Matt Margolis has a post looking at the exchange between Tom DeLay and Matt Lauer on a recent Today Show. The topic was corruption and you can imagine the path Lauer took on this.Read the whole thing at GOP Bloggers, but here is the dead-on accurate quote of the day, if not week, by DeLay:

There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them.

Zing!

Federal Judge Sam Sparks ruling on Thursday that Tom DeLay’s name must remain on the November ballot has made things very interesting.

At issue in the federal court case is the U.S. Constitution wording stating that a member of Congress must be an “inhabitant” of the state where his or her district is at the time of election. Also central in the dispute is the Texas Election Code and its provisions for scratching candidates from the ballot.

Why are Democrats fighting to keep DeLay from being replaced?

Democrats acknowledge they want to keep DeLay’s legal troubles in voters’ minds as Democrat Nick Lampson, a former congressman, seeks the 22nd congressional district seat in suburban Houston.

The ruling has been appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Pending that outcome there is one other possibility.

A source close to the ex-Congressman tells TIME that DeLay is planning an aggressive campaign to retake the House seat he quit in June if an appeals court lets stand a ruling by a federal judge last week that his name must stay on November’s ballot–even though he has moved to Virginia. “If it isn’t overturned, Katy bar the door!” says a G.O.P. official. “Guess he’ll have to fire up the engines on the campaign and let ‘er rip.”

Captain Ed examines the two-faced posture of the dems.

The Democrats sued to keep DeLay’s name on the Texas ballot after his resignation, reversing the stance they took with Frank Lautenberg after Robert Torricelli had to resign for ethics violations. Back then, in 2002, the Democrats sued to get Torricelli’s name off the ballot, claiming that refusing to allow Lautenberg to replace the Torch on the ballot stripped New Jersey voters of a real choice in the election. Their argument of the reverse in Texas puts them in the cynical position of claiming that democracy has less value in Texas than the Garden State — or just revealing themselves as hypocrites.

[...]

If the Democrats lose this seat, they have no one to blame but themselves. They had an opportunity to have a rookie go up against a former Congressman in a race that may have allowed them a high-profile gain. Now they have reinvigorated DeLay into action, and even worse, drafted him themselves back into the race.

Whatever happens, make no mistake. . . this will be interesting.

Coffee is good for talent, but genius wants prayer. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) IDF Starts Incursion; UN Human Rights Council Session Concludes — “The IDF has moved into Gaza in an effort to locate the Israeli soldier who was taken hostage by Hamas over one week ago. Naturally many nations have condemned Israel without condemning the government of Palestine, that is run by Hamas, for attacking an Israeli outpost and taking a soldier hostage. To those nations, it is Israel who is being the aggressive one for responding to an attack and those same nations never utter a word over the daily rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel either.”

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Iraqi Documents: UNMOVIC Knew Of Renewed WMD Efforts (Updated And Bumped) — “Continuing my review of the many documents released from the DocEx files over the last two days, I found yet another interesting piece of information regarding Saddam Hussein’s pursuit of WMD. In a summary of a larger document, the translators found that Iraq had restarted its processing of castor-bean extraction, from which ricin can be developed — and that UNMOVIC discovered it in December 2002.”

Big Lizards (Dafydd) Here’s a Switch – — “In a bizarre twist of politics, the Democrats are fighting like the dickens over Rep. Tom DeLay… to keep him on the ballot in Texas, rather than to boot him off. The theory — and I think it’s so transparent, it’s going to create blowback — is that with DeLay’s “ethical” problems (i.e., he incurred the wrath of notoriously vindictive and partisan D.A. Ronnie Earle), having DeLay’s name on the ballot will so turn off Texas voters, that they’ll vote for the Democrat in a strongly Republican district.

I suppose it could work… if, as Democrats believe, Texas voters are all as dumb as a box of bratwurst. Otherwise, they will easily be able to figure out just what the Democrats are up to.”

Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love. ~ Talleyrand

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Ronnie Earle Gets Some Comeuppance — “A federal judge issued a little-noticed ruling that spells trouble for Travis County DA Ronnie Earle and his obsession with Tom DeLay. Dryly calling Earle’s efforts “innovative”, Judge Mike Lynch ruled that political groups broke no state laws against political coordination, one of the keystones of Earle’s efforts to indict DeLay.”

Dr. Sanity (Pat Santy) CARNIVAL OF THE INSANITIES — “Time for the weekly insanity update, where the insane, the bizarre, the ridiculous, and the completely absurd are highlighted for all to see!”

Must be some sort of Holiday Weekend. I hope you are all having a great one!

Side Note: Anyone who is traveling to see the Florida Rat (AKA WDW) this summer, please send a note to lakelandjim at gmail dot com. I’d love to meet some of you in person.

The coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least there is not a single soul who, on quitting the house, does not believe himself four times wittier that when he entered it. ~ Charles de Secondat Montesquieu

As you might expect, this morning’s First Cup will focus on the Tom DeLay story. Here’s what others are saying:

Rhymes with Right (Greg) DeLay Withdrawing From CD22 Race! — This post is a very thorough look at the withdraw and the process for a replacement. Greg is one of the precinct chairs in CD22 and it looks like he didn’t get much sleep last night as he traced this story. Of particular interest is update 13 which examines Texas election law that will apply.

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) DeLay Steps Down, This Time For Good — “The Hammer has never made it onto my list of favorites in DC, but up until recently he performed reliably in keeping the caucus focused on the agenda. This prosecution pursued by Ronnie Earle is the worst kind of political hackery, and to the extent that this weighed on his campaign, DeLay’s withdrawal and resignation diminishes the political process.”

Power Line (John Hinderaker) DeLay Steps Down — “[A]s I’ve often said, the politically-inspired prosecution of DeLay by Travis County’s discredited DA, Ronnie Earle, is a bad joke. As far as we can tell at the moment, DeLay appears to be yet another victim of the Democrats’ politics of personal destruction–the only politics they know.”

Outside The Beltway (James Joyner) Tom DeLay Drops Re-Election Bid — “This is good news all around for the GOP. It helps stop the bleeding caused by the Abramoff scandal and related misdeeds that, even if he had no criminal complicity in, were direct results of decisions made by DeLay. This early in the cycle, there’s still plenty of time to find a clean candidate to replace DeLay as the Republican nominee.”

The Political Pit Bull (Greg Tinti) Tom DeLay Bows Out Of House Race (Video) — In addition to the video with Hardball host Christ Matthews and TIME Magazine’s Mike Allen on The Situation with Tucker Carlson, Greg had this to say, “First of all, Tucker Carlson’s snap analysis that this is “an ominous sign” for Republicans running for reelection in 2006 is utter rubbish. It might be an “ominous sign” for DeLay’s current legal situation, but this event itself is not representative of any problem for Republicans in 2006. Second, whether this decision was motivated by a concern for the Republican Party as a whole (as DeLay claims) or fear of more criminal allegations (as some on the left believe), this development is a positive one for Republicans.”

AP is reporting that Texas Representative Tom DeLay may announce tomorrow that he is withdrawing from the House race.

DeLay was expected to disclose the plans Tuesday, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the DeLay had not publicly disclosed his plans.

Michelle Malkin has much more. (h/t Kim Priestap at Wizbang)

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce. ~ Oliver Wendall Holmes Sr

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Feingold Campaigns For Retreat From Iraq — In Iraq — “However, American politicians have at least understood that when traveling to the war zone, the troops and the public expect them to stick to supportive statements and not engage in protests against our mission. At least, they used to understand that — but Wisconsin Senator and 2008 presidential hopeful Russ Feingold decided to make his visit to Iraq a soapbox to bolster his anti-war credentials.”

The Strata-Sphere (AJ Strata) Saddam And The Terrorists — “It appears the document drop of material found in Baghdad and Afghanistan is starting to have the expected affect. Stories on the numerous discussions and joint efforts between Saddam and terrorists are integrating into the American psyche and building the picture which can only be seen as a summation of a lot of smaller pictures.”

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) Zarqawi Assumes Lower Profile — “Dexter Filkins at the New York Times writes Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has taken a lessor role in Iraq, and quite possibly his own terrorist group Al Qaida in Iraq. Not to be confused with reporting the news when it actually comes out, the Filkins doesn’t mention previous reports Zarqawi did step aside. But, hey, there’s some interesting information and good analysis by those quoted by Filkins that it’s worth bringing up again.”

Powerline (John Hinderaker) Abramoff Has Nothing on Delay — “What I still don’t understand is, what exactly is the Jack Abramoff “scandal”? Abramoff got caught trying to defraud investors in a cruise ship, but that had nothing to do with Congress. Yet prosecutors gave him a break in return for his agreement to testify against Congressmen. The question is, does he have anything to say?”

Ankle Biting Pundits (H-Bomb) The Impeachment Belt — “For all intents and purposes, “Impeach Bush” is the new “I’m moving to Canada”: a Moonbat impulse designed to demonstrate to the world how much they really, really, really want to get back into power, but which, in the end, will hurt Democrats more than Republicans, by a damn sight.”

In this early mid-term primary, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay easily defeated his three challengers.

Opponent Tom Campbell, former general counsel for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, fell short of forcing the former House majority leader into a runoff.

DeLay won 62 percent of the vote in the 22nd Congressional District, which covers parts of Harris, Brazoria, Fort Bend and Galveston counties, according to the totals from 97 percent of precincts.

“I have always placed my faith in the voters, and today’s vote shows they have placed their full faith in me,” DeLay said in a written victory statement. “This race was about who can effectively represent the values and the priorities of the people in this district, and I’m proud to have earned, and overwhelmingly kept, that trust among Republican voters.”

His battle in November will be against Democrat Nick Lampson, Steve Stockman who is seeking a spot on the ballot as an independent, and a still to be chosen Libertarian Party candidate.

First DeLay will have his day in court facing partisan hack prosecutor Ronnie Earle’s Grand Jury-shopped charges.

The announcement by Rep. Tom DeLay, that he would not seek a return to his position as House majority leader, isn’t really a surprise. It is a story with several other stories wrapped up inside.

First, the outer story.

Rep. Tom DeLay, the defiant face of a conservative revolution in Congress, stepped down as House majority leader on Saturday under pressure from Republicans staggered by an election-year corruption scandal.

“During my time in Congress, I have always acted in an ethical manner within the rules of our body and the laws of our land,” the Texas lawmaker told fellow Republicans in a letter informing them of his decision.

Still, referring to criminal charges he faces in his home state, he added, “I cannot allow our adversaries to divide and distract our attention.”

DeLay temporarily gave up his leadership post after he was charged, but always insisted he would reclaim his duties after clearing his name.

His turnabout cleared the way for leadership elections among Republicans buffeted by poor polls and by lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s confessions of guilt on corruption charges in connection with congressional wining and dining.

Even within this announcement there are several things to notice. Most importantly, as of yet Rep. DeLay hasn’t been convicted of anything. Unlike the other side of the aisle, Republican rules required DeLay to step down on the bringing of charges. Democrats do not require that of their members. The charges in Texas, brought by partisan hack Ronnie Earle, are still working their way through the courts. His involvement with Jack Abramoff has been heavily implied but not to the point of charges, let alone proof of any wrong-doing.

Let me step aside for one second to say that if it is proven that DeLay broke the law he should be punished appropriately. I am not trying to say in any way that he should be given a pass because of his position or his political affiliation.

Back to the paragraphs I cited above, it is interesting to note (but not surprising) how TOM characterizes DeLay as, “the defiant face of a conservative revolution in Congress.” What was he defying? The will of the people who elected him? The plans and purposes of the party that put him in his position of leadership? Or is it that he was defiant to the party that is not in the majority? And what is the so called conservative revolution? Did the Republicans go out to the masses, guns in hand, and force the electorate to place them in the majority?

Also in this part of the report is, “[h]is turnabout cleared the way for leadership elections among Republicans.” Republicans are as much political animals as any politicians. It is perhaps sad, but not surprising, that they would leave a wounded member of their pride behind as they face attacks from other predators. It may even be the politically expedient thing to do. Doesn’t make it pretty. More on those interested in the Majority leader’s position in a moment.

The next act in this political drama is the hypocritical left.

“The culture of corruption is so pervasive in the Republican conference that a single person stepping down is not nearly enough to clean up the Republican Congress,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader.

Added Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic campaign organization: “With the permanence of their special interest philosophy, a change in the Republican cast of characters simply doesn’t matter.”

So, we see what their spin is going to be. The meme of, “The Culture of Corruption,” is just the latest example of the Democrats strategy of repeating a lie often enough so that the great unwashed masses believe that it’s true.

Let me make my thoughts clear on this. There very well may be corrupt politicians. In fact, I have no doubt that there are. More to the point, I would be surprised if there aren’t. But it is quite a leap to equate that with there being a culture of corruption. The constant harping that there is one is nothing more than an attempt to paint all Republicans as corrupt while ignoring any corruption among their own members. I guess they’ve forgotten about the House banking scandal.

Let me say this about the politicians on the left, with a few possible exceptions, I don’t think they are corrupt. I think they are completely wrong about many or most issues. I think they are far more concerned with partisanship than with doing what’s right. I think they are more interested in regaining power than with doing what is in the best interest of the Country. But none of that makes them corrupt, it just makes them wrong.

Finally, two House Republicans have made clear that they intend to seek the Majority Leader’s post; Roy Blunt of Missouri, and John Boehner of Ohio.

Blunt is reported to be,

different in style from the stridently partisan DeLay, Blunt is equally conservative and took a leading role in moving President Bush’s tax cut packages through the House. As whip, Blunt took the lead last year in the uphill struggle to secure votes needed to pass the Central America Free Trade Agreement.

Boehner, who is also interested in the position,

has a strong conservative record, but has also shown an ability to reach across party lines. He pushed pension legislation through the House last year, attracting nearly 300 votes after a last-minute accommodation with the United Auto Workers.

DeLay’s stepping down is just a small part in the drama. There will be many acts that follow.

Partisan hack Prosecutor Ronnie Earle isn’t happy with the legal tactics used by Rep. Tom Delay.

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said in court documents that the Republican is “attempting to leapfrog” over the usual court procedures by asking the state’s highest criminal court to dismiss all charges against him or to order a trial right away.

[...]

He has been pressing the state’s highest criminal court to address the charges quickly because he wants to regain his post before his colleagues call for new leadership elections later this month.

The case has been on hold while prosecutors appeal a judge’s dismissal of some of the charges.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has not decided whether to take the case but last week asked prosecutors to file briefs making their arguments.

The lawyers were given a week to file their arguments just about a week ago. This should certainly help get 2006 off to an interesting start.

The headline I put here is not the one you will see at most online news sources. Looking at some of the first page news links at Google News just now here is what I found:

• Update 3: DeLay’s Money Laundering Charges Upheld – Forbes
• Judges Upholds Some Charges Against DeLay – ABC News
• DeLay Faces Trial as Judge Rejects Motion to Dismiss Charges – Bloomberg
• Judge drops conspiracy charges against DeLay – USA Today
• DeLay’s Money Laundering Charges Upheld – San Francisco Chronicle
• Judge Upholds Some Charges Against Delay – New York Times
• Money laundering charges upheld against DeLay – News 8 Austin, TX
• Judge upholds money laundering charges against DeLay – KHOU, TX

Almost all parents have had the song, “one of these things is not like the others” go round and round in their head. That’s what I feel like here. Those are the headlines related to this story:

A judge dismissed the conspiracy charges Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay but refused to throw out the money-laundering counts, dashing the Texas congressman’s hopes for now of reclaiming his post as House majority leader.

Judge Pat Priest, who is presiding over the case against the Republican, issued the ruling after a hearing late last month in which DeLay’s attorney argued that the indictment was fatally flawed.

Yes the money-laundering charge is still in play, but the conspiracy charge being dropped is the story. James Joyner at Outside the Beltway noticed the same thing and had this insight:

News, as the name implies, is about things that are different. An hour ago, Delay faced two serious charges; he now faces one. Considering that he faced the remaining charge when the day began, the new thing is the charge he no longer faces.

Right.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has this from Rep. DeLay’s office:

The judge notes in his letter that a motion to dismiss based on prosecutorial misconduct is still pending for the second indictment (also known as the “Do-Over Indictment”) and will require the hearing of evidence. The bulk of the arguments made in that motion concerned the manner in which Ronnie Earle went about getting this second indictment. Thus, the pending indictment can still yet be dismissed after additional hearings.

From today’s ruling:

[1] At least one motion to dismiss upon the basis of alleged prosecutorial misconduct was filed by Defendant DeLay and is presumed by the Court to have been adopted by defendants Colyandro and Ellis. This motion may require the hearing of evidence (a matter not yet resolved), and it is not included within the ambit of the present rulings.

Rep. Tom DeLay returns to court today with his lawyers asking for dismissal of the charges against him. AP:

Attorneys for Rep. Tom DeLay are hoping a judge will dismiss the conspiracy and money laundering charges against the former House majority leader so he can regain the powerful seat.

DeLay was to appear in court Tuesday before a judge who will decide whether the criminal case should continue to trial.

DeLay had to relinquish his leadership post in Congress after he was indicted in September. His attorneys are pushing for a December trial in hopes that DeLay is cleared so he can regain his title before Congress returns to session in January. Otherwise, lawmakers could elect a new majority leader.

Tuesday’s hearing is DeLay’s first before Senior Judge Pat Priest, who was appointed to the case after DeLay’s attorneys succeeded in having the first judge removed because of his campaign contributions to Democratic candidates and causes.

While we will have to wait and see how this plays out, to this non-lawyer it seems as if dismissing the charges is the correct thing to do. To me the charges apear to be nothing more than a political hatchet job without merit.

If the case goes forward to trial another hearing will most likely be held to determine if the case should be moved from Austin to DeLay’s home county of Fort Bend.

Whatever the results, I am not convinced that Rep. DeLay is the best person to lead the Republican Senate going forward. While he has driven many good initiatives, the Republicans need leadership that will return them to their fiscal conservatism and fight for those things that brought them to the majority. It is also important to have leadership that remembers that we are the majority.

UPDATE: AP’s latest report says,

Rep. Tom DeLay will have to wait for a decision on whether conspiracy charges against him will be dropped without a trial, a judge said Tuesday.

At a hearing, Senior Judge Pat Priest said he wanted to read written responses from both sides before making his ruling, and didn’t say how long it might take. The hearing on various motions was continuing Tuesday.