— TIME Mag covers here…
— WaPo covers here…
— MSNBC covers here…
— CNN covers here…
— AP covers here…
— LATE ADDITION: Houston Chronicle offers more details, and DeLay’s Political Obit in the early/late web edition (12:44am PT – Hat tip to Pokey A. in Houston)
From TIME…
…
“I’m going to announce tomorrow that I’m not running for reelection and that I’m going to leave Congress,” DeLay, who turns 59 on Saturday, said during a 90-minute interview on Monday.
…
The surprise decision was based on the sort of ruthless calculation that had once given him unchallenged dominance of House Republicans and their wealthy friends in Washington’s lobbying community: he realized he might lose in this November’s election.
…
Asked if he had done anything illegal or immoral in public office, DeLay replied curtly, “No.” Asked if he’d done anything immoral, he said with a laugh, “We’re all sinners.” Asked what he would do differently, he said, “Nothing.”
…
DeLay brushed off the torrent of investigative news articles questioning the funding behind the golf, private planes and resort hotels that marked his travel at home and abroad. He even accepted a plane from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco to go to his arraignment. “There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. “They had a plane available. My schedule was such that I couldn’t do it commercially — that I had to get up there and then get back and do my job. And that’s the only plane that was available at the time.”
“You can’t prove to me one thing that I have done for my own personal gain,” he added.
…
DeLay said he is likely to leave by the end of May, depending on the Congressional schedule and finishing his work on a couple of issues.
What TIME didn’t mention, but WaPo did…And which would seem to explain a lot more about his sudden exit after his bravado of the last six months since his indictment…
From CNN…
In a deal with federal prosecutors, Tony Rudy — DeLay’s former deputy chief of staff and press secretary — pleaded guilty to one count of mail and wire fraud in a conspiracy after he left DeLay’s office to become a lobbyist. (Full story)
Says MSNBC…
And here come the bloggers. First in, from Josh Marshall who tends to know this stuff cold…
DeLay’s lawyers must have sat him down over the last 72 hours and explained to him that he needs to focus on not spending most of the rest of his life in prison.
JesseLee at StakeHolder is similarly all over it…
DeLay leaves plenty of corruption behind, of course. As witnessed by John Boehner’s (DeLay’s replacement as Majority Leader) comment to AP…
“He has served our nation with integrity and honor, and I’m honored to call him my colleague and friend,” Boehner said.
“Integrity and honor” indeed. If I was a Republican right now, I’d be brimming with pride over Tom’s replacement.
And then there’s this, from DeLay, again from TIME…
Poor old left…
And as long as we’re strolling down Tom DeLay Memory Lane, who can forget this?…
Salute, Tom! The Conservative Movement can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done to for it!
Well, that’s one Tom down, and one more Tom to go. DeLay is not the only Congressional Tom who knows how to play golf with Abramoff on the lobbyists’ dime in St. Andrews after all!
Remember this after the big salute?
…
Only two House Republicans, Tom Feeney and Trent Franks—not big players in party politics or policymaking—were eagerly talking to the press. Feeney is an ardent DeLay supporter from Florida. He has received $10,000 from DeLay’s national political action committee (ARMPAC) since his first race in 2002. He also works on a House team coordinating DeLay’s support. He said DeLay is a target because “he is the most effective leader the House has seen in 50 years.”
Yes, that’s right. Nobody will miss Tom DeLay more than Florida’s Tom Feeney!
Aside from receiving money from DeLay and trips to St. Andrews and elsewhere around the world paid for by lobbyists and foreign agents, apparently Feeney also was one of the top earners of largesse from the disgraced Duke Cunningham and, of the 35 members of Congress to take money from Tom DeLay’s former chief of staff Rudy, guess who was number 5 in the list?
Congratulations to both Tom’s for having so much in common! Perhaps they can enjoy more golf during retirment together!
To help unseat the other corrupt Tom in Congress, please feel free to contribute to Clint Curtis’ campaign! He’s running against Feeney this year, and if you think DeLay was corrupt? Wait until you see what Curtis knows about Feeney…
…More as events warrant…
The Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney/Yang Enterprises Vote-Rigging Scandal series, please see:
– A Quick Summary of the story so far.
– An Index of all the Key Articles & Evidence in the series so far.
The New York Times posted a story about 5minutes stating that Tom DeLay will not seek re-election
Wasn’t there something odd about his primary election results?
bvac
I’ve been wondering the same thing – with 100,000 extra votes in one district etc. I’ve wondered what machines were used in his district and what the results were.
Oh well – these results are excellent news regardless.
Another one’s gone
Another one’s gone
Another one bites the dust!
Awww ! poor Tom Delay 🙁
Maybe a new toupee will make him feel better or a gun to go shooting with LOL !
Honestly I don’t know who wears more mkup Tom Delay , Katherine Harris or Bill O’rilley the dildo man !
sheesh ~
I heard Dick Cheney’s got a bird hunting trip planned for his retirement…
Whomever gets tom delay’s seat ought to clean it . . . good!
Boy, Chirst is the LAST person I would see through Tom DeLay. Nice try Tom.
First my alma mater UF wins the national championship and the icing on the cake is the Hammer becomes the screwdriver ( screwed himself royally)..
It took waaayyy to long but finally the chickens come home to roost. Wake up red states and realize you are being duped. :laugh:
It’s my understanding that as a retiring congressman, Delay gets to keep many office-related benefits, will receive a HEFTY permanent retirement annual pension, FULL medical coverage, continued office expenses, and more.
Retiring certainly looks like a better option than possibly being convicted of anything while in office, removed from office, and risking those benefits to any degree.
Boo hoo! (not)
Best news in YEARS.
Let the monarchists go down like a house of cards.
Heaven, I’m in Heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak!
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we’re out together dancing cheek to cheek.
(Don’t know who I’m dancing with, but it sure feels good!)
I wonder if citizens will be given a chance to plead for Tom at his sentencing hearing. I would like America to be able to vote on his roomate by looking at photos of the prisoners dressed up in Bush’s flight suit . . . if you see where I’m headed here . . .
My dream has finally come true
Its about fuking time, too
The only thing I could ask for, is if he was denied his pension and have to go back to killing bugs
Now that would be justice
So, where’s all the rightwing posters, who said we’re all talk and nothing will happen to DeLay? What do you have to say? Rush Limbaugh, what do you have to say? I remember Rush Limbaugh saying that nothing will happen to DeLay. Regular wingnut posters to bradblog, what do you have to say??? Where are you???
Gee, I paged back in to look at the posts here, and I don’t see any posts from: Ricky, HCOCDR, Radical Leftist, ANY of the wrongwing idiots who post. Why not???????????????????????
Where are you? You said nothing would happen to DeLay? Where are you? Where are you?
Don’t you just wish every once in awhile, when one of these idiots starts talking about seeing or hearing "Christ through me", a big lightning bolt would just come down and fry the hair right off their head?
#11 LOL
From the Hammer to the Slammer . . . The rise & fall of tom delay.
I’M NOT
A CROOK
The poster boy of this republican dictatorship quoting the mantra of the incompetents during his felony indictment mug shot episode.
The DeLay is over, accountability is struggling for air, and getting a little Air America as we approach the November purging.
i belive this incident is just one in a serious of abuses that is going to lead to the real perpetuators of 911 being convicted and sent off to prison , even thou it may seem unrelated ..the ball dosnt stop here but probally leads to a greater crime against humanity .procecuters just need to keep going on up higher in the chain of command to see who benifited the most .from what i have read dickey boys haliburton certainly is skimming big time off the top making one hill of a profit 100 dollars for a bag of clean clothes 60 bucks for a carton of cokes
all this unaccounted for funding is a little too obvious for me and im sure becomming more and more obvious to the rest of thoes who have been decived .and the fight club maintality in texas like all the other horse crap going on is just a scare tatic to further subdue worry and surpress american citizens from feeling secure in their persons .I dont think americans have ever experienced such evil in office .the only thing i dont understand is why are they still in office .
Like they say in China Town . . . The November Erections . . . . .
Next photo op for Delay will be him crying and pleading for forgiveness like Jimmy Swaggert. HYPOCRITE!!!!!! When will the real Christians wake up and see that their religion is being used by these schmucks for their own political and possibly financial gain? Say a little prayer, my ass.
Don’t worry, though, Tom. You’ll have a lot of company in hell.
Next photo op for Delay will be him crying and pleading for forgiveness like Jimmy Swaggert. HYPOCRITE!!!!!! When will the real Christians wake up and see that their religion is being used by these schmucks for their own political and possibly financial gain? Say a little prayer, my ass.
Don’t worry, though, Tom. You’ll have a lot of company in hell.
Wayne Madsen (www.waynemadsenreport.com) has a unique and perhaps explosive take on ‘why now?’
WE CAN ONLY HOPE THAT THE PURGE OF THE EVIL SCURGE HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN! GET THE CREEPS OUT! CLEAN HOUSE IN DC THIS NOVEMBER AND TAKE AMERICA BACK. GIVE THIS LAND DIGNITY. AND DETERMINATION TO BE RESPECTED IN THE WORLD AGAIN.
GOD BLESS AMERICA! THROW OFF THE SHACKELS OF THE HYPOCRITIC NEO CONS BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE FOR US ALL!
GO AMERICA!
Anyone who "steps down" is in deep sh*t!!! It means there’s big trouble around the corner for them. And they always say it’s for personal reasons, to be with their family, etc…
Remember DeLay with the Shiavo thing? Then it turns out he pulled the plug on his own father?
Tom Delay delivered my newspaper this morning . He was driving OJ’s white Bronco . His ugly toupee was blowing in the wind as he raced off !
Katherine Harris was in the White Bronco too ! and they were putting clown mkup on each other !
Isn’t karma Great !
I think I know what Tom DeLay meant when he asked people to "see Christ through me."
I tried it, and it worked. I looked at his phony smile and all I could say was, "Oh, Christ!"
re: phony smile in the mug shot, cover up the bottom of the face, and look into the eyes
This message is for Mike J. if you are reading this thread. I attempted to answer you on the Graham thread but the link you provided kept throwing me over to Fox news when I went to the comment box. This thread is a perfect example of my point. You are correct that people from all political parties get themselves involved in scandals. What makes the republican party the most hypocritical is that they CLAIM to speak for God and morality while engaging in their scandalous, immoral or deviant behavior. I am not a democrat but frankly I can’t think of one example of a democrat involved in some immoral or unethical behavior while all the while claiming they speak for God or God is speaking/acting through them yet this is Standard operating procedure in the republican party. I find this behavior repugnant.
Okay, I just did something I never did before – I went to http://www.freerepublic.com just to see what they were saying about DeLay.
OH. MY. GOD.
To be fair, there are SOME there who realize the real implications behind DeLay’s resignation – that there is something very bad about to come out. They’re not ALL totally "divorced from reality".
But some of those folks…wow. I’m just speechless – they’re so deep into the darkness, full of hatred, and removed from the real world that I’d have no idea how to begin to communicate with them – nor would I want to. When I read their posts, I get images of nazi tattoos and "Helter Skelter" type scribblings on the walls.
Go look if you get a few, it’s interesting to get an occasional glimpse into the world that breeds the most malicious trolls that come here.
I feel like I need to take another shower.
"Ding, dong, the witch is dead
The Wicked Witch is dead…"
We all mourn the loss of Congressman DeLay’s presence in Congress in our own way… and my way is to do the Funky Chicken.
You have more tolerance than me. I will not go on wrongnut sites. If I accidentally go on one, I immediately scrape the dogshit off my shoes as I’m leaving.
This is the parallel universe wrongnuts live in. In my local paper, there was just a mailbag letter saying Clinton is responsible for the 3,000 WTC 9/11 deaths, and makes no mention that Bush was president on 9/11, and HE is responsible. Another mailbag letter stated that the Phila Inq did a "hit piece" on Lynn Swann’s voting record. A "hit piece", according to wrongnuts, is a truthful article of uncensored/unfiltered news that makes a Republican look bad…and therefore "liberal". Lynn Swann’s voting record is near 0% and he has not debated and when interviewed on TV has no agenda, zero political experience, and stands for nothing and switches his mind on things right in the interview. Lynn Swann is a joke. "Let’s vote for him because he was a Steeler!" This man would not be running for office if he was not a famous football player. The GOP in Pa can’t find a better candidate??? Don’t forget, the last Republican Governor of Pa. did nothing because he had his eye on getting into the Bush cabinet as Homeland Security advisor (Ridge)…and then told us to duct tape our houses. Well Mr. Ridge: I have received no follow-up orders since then, and my house looks like a gingerbread house made of duct tape, and we are suffocating, awaiting further instructions.
Brad, you should do a story on lame-ass Lynn Swann, and what a mockery he’s making out of running for governor. I actually think Lynn Swann is stupid.
Ask not what you can do for your country.
Ask what your tax dollars can do for Tom DeLay!
Today delay — Tomorrow Felonious Chimp
Regarding Lynn Swann: The Republican party just loves football. It’s a metaphor for war, you see, which they also love dearly. If Woody Hayes were alive, he’d be making appearances for Blackwell in Ohio, I have no doubt.
Sen. George Allen (R-VA) posed for a photo with the Virginia gubernatorial candidate just before the last election. They were both dressed in business suits, but Allen was holding a football! The idea of course, was to capitalize on the fact that Virginia has millions of Redskin fans, and George Allen, Sr. was a popular coach of the Redskins. Somehow this was supposed to translate into better government if Virginia elected the Republican candidate. Duh? The guy lost, by the way. Virginians aren’t that stupid.
J.C. Watts, Steve Largent, Tom Osborne, now Lynn Swann. Real men play football. Real men are Republicans. So vote for them. Get it, folks?
Speaking of real Republican men playing football, don’t forget the Condi Rice for NFL Commissioner campaign.
These men are not christians, but tares. They use the name of Jesus but their fruit is completely rotten. His word says the tares are the first to be burned up. They deserve everything they have coming for their war crimes & criminal behavior against their fellow man.
The hammer and Abrahmoff can share a cell
together and give each other Bj’s all day
Stories I saw last night said he was leaving because he had only a 50/50 chance of winning and that he might lose.
The only time I’ve heard of a politician quiting because he might lose is when it’s more like 20/80.
Ya – sure Tom! As old Col. Potter would say: "what a pile of horse pucky!"
Just thinkin bout Terri Schiavo & Michael Schiavo . . . . .
My clint Curtis T shirts should be arriving soon and I shall wear them with pride.
Clint needs the support of all 5 or 6 brad loyalist to win this primary and go on to defeat the second tom turkey in a row. Come on folks give him whatever support you can afford.
Mr. Mills, don’t forget that other old Bills qb, Jack Kemp (I think that was his name). And the supposed "hallay-wood" party, the Dems, well what about Schwartznegger & Sonny Bono? Only the GOP can call the Dems the "hallay-wood" liberals, but have Schwartznegger. Hypocrisy that idiots fall for.
Lynn Swann’s plan is to fly under the radar, and win because he was a Steeler. I think we should start pointing out how he is totally unqualified to be governor of Pa. Don’t forget, if he wins, he’ll install a Republican SOS and pull a McPherson with DIEBOLD…then we’ll all be standing around saying, "gee…we didn’t expect this"…
And don’t forget, the GOP propoganda machine’s top strategy with blacks, is to cry "racism" if we point out he is unqualified.
Lynn Swann’s Voting Record – Will it Matter?
Pittsburgh Blog
« Bettis Lands Job at NBC Main Mill Life Remembered »
From Kimberly & Albrecht Powell,
Your Guide to Pittsburgh, PA.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
February 20, 2006
Lynn Swann’s Voting Record – Will it Matter?
It has been revealed that Republican Lynn Swann’s voting record over the past couple of decades has been very poor. He didn’t register to vote until 1984, despite living in Bethel Park since 1976, and since his first vote in 1987 he has voted in just 17 of 43 elections – and not at all from 1989 to 1991. Analysts say that this won’t hurt his campaign, but perhaps it should.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:
"It’s not unusual for celebrity candidates, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jesse Ventura, to have spotty voting records," said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster. "It’s not lethal because voting hasn’t been a central feature of their existence."
Tom Baldino, a political science professor at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, said how much damage has been done to Mr. Swann depends in large part on what use Mr. Rendell and the Democrats make of it. "Suppose they make a 30-second TV spot this fall asking ‘Why isn’t he voting? He claims he cares about the people of Pennsylvania, but did he ever care about politics? He didn’t vote.’"
"I think my voting record is fine," [Lynn Swann] said. …"People come to politics from all walks of life. Some have political experience and some don’t. It doesn’t mean you can’t do a good job."
Swann is correct that people come to politics from all walks of life. Politics can be helped by the participation of citizen-politicians rather than just professional politicians. If his voting record is criticized on the basis of Swann’s lacking political experience, however, that would be a mistake. Swann is conflating two separate issues because when someone is criticized for their lack of ‘political experience,’ what is meant is their lack of job experience – the fact that they haven’t held elected or appointed office in the past.
This may or may not be a legitimate criticism, but that isn’t the issue here and Swann surely knows that. The issue here is Swann’s failure to participate in the political process – the issue isn’t that he lacks ‘political experience’ as a citizen-politician, but that he lacks experience as an engaged citizen in the first place.
Up to now, Lynn Swann has never cared enough about politics, about the issues facing Pennsylvania, or about his community to vote on a regular basis. He hasn’t even cared enough about the Republican Party to regularly participate in Republican primaries. Sure, as an athlete he’s had to be away a lot, but that’s what absentee ballots are for – they’re easy to use. Can someone be an engaged citizen-politician if they haven’t proven that they can be an engaged citizen? Can someone contribute substantively as a citizen-politician if they can’t even contribute an absentee ballot vote most of the time?
I believe that this matters for the same reason that voting itself matters. Voting isn’t merely a right that one exercises occasionally, but a precondition for the democratic process and fundamental aspect of one’s membership in the larger political community. Voting is participation in the general decision-making process which governs what will happen to you, to your neighbors, and to your community overall. This is why, in a few countries, voting is required by law – you aren’t allowed to evade your responsibility to yourself and others to play a role in social government.
That’s exactly what Lynn Swann has done for so many years, though, and it’s something we should all care about. We should care that he’s side-stepping the issue by conflating his failure to be an engaged citizen with his lack of political experience. Perhaps this isn’t enough to justify not voting for him at all, but it’s certainly enough to expect him to answer some very pointed questions.
What does he think the duties and responsibilities of a citizen in a democracy are and does he believe he has lived up to them in the past? If he didn’t care enough about issues, problems, and politics in Pennsylvania enough in the past to even file absentee ballots, why does he care enough now to run for governor? Can he be trusted to continue caring enough to do the hard job the would face him?
Perhaps asking him about his voting record is ‘nitpicking’ as he claims, but these questions that follow from it are not nitpicking at all; instead, they cut right to the heart of what democracy is about and whether Lynn Swann deserves the votes which he has denied other candidates in the past.
Just for the record, it appears that not too long ago Lynn Swann himself would have agreed. An interview with the Sun-Sentinel newspaper in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from October 2004 quotes Swann as saying: "I have always been someone to believe that when you have certain freedoms, you should exercise them and not take it for granted. If you don’t take part in the process and you don’t vote, then I am not willing to listen to your complaints." Why shouldn’t Pennsylvania voters turn around and say the same thing to him when it comes time to vote?
— Guest Blogger, Austin Cline
and here is the morality that our representitives instil in their children.. the leaders of our country raise their kids to do this kind of crap to other human beings.
Seems this kind of lack of conceren about the world is running rampant in this country.. from people running red lights because they can’t be bothered to wait (got cut off today by a fat bitch in an SUV in a hurry to get a friggn taco… risked trashing my car, her car, and possibliy hurting people because the fat bitch was in a hurry to get more obese.. nice), to "authority figures" like camp counselors abusing people entrusted to them, to our protectors the cops violating the law to be petty and vindictive, to priests violating their trust and raping children.
And "Tom DeLay" is a "stand up guy"…. perfect example of the retardation of Americans…
"Jew scum"? Get lost, loser. Good riddance to trolls.
RE Kestrelbrighteyes comment #16 & 30:
Envoking God is what they do best to get their "sheeple" to follow them, as you know. Hypocrites, all of them. They are the killers, rapists, pedophiles, etc. When the President of the United Stated basically claimed that "God told him to invade Iraq, and fight terrorism in Afghanistan", that should have been the BIG TIPOFF.. History already has dealt with people like that… remember David Koresh? Rev. Jim Jones? And yet the loyal followers of hate still refuse to take their head out of their asses long enough to see what’s really going on, or they are turning a blind eye, which makes them just as guilty in my book.
#47 John Z – Why is there no special Label for "Delay" (_ _ _ _ _ _) ?????????????????????
Savanster: It doesn’t mention once in that article, that the State Senator is a Republican, the "moral" party. Isn’t that interesting, they don’t mention his party? What’s worse: McKinney brushing a cop, or a GOP state senator’s son ramming broomsticks up little kid’s asses? Interesting, too, he’s from Arizona, where they have all those religious radio channels and just temporarily took Air America Radio off the air. "Family values."
Again, I repeat, where are Ricky, RadicalLeftist, HCOCDR, & the wrongnut-gang’s comments in this DeLay article??? They commented like crazy in the McKinney article (both of them), and steer clear of this DeLay article.
One down, many corrupt bastards left to go.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
**’Expose Tom Feeney’**
"SUPPORT CLINT CURTIS!"
__www.clintcurtis.com__
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Ker-PLUNK! How long before he’s indicted?
DeLay the Quack