Posted on 08/31/2007 12:33:35 PM PDT by Kaslin
In a heated discussion stemming from the Sen. Larry Craig arrest, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay blasted “Today” show host Matt Lauer for the media’s “amazing” double standard regarding GOP and Democratic scandals.
Lauer prefaced DeLay’s Thursday morning appearance on the NBC program by reciting a litany of recent Republican problems, mentioning Rep. Mark Foley and Jack Abramoff among others.
DeLay responded: “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…
“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. Republicans kick them out.”
DeLay mentioned several Democrats who have been afflicted by scandal, according to a transcript provided by the Media Research Center: “You have right now, Alan Mollohan, a Congressman from West Virginia, who is being investigated by the FBI, and the Democrats have kept him on as chairman of the committee that has oversight of the budget of the FBI. You have William Jefferson…”
Lauer cut in: “So, you're saying it's a positive thing. Is it a positive thing that the Republicans do this, they weed out immediately?”
A testy DeLay responded: “You don't want me to finish it? Because you don't want me to…”
LAUER: “No, no go ahead.”
DELAY: “You have William Jefferson caught with $90,000 of marked bills in a freezer. And they did put him off the Ways and Means Committee, but they put him on a highly sensitive Homeland Security Committee. You have Barney Frank, who was caught with a homosexual prostitute who was re-elected over and over again. Gerry Studds who was caught in a bathroom with an under-aged page and he was re-elected.”
Later on DeLay told Lauer: “The point here … is the Republicans handle it. They look at it, and when the evidence is right on that someone is guilty, they do something about it. On the other hand, the Democrats don't. And the media, 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.”
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.”
DeLay was himself hounded by the media after he was charged in 2005 with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws.
DeLay concluded at the end of the Lauer interview: “There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them.”
Later on Thursday, DeLay appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball” and told Chris Matthews: “I do know that the national media is incredibly biased against Republicans that find themselves [in trouble].”
Matthews actually conceded that assertion, to a point: “That’s a charge which I’ve heard before and I can understand why you make it. You make it a lot and sometimes, you know, you have a case to make. Sometimes.”
DeLay is a good man
I’d say Tom layed him open.
I saw this and wanted to clap. Delay did great!!
Tom DeLay doesn’t take no bull from the MSM
Related:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1889022/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1888773/posts
“The issue . . . is whether one sees hypocrisy and wants people to live up to higher standards — or whether one sees hypocrisy and says that we should dissolve moral standards.”
— Peter Wehner
No one even said a word about that.
“There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them.””
What a great election slogan....hope that catches on...I know I’ll certainly repeat it!
I don’t get the automatic connotation you did when Lauer referred to Gonzalez as a “pinata.”
Other people this past week did so also.
Methinks you are a bit too sensitive.
And that surprises you?
I should have put the sarcasm tag on it, I was pointing out the obvious hypocracy though when the insults come from the left.
Hunter/DeLay 08
I know it does little good to point at liberal hypocrasy, but maybe someday if it's pointed out enough the general population might take small notice.
ok. Sorry i did not get your sarcasm.
‘Pod.
And Tom Delay presided over the largest expansion of federal government spending in history. You guys continue to give him a pass because he is “tough”.
Delay allowed Matt to set the premise: “Tom Delay, a former congressman embroiled in scandal....”
A more accurate reply should have been - “No Matt, the only scandal was a politically motivated prosecutor who trumped up charges which you in the news media repeated as though they were true. I was convicted in the media. That is the scandal.”
Give the man a break. Nobodys perfect.
ping
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