Association. "So I feel really good."

One House Democrat said while he agreed DeLay might not be about to quit, Republicans were unlikely to want him to continue as their leader in the 2006 congressional elections.

"My guess is that he will not quit soon and that I do not think he will be a candidate for leader in the next Congress. I think that too many Republicans will decide that this is a problem in marginal districts," Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said on "Meet the Press."

Blunt meanwhile rejected suggestions that DeLay should hold a news conference or go on television to answer allegations of ethical misconduct.

"My impression is he has not done anything wrong," Blunt said, adding that the ethics committee was "the best place for him to make that case."

DeLay has said he is eager to appear before the House ethics panel to answer questions. But Democrats, in protest, have not allowed the panel to organize since Republicans voted to change its rules in a way Democrats claim would weaken the committee's ability to investigate lawmakers.

[FairOpinion]

I should hope not!

And it's high time for the Republicans to come out strongly supporting DeLay, instead of giving in to the Dem slime machine yet again.

[ClintonBeGone]

Lets just hope he doesn't appoint that Slim Tancredo to the ethics committee. I had to laugh last night watching the Capitol Gang, when Mark Shields invoked Tancredo's call for Delay to step down. Tancredo/Hillary 2008! The liberal's best friends.

[bgsugar]

DeLay is NO QUITTER and won't let the media nor the Dem's railroad him. The rest of the Republicans BETTER HANG IN THERE with him too or they may find they won't have any support when they need it.

[MizSterious]

I hope he's right. We've seen two "Republicans" come out and ask for Delay to step down--now I'd like to see a crowd of them come forward and ask him to stay.

[FairOpinion]

That's exactly it, Tancredo is handing ammunition to the liberals to bring down a good conservative leader.
So much for Tancredo's conservative credentials.

[webheart]

Presidential material.

[Torie]

DeLay should demand the ethics committee vet his conduct ASAP.

[Wormwood]

So much for Tancredo's conservative credentials.

If it's okay for Bush to be wrong on one issue (in this case, illegal immigration), then I suppose it's okay for Tancredo to be wrong on one issue (in this case, Delay).

[FairOpinion]

It is not the issue of Tancredo, in his personal opinion, being "wrong on DeLay", it's him betraying the Republicans by calling for DeLay's resignation.

Tancredo could have just kept his mouth shot, and he didn't, he was deliberately giving ammunition to the Democrats -- doesn't sound like a conservative to me.

[harrowup]

You're kidding right? Shields pimped for Tancredo? What a puke.

[FairOpinion]

I meant his mouth shut -- shot was probably a Freudian slip, because with this Tancredo shot himself in the foot badly.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Backbone from the Show Me. What happened to Colorado's senator ?

[Wormwood]

Please, don't let the good be the enemy of the perfect.

That's a peculiarly conservative failing.

[Dustbunny]

Senior Republican (Roy Blunt) Says DeLay Won't Quit as Leader

Good !!!

It is about time the Republicans stuck up for each other instead of destroying their own with their useless comments.

[Afronaut]

Foolish pandering once again.:

"I had to laugh last night watching the Capitol Gang, when Mark Shields invoked Tancredo's call for Delay to step down. Tancredo/Hillary 2008! The liberal's best friends."

Rep. Tom Tancredo's advice that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay should consider stepping aside while ethics charges against him are resolved received wall-to-wall coverage on the Sunday morning news shows - which all but ignored Tancredo's main point: that the DeLay allegations "lack merit" and were "trumped up."

In a statement posted to his official web site Friday, the Colorado Republican emphasized the that he believed that the DeLay scandal was a bogus partisan witchunt:

In a statement posted to his official web site Friday, the Colorado Republican emphasized the that he believed that the DeLay scandal was a bogus partisan witchunt:

"I believe that all of the charges against Tom DeLay I have seen to date lack merit. I believe they are being leveled in the hopes of brining him down, and with him the Republican Majority," he began.

Only then did Tancredo suggest that it "may be a productive move" for DeLay to take a "temporary" leave of absence, saying:

"However if the Majority Leader were to temporarily step aside so that these trumped up charges can be dealt with in a less hostile environment, as they have proven to be an unnecessary distraction, it may be a productive move.”

But that didn't stop the media from misreporting Tancredo's comments, suggesting that the Colorado Republican wanted DeLay to permanently resign.

Of twenty-nine mainstream press reports on Tancredo's statement generated by a Lexis Nexis search, fourteen omitted his "temporarily" qualifier.

None of the headlines so much as hinted that Tancredo's statement was anything but a call for DeLay's permanent resignation.
Newsmax

You continue your march to slander Tancredo every chance you get no matter what the truth is.

[ken21]

someday the pubbies will realize that they need allies in newspapers and television.

most of this firestorm was created by boxer, kennedy, pelosi, and...the media.

[bgsugar]

There are WAY too many cities with only one main newspaper and no competition on what is deemed news.

At least with the broadcast media we have FOX.

[FairOpinion]

I posted and many read Tancredo's own statement from his website.

If he says DeLay is innocent, why is he asking him to step aside? Does he think that if Dems accuse any Republican leader, they have a duty to step aside, regardless of the validity of the charges? And just what does "temporarily" mean? Temporarily until what? Until the Dems stop attacking? And leave the Republicans "temporarily" with no leader?

Tancredo just showed himself to be nothing but an opportunist. He is USING the anti-immigration cause to get his 15 minutes of fame. People should reconsider having him as their poster boy. As I said on anothe thread, the movement will survive just fine without him, but for him, that was his ticket to fame. Go find someone else, who is NOT spending his time gratuitously giving aid and support to the enemy, the Dems.

---

Tancredo Statement on Majority Leader Tom DeLay (from his own website)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1385076/posts


Tancredo Statement on Majority Leader DeLay


WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (CO-06) today said of embattled Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX):



“I believe that all of the charges against Tom DeLay I have seen to date lack merit. I believe they are being leveled in the hopes of brining him down, and with him the Republican Majority,” said Tancredo. “However if the Majority Leader were to temporarily step aside so that these trumped up charges can be dealt with in a less hostile environment, as they have proven to be an unnecessary distraction, it may be a productive move.”

http://tancredo.house.gov/pressers/04.15.05%20Tancredo%20Statement%20on%20DeLay.htm

[ken21]

ok.

but think about the millions of people that do not surf the net, do not listen to talk radio, but get their news through newspapers and television.

with the exception of the wsj, the pittsburgh trib, the ny post, most of the newspapers in the states are controlled by

feminists.

they control the tv too.

[Nick Danger]

Tancredo... betraying the Republicans by calling for DeLay's resignation.

In fairness to Tancredo, we should note that he is a rube from the forest who only last Tuesday fell off the turnip truck.

He could never have guessed, when he penned a thoughtful statement saying that DeLay had not done anything wrong but perhaps should step aside temporarily, that the Associated Press would selectively quote it under the headline Conservative Lawmaker: DeLay Should Quit.

Rep.Tancredo had read in his civics book that the press in America was fair, and that it wrote about facts. He had no clue, as a recent forest-dweller, that the press was in fact the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party, and that it would twist his words and make up a headline that didn't fit the facts.

We don't know yet whether Rep. Tancredo will have someone explain to him what happened, or just run back to the village in the forest, never to be seen again.