Jonathan Weisman wrote DeLay’s obituary for the Washington Post. Carl Hulse did the job for the New York Times. Time Magazine chose a couple of familiar names: Mike Allen and Matthew Cooper.
Allen and Cooper offer a couple of Rovian shivs for DeLay’s back.
Bush had scored 10 points higher than DeLay in the Representative’s district in 2004, and that was only after Bush had recorded a telephone message to help rally local Republicans.
“I can’t believe I had to do robocalls for him,” the President said bitingly to an Oval Office visitor.
To people who know Bush well, the remark said it all about the longtime chill between the two pols—a distance that is only sure to grow with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s guilty plea. Both camps describe the two conservative Texans’ relationship as professional—an alliance, not a friendship.
and this:
“Karl thinks of him as someone a little bit too opinionated for his own good,” says an official close to both men.
and then they get personal:
Even before DeLay’s announcement that he would abdicate his leadership post, top Bush advisers tell TIME, the President’s inner circle always treated DeLay as a necessary burden. He may have had an unmatched grip on the House and Washington lobbyists, but DeLay is not the kind of guy—in background and temperament—the President feels comfortable with. Of the former exterminator, a Republican close to the President’s inner circle says, “They have always seen him as beneath them, more blue collar. He’s seen as a useful servant, not someone you would want to vacation with.”
That’s gotta hurt. DeLay tried so hard to fit it. He visited the Russian oil barons and oligarchs. He went golfing at St. Andrews in Scotland. He stole as much money as he could. And this is the kind of love he gets? They think he is beneath them? They don’t want to see him on the links? It’s painful to watch the swords come out. And it isn’t just DeLay that is about to get posthumously hacked to a second death.
Press secretary Scott McClellan said Abramoff might have attended large gatherings with Bush but added, “The President does not know him, nor does the President recall ever meeting him.”
Sounds a lot like this:
Michael Corleone: Fredo, you’re nothing to me now. You’re not a brother, you’re not a friend. I don’t want to know you or what you do. I don’t want to see you at the hotels, I don’t want you near my house. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won’t be there. You understand?
And this is after Abramoff worked so hard for the family. I guess his money’s good, though:
Abramoff was one of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign’s “pioneers”—meaning he raised at least $100,000, most of it from others, in increments of $2,000. After Abramoff pleaded guilty, Bush aides announced they had donated to the American Heart Association $6,000 that had been given to the campaign by Abramoff, his wife and one of his Indian-tribe clients. But Republican officials said they plan to keep the remaining $94,000.
Meanwhile, not to be deterred from the finer things in live, DeLay has posted a profile at a dating site, where he says:
About Me
I’m a powerful man. I’m the hammer. I have an uncertain future but I need love, understanding and a pen pal while I’m away.
First Date
You have to be white. Next to Jesus you should have undying loyalty to me, the country, our flag and the Republican Party. I would hope you have an affinity for jumpsuits and the color orange.
all the reporting on jack and delay and iraq — it might give someone the impression that the MSM was doing their job, NOT
the news is so freaking bad that they don’t dare ignore it.
The story otta be
“Bushco Throws Delay Under Bus — MSM Assists Bushco cuz Air Force 1 seats more important than integrity”
rmm.
Bushco will be in for a big surprise as they continue to hammer The Hammer. They will just piss off this little vindictive shit.
And when Delay gets ready to plead guilty to various state and federal charges, he will start negotiating with his prosecutors. And his nickname will change from The Hammer to The Flipper.
He will turn on those fucks in the White House faster than you can say…..well, whatever it is that you can say REAL fast. Yep – Bushco will piss off Delay so bad that he will turn state’s evidence on the White House.
Down goes Rove, Bush, Cheney!
C’mon White House – keep pissing on The Hammer’s forehead! Take big dumps on his head! Faster, faster! Harder, harder!
The Hammer >>>>> The Flipper
Some good nuggets in their Booman and some good laughs to start the day. Abramoff raised 100,000 for the bush-cheney reelection jihad. So they return $6000 guess the guess they don’t want to return money to any Abramoff’s “monkeys” or “troglodytes”. That might actually hurt. What a group of sociopaths.
I loved where they are sending back the token return…not to the Tribe?
“After Abramoff pleaded guilty, Bush aides announced they had donated to the American Heart Association $6,000 that had been given to the campaign by Abramoff, his wife and one of his Indian-tribe clients. But Republican officials said they plan to keep the remaining $94,000.”
Of course they sent it to the Heart Association. They know Dick will need a transplant soon. Oh, silly me, Dick doesn’t have a heart!
“They have always seen him as beneath them, more blue collar. He’s seen as a useful servant, not someone you would want to vacation with.”
I hope this gets repeated in small town newspapers across the country. I hope all the “common folk” who vote Republican take this as a persoanl reference to themselves.
Absolutely Spot On! I am continually amazed at the number of hard working, blue collar folks who have convinced themselves that they are really Republicans.
This line from the article speaks volumes about the GOP mindset.
Cross-posted at Daily Kos.
[This doesn’t fit so well with the thread here, but reading this by a woman I’ve come to loathe did my heart good and I wanted to share it with the Tribble folk.]
Even the Republican columnists aren’t buying the “Dems did it too” line. Saturday’s column by Kathleen Parker of the Orlando Sentinel:
Parker is generally a reliable shill for the RNC talking points. For example, her column on the NSA spying takes the predictable “But the privilege of debating our constitutional rights requires first that we be alive.” line. But even she can see that this is about Republican corruption.
This “Democrats did it too” line is to scare Dems out of shouting at every opportunity about the rethug culture of corruption.
And if we fall for it then we deserve what we get.
But how interesting…for now, at least, they’re not mindlessly spitting out talking points. If this is because they’re genuinely disgusted or to further undermine the Congress so Shrub & co. can say See, I had to spy on you because the Congress can’t be trusted remains to be seen.
Thanks for the quote from the Orlando Sentinel. We have to help turn that “Dems do it too” disinformation around. The truth is Jack Abramoff NEVER gave a dime to Dems. Here is a list of specifically who Abramoff gave money to and how much each time.
Delay also NEVER gave to dems and here is Delay’s list
Dems need give these lists to every reporter and newscaster they come in contact with.
“The President does not know him, nor does the President recall ever meeting him.”
Damn. That sounds familiar. Didn’t he say the same thing about Chalabi?
Didn’t he say the same thing about Chalabi?
and Ken Lay….
And his dad
Just like Cheney never met Edwards before the debates. Selective memory my friends.
Hmm, I wonder if DeLay will be finding a horse head in his bed.
Next thing you know, Shrub will be out there saying, “Mr. DeLay was a supporter of Ann Richards” a la Ken Lay when his luck and fortunes took a turn.
But what I find breathtaking is the statement, “Karl thinks of him as someone a little bit too opinionated for his own good,” says an official close to both men.
Dayum…even friggin Tom DeLay is too “opinionated” (read: thinks for himself) for them? After all the water he’s carried?!? And DeLay’s too “blue collar”? What was all that shit I heard about John Kerry being too “effete”, too soft, too “French”?!?! And people fell for it from him?!?!
I’ll be damned if these people don’t fall for the same dumb shit over and over, generation after generation.
Support people until they become “inconvenient”, then throw them overboard.
Corporations offered pensions and health benefits till the workers got old and expensive…then they threw both the people and the benefits overboard. If you’re working for a corporation, keep those resumé current; you’re going to be working somewhere (probably Wally World) till they carry you out feet first.
The Republicans scream “support the troops” until the soldiers come back too injured to fight anymore, or even to hold their old jobs…then they find that these folks who allegedly “supported” them are cutting their benefits and health care right and left. After all, a soldier that can’t fight is useless, right?
And let’s not forget supporting tax cuts for rich contributors while cutting services for poor folks who can’t afford to write a multi-zeroes check…
I wish these “ordinary Americans” who think that the Republicans truly care about their interests would see how far that caring goes…but of course they won’t; even the “Log Cabin Republicans” continue to support this morally bankrupt Administration that takes their money with a smile just before they go out and preach about the evils of gays and lesbians…
Scrub the dating site “profile”. It’s obviously bogus- a snark, a parody, a joke; keeping it in your article makes you look like an especially gullible Dan Rather or like a very clumsy and very mean Karl Rove wannabee.
Mr. Delay appears to be, and probably is, a perfectly good husband. Just like Mr. Milosevic.
Short of contacting him and arranging a date, how would one go about verifying that that was actually posted by DeLay? (snicker)
Here’s something new and probably worthy of it’s own diary.
DeLay and two others helped put the brakes on a federal probe of a businessman. Evidence was published in the Congressional Record.
WASHINGTON — In a case that echoes the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, two Northern California Republican congressmen used their official positions to try to stop a federal investigation of a wealthy Texas businessman who provided them with political contributions.
Reps. John T. Doolittle and Richard W. Pombo joined forces with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas to oppose an investigation by federal banking regulators into the affairs of Houston millionaire Charles Hurwitz, documents recently obtained by The Times show. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was seeking $300 million from Hurwitz for his role in the collapse of a Texas savings and loan that cost taxpayers $1.6 billion.
The investigation was ultimately dropped.
Bush and DeLay: Never A Texas Two-Step
(via TIME Magazine)
Runaway Train with Jon Voight and Eric Roberts would make another good bill.
MMM-a-a-a-annnnnnnn-nyyyyy
Standing on the top of the locomotive and roaring down the tracks at full speed toward an ultimate dead end disaster….but still in control of it all.
I used a percentage on the width and the preview showed it as much smaller.
The class sh*t is amazing – but as i recall GW is only really comfortable in buckingham palace.
Didn’t Bush break some centuries old china or something expensive when he was at Buckingham? Noticed the queen has not invited him back.
Among other faux pas committed during the visit for which he had invited himself, his hordes of security goons tore up the shrubbery and gardens at Buck House. Good Queen Bess was not amused.
But…but…
George had the divine right as king!