I Was Indicted Because "STUPID RULE" Allows Dems To Pick Repub Leadership

[kpete]

House GOP lacks agenda, DeLay says

Departing Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas said yesterday that House Republicans have no vision or agenda and have let the Democrats choose the GOP leadership.

"We don't have an agreed agenda -- breaking up our leadership has taken its toll," Mr. DeLay told a small group of reporters invited to his offices in the Cannon House Office Building.

The interview came only hours after Mr. DeLay had announced in Houston that he would resign his House seat in the coming weeks, giving his party time to name someone else to stand for election from the conservative 22nd District of Texas.

The House GOP leadership "breakup" he spoke of began when he relinquished his House majority leader's post in September after a local Democratic prosecutor won a grand jury indictment against him on campaign-finance charges. Some of his former aides and associates have been indicted or convicted on various charges, and Democrats have painted Mr. DeLay as the leader of the Republican "culture of corruption" they say they're campaigning against.

"The only reason I was indicted was the stupid rule that allows the Democrats to pick the Republican leadership," Mr. DeLay said.


http://www.dccc.org/stakeholder/archives/004552.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060405-123416-5226r.htm

[wicket]

1. OMG!

:wow:

WTF is he talking about???

[madrchsod]

2. there will be people who agree with him

"ain`t that american....and little pink houses for you and me"

[acmavm]

3. He sounds like a prepubesent child. WAH WAH, It's not my

fault. I'm just a victim of life's circumstances.

[Blue_In_AK]

22. At least Duke Cunningham had the grace

to admit he was guilty. Tom DeLay makes me sick.

[skypilot]

4. "...allows the Democrats to pick the Republican leadership..."

And apparently, the Democrats "picked" a bunch of corrupt fucking bums, which is pretty much all there is to choose from in the Republican "leadership" these days. :eyes: :puke:

[Botany]

5. No it was for this:

money laundering is what he was indicted for.

[paul_fromatlanta]

6. There is a valid point in Delay's sentiments

If charges rather than convictions can remove someone from leadership and if civil suits can be brought against Presidents while they are in office then it creates great opportunity for disruption of government for politically motivated reasons.

Now, if a politician I support and admire commits a crime there is no reason s/he should be immune - that's not what I'm saying.

But we saw in the Paula Jone case how the government can be distracted and harmed by a local lawsuit.

For example, I don't like Cynthia McKinney as a human being. Based on her previous behavior I have observed I have no trouble believing she hit a cop without good reason. But if we give every officer that a congressman comes in contact with the ability to remove a politician they don't like there is a great vulnerability. So if they decide to press charges I'd like to see the trial delayed till she is out of office... maybe...

On the other hand, I have read that in Russia, lawmakers have immunity to protect against politically motivated charges and over there criminals will run for office just to get the immunity.

So I don't have a good solution but there is an issue here.

[gratuitous]

9. There's a difference between a civil suit and a crime

The Paula Jones matter was a civil suit, dismissed by the judge in the case on a motion for summary judgment. Jones didn't have a legal basis for proceeding, and her first attorneys quit the case when they figured out what the judge would rule nearly three years later. This case was revived and carried along by a deep-pocketed sociopath, and abetted by a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling that didn't want to consider the ramifications.

Tom DeLay, on the other hand, has been indicted for a crime, not named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit. DeLay is liable not to a money judgment, but to a conviction and jail time. There is no "political" dimension to following the law, and DeLay is not the victim here. He's a perpetrator, under state indictment for money laundering and two of his aides including his chief of staff have pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges.

Sometimes where there's smoke, it's just a screen. In the instance of Mr. DeLay, it appears that he is en fuego.

[paul_fromatlanta]

12. Yes, civil and criminal are different but an indictment is an unproven all

allegation. Assault on a police officer is a felony. And if McKinney is indicted that will be an unproven allegation.

Again, if I had a simple solution that covered all cases I would share it - all I am saying is that I do recognize a problem.

[EstimatedProphet]

19. You're right, an indictment shouldn't be enough to make someone resign

And ordinarily it wouldn't. So, what does that say about why Delay resigned?

[paul_fromatlanta]

20. My guess is it has something to do with his aid coopering with the FBI

just a day or two before he announced his resignation.

[EstimatedProphet]

21. And that kind of indicates something too...

[rock]

15. Well put! n/t

[janx]

7. I thought he was indicted for money laundering...?

Did he forget that part?

[skypilot]

8. Is this true??

He was referring to a party rule requiring that any Republican indicted for a crime give up his leadership post."

Is there actually a rule requiring only indicted Republicans to give up leadership posts. I'd have thought that with the Republicans being in charge of everything that they would have done away with such a rule--especially if it applied only to them.

[gratuitous]

10. They certainly tried to do away with that rule

It was the DeLay Exception, and the Republican leadership tried to adopt it at the beginning of this Congress so that DeLay wouldn't have to step down as Majority Leader in the House. But once the indictments came down in Texas, and with DeLay's record of being rebuked not once but three times by a supine House Ethics Committee, public pressure finally built to the point where DeLay had to relinquish his office as Majority Leader late last year. It was supposed to be just a temporary thing, but oddly enough, it appears that the "frivolous" "scurrilous" and "bogus" charges against him have panned out.

Welcome to the Grey Bar Hotel, Mr. DeLay.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. It is any member of congress, regardless of party.

And of course, since they are the party in charge, any Republican required to step down will be replaced by A REPUBLICAN!

Moron.

No.

Criminal.

[skypilot]

17. regardless of party.

Thanks. That sounds more like it. That part of the article which said that the rule was only for Republicans didn't sound quite right to me.

[catmandu57]

11. Once again the party of responsibility

proves that they can't be held reponsible for their actions. It wasn't the democratic members that had you indicted you slimey motherfucker it was your own greed and stupidity.
The prisons are full of innocent people, you'll fit in just fine.

[Beelzebud]

13. Al Capone busted for Stupid Rule. Dahmer sent to prison for violation of

Stupid Rules!

LOL

What a fucking idiot Delay is! LOL

[Skinner]

16. LOL. That's great.

:thumbsup:

[baby_mouse]

18. "Mmmmeeeeeeeeehhhhh DEMS".

Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiineee"

Why are any of us still talking about this 48 carat LOSER?

[sendero]

23. Besides..

... having no loyalty to anything but their own skins, Republicans inherent tendency to place blame turns toward their own party when under stress.

It's fun to watch. Normal people, when the realization that they have made a mistake and that now they are going to have to account for it become humble and introspective.

Not assholes like Delay, who will soon be blaming his own mother.

But wait. If justice is actually served and he sees prison time and there is no escape, i.e. he gets no pardon from the president, at some point he'll break down in tears and beg for forgiveness. It won't be that he, like a normal person, actually feels remorse and contrition, it'll just be more politics, kind of like a televangelist caught with a prostitute.

Grab the popcorn, Delay will provide months or possibly years of ongoing entertainment!

[Lexingtonian]

24. Ah, the wrythings and venom spit up by a dying ego....

We gotta removing the feeding tube on this brain dead thang. (Or is that flip the switch to "fry"....)

The party of Personal Responsibility, Honor and Integrity, and Freedom in its true pride and glory.