A few conservative blogs take some delight in Democratic frustration at not
having the usual mugshot of Tom "The Hammer" DeLay ("I am the federal government"). Must be nice for DeLay to have
connections protecting him.
Actually, I’ll take the picture of the grinning fool who thinks he can fake his way out of this.
There are limits to "making your own reality." DeLay is a certifiable scoundrel who deserves shunning, if not imprisonment.
mjh
RedState.org
This is the best-looking mug shot I have ever seen. As such, it is an oddly compelling portrait of this oddly
compelling man at this oddly compelling moment in his life. On CNN this morning, correspondant (sic) Sean Callebs said, "[b]ut think
about it, at some point later today, pictures of DeLay’s mug shot could be plastered all over the TV, plastered all over the Internet.
Certainly something the GOP doesn’t want to see." Gosh, I’m not so sure. Tom DeLay has never looked better. He looks
bright, personable, confident–certainly not guilty. Who would have thunk a mug shot could turn out to be
good propaganda?
Smile May Foil Democrat Campaign Ads
DeLay, an 11-term Texas congressman and former pest exterminator famous for enforcing
GOP loyalty, faced a tough reelection campaign even before the indictment.
In the 2004 elections, DeLay won 55 percent of the
vote, a relatively weak showing for a veteran House leader. His challenger next year is expected to be former Rep. Nick Lampson,
who lost his seat in 2004 after he was forced to run in a new district under a redistricting plan pushed by DeLay.
For his mandatory booking Thursday, which caused him to miss voting on a gun industry bill popular in his home state, DeLay
did everything he could to prevent images of the event from being committed to film.
mjh’s Blog: Counterpoint to Eulogies by Tim Wise
It’s why a bona fide
moron like Tom Delay can brag about not having a passport (because, after all, why would anyone want to travel abroad and leave
”Amur’ca,” even for a day) and not be seen as the epitome of a blithering idiot, and why he could probably be elected again and
again in thousands of white dominated congressional districts in this country, and not merely in Texas.
mjh’s Weblog Entry – 07/29/2003: "Contempt for the public" by
Paul Krugman
Another answer may be that in modern America, style trumps substance. Here’s what Tom DeLay, the House majority
leader, said in a speech last week: "To gauge just how out of touch the Democrat leadership is on the war on terror, just close your
eyes and try to imagine Ted Kennedy landing that Navy jet on the deck of that aircraft carrier." To say the obvious, that remark
reveals a powerful contempt for the public: Mr. DeLay apparently believes that the nation will trust a man, independent of the facts,
because he looks good dressed up as a pilot. But it’s possible that he’s right.
mjh’s Weblog Entry – 05/27/2003: "Tom Delay: "I am the federal
government.""
[Speaker of the House Tom] DeLay recently revealed how he felt about rules of general applicability.
When he tried smoking a cigar in a restaurant on federal property, the manager told him it violated federal law. His response, according
to The Washington Post, was, "I am the federal government."