Monday, December 11, 2006
Tom DeLay is Too Much
OK, so the success of my local high school football team has distracted me for a while. Let's hope they distract me for a couple more weeks as the Texas high school football playoffs reach completion.
As many of you are no doubt aware by now, Tom DeLay has created his own blog. Despite the fact that DeLay and his leadership team have abandoned conservative principles leading to the loss of the Republican majority in the 2006 elections, DeLay now advocates a return to those principles:
Recall that Tom DeLay's wife and daughter received half a million dollars in suspicious payments from Jack Abramoff associate Ed Buckham.
Meanwhile, many of Tom DeLay's official actions benefited Jack Abramoff's interests. Not only did many of these actions not benefit the 22nd district of Texas, some of them seem only to have benefited foreigners who worked with Jack Abramoff (see Naftasib).
Bribery is not a principle that "brings us together as Republicans and as conservatives". In fact, as I've argued on this blog, DeLay's dalliance with bribery is what cost him his seat in this very conservative district. [If this were a Democratic district and DeLay were a Democrat, he very well could have been re-elected.]
DeLay's corruption is in addition to his advocacy of excessive spending and love of earmarks. Fiscal restraint is one of the "principles which bring us together as Republicans and as conservatives". The only problem is that Tom DeLay didn't share that principle with us Republicans and conservatives, either.
I had wondered what changed with me lately. Was I losing interest in Tom DeLay's deceit and corruption? Or was I just distracted by the Oiler juggernaut? Something tells me that I'll find a lot of new material at Tom DeLay's new site.
Link: Kuff's World. Kuff appears downright giddy in anticipation of what he'll find at TomDeLay.com.
As many of you are no doubt aware by now, Tom DeLay has created his own blog. Despite the fact that DeLay and his leadership team have abandoned conservative principles leading to the loss of the Republican majority in the 2006 elections, DeLay now advocates a return to those principles:
It is a regrettable fact of the current American political age that too many Republicans have failed to continue an aggressive fight for the principles which bring us together as Republicans and as conservatives. The election of 2006 was an example of what happens to a party and a movement when we fail to fight for the principles that brought us together in the first place. Permalink
Recall that Tom DeLay's wife and daughter received half a million dollars in suspicious payments from Jack Abramoff associate Ed Buckham.
Meanwhile, many of Tom DeLay's official actions benefited Jack Abramoff's interests. Not only did many of these actions not benefit the 22nd district of Texas, some of them seem only to have benefited foreigners who worked with Jack Abramoff (see Naftasib).
Bribery is not a principle that "brings us together as Republicans and as conservatives". In fact, as I've argued on this blog, DeLay's dalliance with bribery is what cost him his seat in this very conservative district. [If this were a Democratic district and DeLay were a Democrat, he very well could have been re-elected.]
DeLay's corruption is in addition to his advocacy of excessive spending and love of earmarks. Fiscal restraint is one of the "principles which bring us together as Republicans and as conservatives". The only problem is that Tom DeLay didn't share that principle with us Republicans and conservatives, either.
I had wondered what changed with me lately. Was I losing interest in Tom DeLay's deceit and corruption? Or was I just distracted by the Oiler juggernaut? Something tells me that I'll find a lot of new material at Tom DeLay's new site.
Link: Kuff's World. Kuff appears downright giddy in anticipation of what he'll find at TomDeLay.com.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Democratic Culture of Corruption
Democratic voters re-elected Rep. William "Cold Cash" Jefferson. You know who this guy is. He was caught with $95,000 in marked bills hidden in his freezer. Unfortunately, this very strong evidence of corruption wasn't enough to sway a majority of Democratic voters to throw Rep. Jefferson out of office.
Republican voters, on the other hand, do care about issues of character and integrity. Many Republican candidates implicated in the Abramoff scandal such as Rep. Richard Pombo and Sen. Conrad Burns were defeated as Republican voters abandoned them. Others such as Rep. Tom DeLay and Rep. Bob Ney withdrew their from their races when it became apparent that had lost the support of ordinary Republican voters due to issues of integrity and character. In short, Republican voters hold their own candidates to a higher standard than Democratic voters do.
Former Rep. Tom DeLay lamented this double standard. Since Tom DeLay advocated his own re-election, it appears that he wishes that Republican voters were as tolerant of corruption as Democratic voters. [It is worth noting that many Republican Precinct Chairmen supported Tom DeLay and do not oppose corruption as vigorously as the Republican electorate as a whole.] Obviously I don't agree with DeLay's position since I favor high standards of integrity and character. I would prefer that Democratic voters reject the culture of corruption within their own party and embrace the values of integrity and character.
Cheers to ordinary Republican voters for putting principle over party. Jeers to ordinary Democratic voters for putting party over principle.
Republican voters, on the other hand, do care about issues of character and integrity. Many Republican candidates implicated in the Abramoff scandal such as Rep. Richard Pombo and Sen. Conrad Burns were defeated as Republican voters abandoned them. Others such as Rep. Tom DeLay and Rep. Bob Ney withdrew their from their races when it became apparent that had lost the support of ordinary Republican voters due to issues of integrity and character. In short, Republican voters hold their own candidates to a higher standard than Democratic voters do.
Former Rep. Tom DeLay lamented this double standard. Since Tom DeLay advocated his own re-election, it appears that he wishes that Republican voters were as tolerant of corruption as Democratic voters. [It is worth noting that many Republican Precinct Chairmen supported Tom DeLay and do not oppose corruption as vigorously as the Republican electorate as a whole.] Obviously I don't agree with DeLay's position since I favor high standards of integrity and character. I would prefer that Democratic voters reject the culture of corruption within their own party and embrace the values of integrity and character.
Cheers to ordinary Republican voters for putting principle over party. Jeers to ordinary Democratic voters for putting party over principle.
