Agitprop: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Propaganda

DeLay Death Watch

This concludes our DeLay Death Watch ... please stay tuned for the trial and sentencing.

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DeLAY DEATH WATCH

Isn't He Gone Yet?

The clueless Tom DeLay, talking to the equally clueless Chris Matthews, says that his consituents are "very, very supportive" of his reelection bid. This is despite a 60% disapproval rating.

Instead of blaming his own greed, DeLay blames "Nancy Pelosi, MoveOn.org, George Soros, Howard Dean," and others for his predicament. Ronnie Earle can't finish him off quick enough.

tags: delay death watch tom delay chris matthews ronnie earle

DeLay Death Watch

First Abramoff, Now Ronnie ...

O'Reilly can wait. Not only has DeLay been indicted, and not only will Abramoff's opening the Chamber of Secrets cause him pain, but now Ronnie Earle, DeLay's Texas prosecutor, is widening the scope of his investigation. He wants to know about DeLay's election spending (as opposed to rigging). Imagine that!

So will DeLay be forced to give up his seat, be defeated in 2006, or hang on and win?

Oh, and this isn't good - Tom's being circled by sharks of his own species.

tags: delay death watch tom delay ronnie earle jack abramoff

DeLay Death Watch

Stake To The Heart
Trial To Go Forward

Tick, tock, tick, tock ... it looks like DeLay will not be taking up his House leadership position again anytime soon. Texas state court judge Pat Priest (remember, the Republican DeLay demanded?) refused to toss out money laundering charges although he dismissed conspiracy charges because as that law was not yet in force, DeLay could not then break it.

Clueless quote of the day? "The court's decision to dismiss a portion of Ronnie Earle's manufactured and flawed case against Mr. DeLay underscores just how baseless and politically motivated the charges are,'' said Kevin Madden, a spokesman for DeLay.

Yeah, right. Time to try that sucker.

tags: tom delay delay death watch ronnie earle dick deguerin

DeLay Death Watch

DeLay Puts Stake Securely Through Own Heart
Prosecutor Needs Merely to Cut Off Head, Stuff Mouth With Garlic

[via FireDogLake] We earlier reported that DeLay turned down a plea deal. This appears to have been his undoing. ReddHedd at FireDogLake gleefully points out that DeLay "opened his own big mouth and got himself indicted. Twice." The post links WaPo piece that discusses crucial admissions by DeLay regarding $190,000 of mostly corporate money he had funneled to and fro:

The last-minute negotiations between the lawyers and Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle were arranged after DeLay made what Earle considered a seriously damaging admission about his fundraising activities during an Aug. 17 meeting with the prosecutor in Austin.

At that session, DeLay acknowledged that in 2002 he was informed about and expressed his support for transfers of $190,000 in mostly corporate funds from his Texas political action committee to an arm of the Republican National Committee in Washington and then back to Texas, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be named.

DeLay has done most of the work. This time, Ronnie Earle has to remember to cut off the head, stuff the mouth with garlic, and weld the lid of the coffin closed. Only then can we keep DeLay from again rising at night to feed on the blood of the living.

Carl's take is here. More at The Daily DeLay.

tags: tom delay ronnie earle delay death watch

Wisdom from the Dear [Former Majority] Leader

10 Pearls of Wisdom from a Congressional Swine

What with the Miers implosion, the Scalito nomination, and the Rove & Scooter Death Watch, we have been diverted from other Repug crooks. Just to remind you why we must pay attention to the continuing travails of DeLay (more crony emails were subpoenaed last week), Frist, et al. Take a spin through these:

1) So many minority youths had volunteered that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like myself. (explaining at the 1988 GOP convention why he and vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle did not fight in the Vietnam War);

2) Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun? (to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept. 9, 2005);

3) I AM the federal government. (to the owner of Ruth's Chris Steak House, after being told to put out his cigar because of federal government regulations banning smoking in the building, May 14, 2003);

4) We're no longer a superpower. We're a super-duper power. (explaining why America must topple Saddam Hussein in 2002 interview with Fox News);

5) Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes. Tom DeLay, March 12, 2003;

6) Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills. (on the causes of the Columbine High School massacre, 1999);

7) A woman can take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure. To provide stability. Not that a woman can't provide stability, I'm not saying that... It does take a father, though. (radio interview, Feb. 10, 2004);

8) I don't believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church.;

9) Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour [the minimum wage in 1996] are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist. (during a debate in Congress on increasing the minimum wage, April 23, 1996);

10) I am not a federal employee. I am a constitutional officer. My job is the Constitution of the United States, I am not a government employee. I am in the Constitution. (in a CNN interview, Dec. 19, 1995).

Remember, DeLay is in court today on his motion to get rid of Judge Perkins. Also, check the Daily DeLay for more.

UPDATE: DeLay got a new judge. The Daily DeLay has more here.

tags: delay death watch tom delay

The Picture of Dorian DeLay

Sure DeLay looked like he was pretty pleased with himself in his mugshot. But there's a copy of it up in the attic, and every day it will change and show what DeLay looks like inside. We took a look this morning, and it wasn't pretty.

Make sure to hit The Daily DeLay for more updates. And don't forget to hit the Dear [Former Majority] Leader's own blog for his, er, take.

Majikthise is on location for live blogging and frog march photography. UPDATE: she's got perp walk photos here and here.

UPDATE: Majikthise's complete photo gallery is up - see the Dark Side in action.

UPDATE: Do you think a DeLay staffer made a bomb threat to overshadow the Dear [Former Majoity] Leader's perp walk?

Hat tip to HelenWheels for the graphic.
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DELAY DEATH WATCH: The Mugshot

Cost: $2.49

Mugshot Itself: Priceless

Read the arrest warrant here. Pam is pissed that there's no number in front of that pudgy little face and no profile shot.

tags: delay death watch tom delay

DeLay Death Watch: See Tom Blog

Tom DeLay is on the lam and is blogging for your support! Please help the Dear [Former Majority] Leader.

tags: tom delay delay death watch

DELAY DEATH WATCH: Don't Miss Frog-March Friday!

DeLay's Lawyer Admits No Evidence of Prosecutor Misconduct
After Charging Prosecutor With Misconduct

Texas Court Issues Warrant for DeLay

Update: Mugshot to be Taken Thursday October 20th

Majikthise has the story, reporting that DeLay's lawyer now admits that he has no evidence of misconduct by D.A. Ronnie Earle after charging him with misconduct in various papers filed in court.

Now you have to understand - even Texas has a version of Federal Rule 11. That's sanctions for attorney misconduct.

Also, it looks like the DeLay perp walk will be this Friday. I love the smell of a frog march in the morning! And today, the court issued a booking warrant for DeLay.

tags: tom delay delay death watch

DeLay Death Watch

Plead? Ha! I Spit on Your Plea Offer and Call It a Silly Thing!

DeLay could have stayed Dear [Majority] Leader if he'd taken a plea deal that was offered before he was indicted, but not our Tommy! Birmingham Blues has the story:
"DeLay’s attorney is griping because he says prosecutor Ronnie Earle offered DeLay the opportunity to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, thereby saving his position as House majority leader, before DeLay was indicted. Dick DeGuerin says Earle tried to 'coerce' DeLay into taking a plea by 'threatening' to indict him for a felony."
Um, isn't that the way it's done? Gee, maybe Tommy should have taken the deal.

Some circumstantial evidence is strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.
Henry David Thoreau, 1854

tags: tom delay politics

DeLay To Be Probed by FEC

DeLay Blames FEC, Earle, Clintons, Lefty Bloggers
Majikthise has the story on what she describes as a "Happy Friday present" ... the FEC thinks DeLay has some splainin' to do about using "nearly $100,000 in corporate and unlimited donations to mail last-minute political appeals praising five congressional candidates." This was, ooops, illegal.

We at Agitprop are heavily engaged in the "Delay Death Watch." Well, we missed this story yesterday, but we had to go get cat food and catnip. Read previous posts here and here. For our part, we are tentatively chilling the champagne. Grumpy Old Man is ready to pop the corks.

tags: tom delay right wing politics

DELAY DEATHWATCH UPDATE

Prosecutor Subpoenas DeLay Phone Records
DeLay Blames Prosecutor, Clintons

Just off the AP: A Texas prosecutor subpoenaed records for the home telephone of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and the phone of his political campaign Thursday. Also subpoenaed by prosecutor Ronnie Earle were records for two numbers for DeLay's daughter, Dani DeLay Ferro.

And now, we dance!

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DeLay Still Alive Despite Two Stakes Through Heart

Hasty Prosecutor Forgot to Cut Off Head, Stuff Mouth With Garlic

Although we'd hoped otherwise, the Dear [Former Majority] Leader is still swinging the hammer. The NYT reports that Repubs treat him as indispensable, as if nothing has changed. Fox News, of course, continues their "Poor Tommy" reporting.

Have these people no shame? The guy gerrymandered voting districts with laundered money. A European or Japanese politician would have resigned. The prosecutor needs to follow the instructions.
tags: tom delay politics