Meeting Tom DeLay
February 8th, 2008 at 07:25pm Matt Margolis
We’ve had quite a day today. It started with President George W. Bush’s speech, dark and early at 7:15 a.m. It was a great speech, one that ought to be called his Conservative State of the Union. I have no doubt that history will look back on Bush’s presidency and acknowledge all the good he did for our country and the world.
Later in the morning Mark and I had a breakfast chat with Robert Stacy McCain, co-author of Donkey Cons, who blogs over at The Other McCain. He endorsed our book, Caucus of Corruption.
In the afternoon we had a meeting with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a great American and conservative leader. Mark and I were very grateful he was able to take some time out of his schedule to meet with us. As you know, Tom DeLay also endorsed our book. It was a nice meeting, we talked politics and about the presidential race. It was a very nice meeting, and we are both glad we finally got to meet him in person. It is a shame how the Democrats smeared him.
It was a busy day, and it’s still not over yet. We’ll be heading out in a little while, but I did want to give everyone an update.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I was interviewed yesterday by MarketWatch…
Entry Filed under: CPAC 2008
30 Comments
1. LiberalMind | February 8th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Tom Delay represents the truly despicable rot in American politics.
Not only is he disgraced and indicted, the damage he has done to the political process in America is the true crime of his tenure in elected office.
I would like to meet him as well only to gaze upon someone who truly lacks morals and ethics yet still has the audacity to claim a divine right to declare how everyone else is mired in debauchery.
And history will look back on Bush and acknowledge all th good he has done. Another fantasy.
2. Mark Noonan | February 8th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
LiberalMind,
You know nothing about the man, and yet you hate him so…
You really are a miserable person…
3. LiberalMind | February 8th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
“Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Matt 7:16
How true about Delay.
4. NeoClown | February 8th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
” I have no doubt that history will look back on Bush?s presidency and acknowledge all the good he did for….”
The Democratic Party.
5. LiberalNitemare | February 8th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
When I read that second paragraph in LiberalMinds first I thought he had misunderstood the post and was talking about Clinton.
6. TheHarbinger | February 8th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
When you …blah, blah, blah…nothing of substance, I’m just making nasty comments on a conservative blog like I’ve been told to….
7. Ricorun | February 8th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Not that I would have brought it up if I were you guys, but I’ll ask anyway: what’s up with Tom’s legal situation? Is there a trial in the offing? Is the FBI done with him and/or his wife?
8. Mark Noonan | February 8th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Ricorun,
One small fact: The DeLay’s have spent $8 million dollars fighting the case…and as you’ll note, the prosecutor hasn’t exactly been lickety-split in getting things done, now has he?
Its a bogus charge, Ricorun - and you know it; but a man’s political career was destroyed, and that is all the Democrats care about. There is an evil in the Democratic party, and its primary weapon is to tie a person up in legal knots…even if nothing comes of it, it still gets that person out of the way, and takes resources which could be spent on issues and forces them to be used on legal matters.
As for Mr. DeLay, he’s in fine shape and happy as can be - as is his family and friends.
9. neocon | February 8th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I was thinking the same thing Rico. I know the conspiracy charge was dismissed and the prosecutor Earle is well known for his partisan witch hunts (or do only republicans do that, I forget), you might remember Kay Bailey.
It seems to me that if Delay was so egregiously guilty, something would have been done by now right?
10. LiberalMind | February 8th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Hey, you just keep using Tom Delay as a poster boy for the Republican party.
May I suggest you use that now infamous mug shot taken of him at the Harris County Jail in Texas.
Please remind the rest of the nation that, yes, Tom Delay is the best the Republican party has to offer.
It will certainly help Democrats gain more seats and therefore help America recover from Delay’s years in the House.
11. Ricorun | February 8th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
neocon: It seems to me that if Delay was so egregiously guilty, something would have been done by now right?
Well, it sounds like they have William Jefferson by the short hairs and he’s still running around the halls of Congress. So I don’t think delays necessarily imply anything about the apparent guilt involved.
12. JD | February 8th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I hope y’all were able to take a shower afterwards. Yuck.
13. neocon | February 8th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I think it’s actually funnier to think of the more topical 16-count bribery indictment against current Democratic US Representative William Jefferson. Now that’s a poster boy for the Democrats. And he is the very best that liberals have to offer.
14. neocon | February 8th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Well there’s that thing called integrity Rico, and self respect and deferring to the best interests of party and country. Delay understands that, Jefferson doesn’t.
15. bozo the neoclown | February 8th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
ROFLMAO, seems like CPAC is nothing but the meeting of the washed up has-beens. So…what is Tom “the hammer” DeLady up to these days? Back to spraying bugs?
16. neocon | February 8th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
LiberalMindless,
Do you cry when Obama speaks of his Kingdom?
17. Ricorun | February 8th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
neocon: Delay understands that, Jefferson doesn’t.
Personally, I wouldn’t pick either one of them as paragons of integrity. But if you do, go ahead. I was just curious with what’s happening with ole’ Tom.
18. Kahn | February 8th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
So indictment is the same as guilt now? OK - whatever.
Matt and Mark. Please start a string on the Semper Fi Act of 2008.
From AP “the Semper Fi Act of 2008, pushed by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., that would rescind more than $2 million in federal earmarks destined for Berkeley. DeMint was joined by five other Republican lawmakers in introducing the bill Wednesday after they were angered over the Berkeley City Council’s actions.
A companion bill entered in the House has the support of 45 Republicans. No Democrats are supporting either bill.”
NO DEMOCRATS ARE SUPPORTING EITHER BILL.
NO FREAKING DEMOCRATS ARE SUPPORTING EITHER BILL. A**holes.
19. neocon | February 8th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Rico,
I am just pointing out that Delay promptly resigned, which was the right thing to do. Jefferson, and Democrats in general, really don’t understand that.
20. neocon | February 8th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Kahn,
Wouldn’t banning the military from campuses be restricting the “choice” of the students of that campus to broaden their understanding? Aren’t liberals pro-choice?
21. Almiranta | February 8th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Mindless strikes again, illustrating once again my point that the radical Left has callously decided to mine the kind of virulent negativity that used to be scorned and shunned to make it their own. They use, validate, and encourage the kind of mindless spite and venom we see daily from Liberal “Mind”.
Remember, this is the same “Mind” that overlooks the dozens of accusations made against the Clintons yet revels in one against DeLay.
Tom has been trying to get this case in front of a jury since the day the bogus indictment came down. Remember that, Mindless? Ronnie Earle promised the Democrat Party that he would “get” DeLay and then he had to go through three Grand Juries to get an indictment—and one count was for something that was not illegal when it happened. He threatened grand jurors, harangued them, tried to intimidate them, and finally was able to prevail—and that, being his only goal, was where he stopped.
Since then he has done everything possible to block an actual trial. Something about trials being subject to the rules of law, something about DeLay being allowed to actually mount a defense (unlike a Grand Jury proceeding), something about evidence and proof and all those other pesky details that do get in the way of a good old-fashioned lynching.
I’m sure that Mike Nifong’s experience, being charged with prosecutorial misconduct and so all, has also chilled any ardor Ronnie may have once had to pursue his witch hunt. So far, he has thrown a lot of mud at the wall, some has stuck (for now….), the rabid radical Lefties (stand up and take a bow, Mindless…) are thrilled, and that was all that was on the agenda.
Ronnie knew his base, and he knew that facts would never be considered even remotely important once he got that precious “indictment” on the table.
BTW, an “indictment” is merely an accusation. Obviously that’s enough for the mouthbreathing hatemongers of the radical Left.
I know you all hated the nickname “The Hammer”, acting as if that was some portent of evil and guilt—it’s so funny that your version of The Hammer is the Needle-Nosed Pliers.
22. Mark Noonan | February 8th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Kahn,
Done. Thanks for the tip.
23. Mark Noonan | February 8th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Almiranta,
LiberalMind is just, I believe, a tool of some leftwing group out there - ordered to make mindless, leftwing-talking-point comments on conservative blogs. Its the only way I can explain the obtuseness of his comments.
And, of course, the real reason the left hates DeLay is because he was effective - he was getting large numbers of Democrats to join the GOP in bipartisan efforts to get the business of America done - and the left wants war to the knife, not bipartisan consensus.
24. Ricorun | February 8th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Okay neocon, since you apparently want to know, here’s the way I see it…
First, the indictments out of Texas were not the first instance where his ethics were questioned, nor were they the last. That being said though, I do wonder about what’s going on in Texas. It does have the aroma of a political hatchet job. He may or may not be guilty, I don’t know. I’ll wait for the verdict in that regard. Either way, it does seem to me that the case got undue scrutiny. Perhaps it fell out of investigations surrounding the whole redistricting thing down there. But I don’t know that either.
On the other hand, the other House Republicans responded to those indictments rather poorly, and brought a lot of scrutiny on themselves in doing so. And it was in response to that fallout that Delay resigned his Speakership and his committee assignments. He wasn’t proactive about it, he was reactive. So in that sense, to say he “promptly resigned” is a bit of a stretch.
Moreover, he didn’t resign from the House until months later, and after two of his former top aides (Safavian and Rudy) were indicted and copped guilty pleas as a result of their associations with Abramoff. A third top aide (Buckham) was also subsequently indicted. Delay was also involved in the Marianas situation (I don’t know where that investigation stands), the so-called “wive’s club” (I don’t know where that one stands, either), unusual PAC fund distributions (ditto), and the K-Street project (which apparently wasn’t exactly illegal, but not exactly a beacon of integrity either). Rightly or wrongly, it was the stink surrounding those things that ultimately caused him to ultimately decide to resign from the House months later. And he didn’t do that promptly enough either — he waited until after it was possible to remove his name from the ballot, thus requiring the GOP candidate to run a write-in campaign. I’ve forgotten the name (Sekula-Gibbs, or something like that), but it was a toughie. And she lost — to Nick Lampson.
Considering everything, I think the best you could say about Delay is that he pushed the envelope of propriety, perhaps even legality. He was certainly a paragon of hard-ball politics (you don’t get a mantel like “The Hammer” for nothing), but of integrity? IMO, that’s a reach.
25. bagni | February 9th, 2008 at 12:38 am
marklay
i have no factual backup
and admit that upfront
but delay seems like a creepy earthling
hard to think of him as one with integrity
i mean…cmon…..would you want your daughter to marry him?
he and hilary are what’s wrong with u.s. politics
26. TheHarbinger | February 9th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
You must be very proud to have the “Hammer” endorse your book.
You must be very proud. Yes, he’ll go down in history as one of the rights stalwart bastions of justice and integrity.
(laughing) yea, right…
27. FmeMarine | February 9th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Tom Delay is a fine man.
He was set upon by vicious lying marxists.This will tell you where the RAT party is headed.
From the looney nutcase donkroaches full of vitriol, and poison who seem to be more and more vocal,i do not foresee the republic holding together much longer.
ALM…as usual you are 100% on the money.
28. TheHarbinger | February 9th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Tom Delay is reaping what he hath sown. Nobody is picking on poor ol’ Tommy. If the “hammer” was wielding the sword of righteousness then that would be completely obvious. Real truth and justice shines like a beacon. We need more of those from BOTH parties.
He’s right where he belongs. In the dung heap of history.
29. FmrMarine | February 9th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
To bad the REAL CRIMINALS
the Klintonians arent there also.
30. Magnum Serpentine | February 10th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
As happened with Scooter, so will happen with DeLay, the Criminal. When DeLay is sentenced, ole george will be right there with his pardon pen ready to pardon the criminal.