The babyjesuschristsuperstar on Board: filling the moral void of Clinton’s legacy

[Spanky]

I just raised a whole bunch of Green for Campbell for the last few days of the election.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.....

DeLay fights for his political life in Texas By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

SUGAR LAND, Texas (Reuters) - He has been indicted, rebuked and dethroned from his Republican leadership perch, but Tom DeLay's fight for re-election to Congress could be the biggest challenge in a long political career.

DeLay, nicknamed "the Hammer" for the blunt way he wielded power during 22 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been swamped by ethics allegations that have made him a prime Democratic target in November's elections and a national symbol for charges of Republican corruption.

Once one of Washington's most powerful politicians, DeLay is scrambling to fight a Texas legal indictment and hold off challengers from both parties in his House race in the suburbs of Houston.

"You never know how well an election will go for an indicted person," DeLay acknowledged in an interview with Reuters after a recent breakfast with Houston-area realtors.

"Getting beat up by the national media and the Houston Chronicle has taken its toll," DeLay said, referring to the local newspaper. "It's polarized my district, you either love me or hate me. Thank God there are still more that love me."

The combative former House Republican leader will begin to learn how many folks at home still love him on Tuesday, when he faces three challengers in a Republican primary.

If he survives, he will square off in November against former Democratic congressman Nick Lampson in one of the country's most high-profile, expensive and no doubt bitter races.

"DeLay is in trouble. The primary is no sure thing and the general election is even more dangerous," said Richard Murray, a political analyst at the University of Houston.

"Much of this is totally beyond his control," he said. "If he gets convicted in Texas or indicted in Washington, it would be the end for DeLay."

REDISTRICTING CHALLENGE

DeLay, indicted in Texas last year on campaign finance charges, resigned from his leadership post in January. He has been rebuked by the House ethics committee and linked to a corruption scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former DeLay aides. He has not been charged in the Abramoff probe.

DeLay has denied wrongdoing in both cases and says the allegations are politically motivated. His rivals say DeLay's pugnacious style is simply catching up to him.

"This is the epicenter of a national debate on how we conduct the public's business. He believes in a hardball, win at any cost version of slash-and-burn politics that I think is wrong," Tom Campbell, a former DeLay supporter and now his top primary challenger, told Reuters.

Lampson calls DeLay a "bully" and said voters in the district have tired of his style.

"He has left us a legacy of debt, corruption and neglect, and he can't run from it," Lampson said. "I think it's something he has helped usher into our Congress that people would like to see changed."

DeLay compounded his troubles when he engineered a Texas redistricting plan that in 2004 helped take six House seats from Democrats, including Lampson, by making their districts more Republican.

To help his Republican neighbors, DeLay added Democrats to his district, including a patch of Lampson's old turf. DeLay's district, including some of the country's fastest-growing suburbs south of Houston, has been flooded by new residents with little allegiance to him.

DeLay's redistricting plan has been challenged in the courts, and the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on Wednesday.

Polls show DeLay's support has dropped since the indictment and Abramoff publicity, with a USA Today/Gallup poll in December showing him losing to an unnamed Democratic opponent and scoring a favorability rating of just 37 percent.

"I'm bothered by all the investigations and scandals," said Veniece Griffin, a Missouri City Republican who plans to vote for Campbell. "DeLay has had 20 years, and he's not representing me."

DeLay is taking the challenge seriously, hitting the campaign trail hard to tout his ability to win money for the district and reminding audiences of his long service.

At the realtors' breakfast gathering, he recalled his days a pest exterminator in the area. "I crawled under a lot of your houses and through a lot of your attics," DeLay said.

One of the other things that Hank knows about me but is too polite to mention is that I also subscribe to the Harpers magazine. Now that Iraq is sliding into the civil war most of us thought wouldn't happen in a worst case scenario until after we declared victory and left the Iraqis to their own devices (yes, those kind), isn't it time we started discussing the case for impeachment?

[Spanky]

Originally posted by ironweed
One of the other things that Hank knows about me but is too polite to mention is that I also subscribe to the Harpers magazine. Now that Iraq is sliding into the civil war most of us thought wouldn't happen in a worst case scenario until after we declared victory and left the Iraqis to their own devices (yes, those kind), isn't it time we started discussing the case for impeachment?

Bush is never going to be impeached and then removed from office. The Dems would need to control two thirds of the Senate which is almost impossible for them to do in 2006 because only a third of the seats are up.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by ironweed
One of the other things that Hank knows about me but is too polite to mention is that I also subscribe to the Harpers magazine. Now that Iraq is sliding into the civil war most of us thought wouldn't happen in a worst case scenario until after we declared victory and left the Iraqis to their own devices (yes, those kind), isn't it time we started discussing the case for impeachment?

John Conyers is your intellectual voice?

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Spanky

DeLay is taking the challenge seriously, hitting the campaign trail hard to tout his ability to win money for the district and reminding audiences of his long service.

At the realtors' breakfast gathering, he recalled his days a pest exterminator in the area. "I crawled under a lot of your houses and through a lot of your attics," DeLay said.

"And I left bodies of dead Democrats under a lot of them," he continued. "So you cocksuckers better remember who to support in this election, or you're going to jail with me, and you'll be ass-raped by my fellow GOP insider inmates before nightfall. Wait, are those microphones still on?"

Originally posted by Spanky
Bush is never going to be impeached and then removed from office. The Dems would need to control two thirds of the Senate which is almost impossible for them to do in 2006 because only a third of the seats are up.

Aren't there any Republican Senators concerned about the way Bush and his cronies are shitting all over the constitution in their rush to establish a theocratic police state? Cheney can't get them all.

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
John Conyers is your intellectual voice?

Ad hominem? I thought this was the board where you came to act smart.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by ironweed
Ad hominem? I thought this was the board where you came to act smart.

No point trying to act smart when you're here. When your big brainy engine gets moving the rest of us smaller trains just need to get off the track.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by ironweed
Aren't there any Republican Senators concerned about the way Bush and his cronies are shitting all over the constitution in their rush to establish a theocratic police state? Cheney can't get them all.

No. No there aren't.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by ironweed
Aren't there any Republican Senators concerned about the way Bush and his cronies are shitting all over the constitution in their rush to establish a theocratic police state? Cheney can't get them all.

There aren't 22 of them.

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
No point trying to act smart when you're here. When your big brainy engine gets moving the rest of us smaller trains just need to get off the track.

Why do you keep beating yourself up like this? Everyone in the Lawtalkers community has a voice and a role to play, yea even unto the smallest and most insignificant. Step into the light, Hank.

[SlaveNoMore]

Sexual Harassment Panda
An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and nearly one in four say the troops should leave immediately, a new Le Moyne College/Zogby International survey shows.

Oh yeah - we still got troops over there, don't we? How's that whole "Freedom is on the march" thingy doing?

Speaking of "old" news cycles - how's that Rove indictment going?

[SlaveNoMore]

ironweed
One of the other things that Hank knows about me but is too polite to mention is that I also subscribe to the Harpers magazine. Now that Iraq is sliding into the civil war most of us thought wouldn't happen in a worst case scenario until after we declared victory and left the Iraqis to their own devices (yes, those kind), isn't it time we started discussing the case for impeachment?

President Cheney does have a nice sound to it.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
President Cheney does have a nice sound to it.

Sure, but once they take away his gun and put him inside the hermetically-sealed bubble to prolong his life through Nov. 2008, how much harm can the man really do?

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Speaking of "old" news cycles - how's that Rove indictment going?

Perhaps you could explain to the families of these people that Iraq is old news. That will make them feel better.