If delay is truly working on a plea bargain deal,

[Ernesto]

does this mean Ronnie Earle will be spared the standard rovian character assassination?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Where have YOU been?

The slandering of Ronnie Earle started as soon as the indictment was made public.

Everyone knew this was coming. DeLay and his counsel met with Earle in August, and it didn't go well. Indictments never surprise the defendant or his counsel. Never. Maybe the public is surprised, but never the parties involved.

When all is said and done, Ronnie Earle didn't return the indictment - a grand jury, made up of DeLay's fellow Texans, did.

Earle can take the heat. He's tougher than anyone might expect.

[tompayne1]

2. probably not

My guess is we will soon hear about how Ronnie took cookies without asking at the age of 6. That is the nice thing about prosecutors I mean they don't have anything to go off of with Patrick Fitzgeraald or Ronnie Earle.

[Walt Starr]

3. Have you heard any character assassination from WH representatives?

Nope. Only peripheral Republicans, and DeLay himself have been attacking Ronnie Earle.

The best part of this is, there is no way the GOP rank and file in the House know about the plea bargain, unless the fools actually read the indictment. And the only people attacking Earle as surrogates for DeLay are the low hanging fruit of the GOP. They're going to be tarred with the stink of corruption for their help here.

so why is the political attack machine going full bore if DeLay has already entered into a plea bargain?

This is all rthe pre-work to cast doubt on the charges so that DeLay can enter into a lucrative career bribing elected officials as a paid lobbyist after he has to resign his House seat.

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. In view of the mutiple admonishments

De Lay has received from the Ethics Committee, any attenuation of the sanctions he is facing, would seem very inappropriate, militating against the very purpose of the Law, and inviting the opprobium of a public already cynical (in every country) about the partisan administration of the law, in favour of the rich and powerful.