Most popular in which venue?
For the Moonbats, it will be all about Bush, so #1 and #2

For the rock-ribbed, it will be #3.

Grandstand until an enterprising pubbie DA applies the same criteria to their campaign flows.

I vote for the anti-2: Bush's opponents will claim his next court pick is designed to distract from the DeLay indictment. Yes, I know it makes no sense. I predict it nonetheless.

My question is this: Now that Hastert has tapped Dreier for the ML post, how long before the sinister "whisper campaign" begins in earnest? You know the one I mean....

Yea, but he didn't diddle his intern(heaven forbid) so all will be OK.

Well, speaking as a liberal, I can definitely say #4 is spot on. As for the 'moonbat' options, I have not heard anyone on the left put #1 or #2 forward. And as for #3, well, let's be honest, none of those people need any excuse to grandstand :-)

Call me an idiot, but what whisper campaign?

Stephen, I suspect you're in the same camp, but I must say that I'll keep my powder dry and wait unil I've read the particulars of the indictment and then wait to see what facts unfold, pro or con.

Facts we do know;
1. The DA is a politically motivated democrat.
2. The democrats nationally and in Texas have been gunning for DeLay for some time now.
3. DeLay, whatever one thinks of him, is an effective legislator and has been a thorn on the side of the democrats. His removal would be a help to them.

While I have no loyalty towards DeLay or any other elected official of either party, I think we need to speculate less. Let's wait and see what cards the DA's holding.

Am I skeptical? In a word, yes. They're still going after Limbaugh by trying to make his physicians testify about his alleged 'doctor shopping.' You think the democrat DA in Florida would be doing that to a fellow democrat? Let's ask Ted Kennedy.

Does anyone doubt that the democrats, desperate as they are, would not stoop to the most despicable methods and tactics to oust an effective opponent?

Perhaps DeLay is guilty, but this is the United States and I plan to stick to a revolutionary but fast fading legal principal, that you're innocent until 'proven' guilty. I hope we don't get trial by media and I would say that even if he were a democrat.

The devolution of politics in this country is really beginning to sicken me.

95% - number 3, 5% - number 4.

Here's something further on the indictment from The Corner;

DELAY [Mark R. Levin]
Here's my first take on this indictment (I've only read the indictment and nothing more for now): The indictment is three pages in length. Other than a statement that "one or more" of 3 individuals, including Tom DeLay, entered into an illegal conspiracy, I can't find a single sentence tying Tom DeLay to a crime. That is, there's not a single sentence tying DeLay to the contribution. The indictment describes the alleged conduct of two other individuals, but nothing about DeLay. You would think if Ronnie Earle had even a thin reed of testimony linking DeLay to the contribution, it would have been noted in the indictment to justify the grand jury's action. Moreover, not only is there no information about DeLay committing acts in furtherance of a conspiracy, there's no information about DeLay entering into a conspiracy. I honestly believe that unless there's more, this is an egregious abuse of prosecutorial power. It's a disgrace. I understand that not everything has to be contained in an indictment, but how about something!

Texas democrat DA Ronnie Earl handed up the indicere for the press release. To tap a few news cycles.

Much like Cindy Sheehan got herself arrested the other day. The MSM dutifully extended her 15 min/fame yet again. -Spin

"Does anyone doubt that the democrats, desperate as they are, would not stoop to the most despicable methods and tactics to oust an effective opponent?"

And of course Republicans never do so (i.e. John McCain, Max Cleland).

I used to live in Austin, and have some familiarity with Ronnie Earl. This isn't the first time that he's indicted a prominent Republican; he indicted Kay Bailey Hutchinson about five minutes after she won her first Senate election. That case was thrown out the minute it got before a judge (by coincidence, I was in the courthouse getting my license plate renewed when that ruling came down). If I recall correctly, Earl also tried once to either indict or subpoena (I don't remember which) every fraternity at UT during a spate of hazing hysteria.

Delay plays rough, and I wouldn't be shocked if he isn't as pure as the wind-driven snow... but it'll take more than one of Ronnie's ham sandwich indictments to convince me.

How could this be interpreted as a ploy to distract from Bush's low poll numbers or his next SC pick? I've seen nothing so far that suggests that any Republican could have pushed this indictment. Am I missing something?

Chuck,
You've been listening to the RNC and hannity too much... Earle has indicted 11 Dems and 5 Repubs (including Delay). I'm a lifelong Texan and the Earle and the Dems are out to get DeLay line is bullshit. Anyone who believes Delay isn't dirty just isn't paying attention.

Ginpundit - you mean the phantom Cleland ad that everyone knows about but no one can offer proof having seen it?

Or pointing out he actually did vote against the Boy Scouts?

Ginpundit,
If you read my comment, I said I wasn't partial to either party.
I also do not think the republicans above dirty tactics.

However, if you've been paying any attention for the last five years, you couldn't help but notice that the democrats have gotten progressively more unhinged as they have lost repeated elections. They now have Screamin Howie as their chairman, Jimmy Carter as their patron saint, MoveOn and the Mooreons as their guides and Soros as their owner, not to mention a party platform that consists solely of criticizing any administration initiatives or actions politicizing every issue, even 9/11 and hurricane Katrina and actively advocating our we stick our heads in the sand with regard to the war on terror. Did you see Wellstone's funeral?

The republicans are far from the pinnacle of political parties, but compared to the ideological cesspool the democrats are wallowing in, they're on Olympus.

Via Capt Ed:

...He has openly used this investigation as a Democratic Party fundraising device, charging up Democratic rallies such as one last May that raised over $100,000, featuring Earle on the stump talking about the case and DeLay. According to the American Bar Association Canon of Ethics, Earle has violated DR7-107(A) as well as (B)(1). He also has clearly violated EC8-8, which states that lawyers who serve as public officers "should not engage in activities in which his personal or professional interests are or foreseeably may be in conflict with his official duties."....

Ben - what color is the sky on that planet you're on?

Have you read the indictment?

It consists of a total of four pages - one cover sheet with the names and venue formalities, then three pages of allegations.

DeLay's name does not appear until the final segments, and does not specifically state what DeLay did, except that on advice of counsel he waived a time provision.

In short, while the remainder of the indictment against the other two guys may or may not be relevant, DeLay is on there as an add-on, a pork rider to the most recent Transportation Bill if you will, and that says Political with a capital "P".

Ronnie got railroaded into this one by the Statesman, and if I were DeLay I would fly back to Austin tonight and demand immediate trial, because Earle ain't got the goods on this one.

He should have been smart and stuck with Tibetan monks for his contributions: at least they keep their mouths shut.

Compare Newt Gingrich's career ending book deal with Hillary's, both for media reaction as well as results.

I think there are two things at war here for conservatives: the belief that every politician (even/especially our own) are no good, two timing, corrupt, incomeptent, lying rodents who in a just world would be shot on sight and then the fact that a DA can and often does indict a ham sandwich. Elliot Spitzer can even bloody convict a ham sandwich if she is famous enough and her name rhymes with startha mewart (she didn't do what she was convicted of, though she does appear to have committed another charge that she was acquitted of... and she got popped on he senior charge but not the lesser contributory act that she did...).

Given Earle's past history with Hutchison, his campaigning, and the indictment as described... it looks like a bogus charge. Is DeLay a lying corrupt crapweasel? Probably to hell yeah. Is the conservative base already out to get him? HELL YEAH! Did the Dems probably make it easier for the Reps to get a better, more telegenic, and more (fiscally) conservative House Leader? Most likely.

So after the whole TV storm blows over, the Dems are likely to have put themselves in a worse position than they are now. A possibly corrupt unindicted co-conspirator who is soft on spending and defends pork is a pretty easy guy to hammer for both conservative and liberal democrats. House races are the ones that are actual races (better than Senate, though not by much) and are the ones where tying a marginal candidate to a bad leader can kill them. Instead the Reps get a bunch of reasons to dump the guy on top of his apparent unseriousness about fiscal issues as well as giving him the opportunity to actually contest and likely refute the charges.

Unindicted co-conspirators can never really clear their names. Even if the other guys get off, you need a insanely stinging condemnation from the judge of the entire thing or else the unindicted guy always has that pinned on him and you can hound him forever. Indicting DeLay looks like bad tactics as well as bad strategy. Funnily enough that seems to be the Democrats strong suit these days, so I'm not sure that I mind or am surprised.

Mm.

From where I'm sitting, the DeLay thing looks like a partisan sideshow that'll attract a lot of media attention, but won't result in a conviction.

Frist, OTOH, looks to be in real trouble.

Once again, the Democrats, unable to win at the ballot box, turn to the courts.

"Defenders of Earle like to point to the red herring that Earle has prosecuted Democrats, as well as Republicans, over the years. What they don't mention is that those Democrats were clearly guilty of serious violations (the cases were open and shut), and those prosecutions happened decades ago, when Texas was essentially a one-party state (controlled almost entirely by Democrats)."

From http://www.willisms.com/archives/2005/05/on_ronnie_earle.html

Here in Texas, the phrase "Democratic party hack" in the dictionary is illustrated with a picture of Ronnie Earle.

Just be glad Delay was indicted. It will allow the media to focus on one of the few competent, motivated, dynamic individuals in the Republican party. Deliberate criminal conspiracy charges are a godsend distraction from the social, economic and military incompetencies of this legislature and executive.

Well, number 4 is bullshit, so therefore is number 5.

Please, all you libertaridiots, go do some googling on Ronnie Earl.

Delay is an honest hero, and we owe him big time.

Ronnie Earl is navel lint.

This kind of story is the reason I got out of national politics years ago. Not because of the activities of which Delay is accused but because of the hypocrisy. I worked on the finance side for the DNC as well as a presidential campaign. Based on my reading, what Delay and his PAC did is business as usual -- I would even argue that there's nothing wrong with it. Any outrage will be a pretense for anyone who knows anything about campaign finance laws and operations. Most don't, so it's easy to make it sound nefarious. And the press doesn't know the right questions to ask (campaign finance stuff is generally boring.) If they asked some of the right questions and got certain answers, I might change my mind about whether or not this indictment has merit. But right now, any outrage you hear from the Dems will be hypocritical. And any outrage by Republicans looking to distance themselves will also be hypocritical.

And the average American voter couldn't care less about any of this. Tom who? I've never understood why the parties go after this stuff when it's a plain as day that no one, NO ONE, outside Washington cares about it. Political junkies maybe, but the ordinary person who pays attention to politics for one month every couple of years? No.

I think it's a total political witch hunt, both for Delay and Frist.
The indictment says nothing w/r/t Delay; and Frist sold all the shares of his family company. Hmmmm. Frist sold all his shares. Don'tcha think that maybe that's what caused the price of the stock to drop? What do you think would happen if Steve Jobs sold all his shares of Apple?

I currently live in Austin. It is the bluest of blue spots in the whole, otherwise red, state. People here HATE DeLay (b/c he's an "evil" Republican..duh). It didn't surprise me for a second that the DA seems to be pursuing a vendetta. Personally, I am not a fan of the guy either, but this is so obviously politically motivated (you should see the locals FREAKING out about this on the news...again "Evil, corrupt Republicans, blah, blah blah") that I am having a hard time taking these allegations seriously.

I'm just wondering if this is Ronnie Earle trying to turn Tom DeLay into Newt Gingrich. I would also be interested in seeing what (if any) contacts there were between the DCCC and the Travis DA's office.

The main question now will be whether the Donks can turn DeLay into a Newt in the MSM.

Via DailyPundit:

For the last two years, as he pursued the investigation that led to Wednesday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Travis County, Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle has given a film crew "extraordinary access" to make a motion picture about his work on the case.

[Ronnie Earl] "...indicted 11 Democrats and 5 Republicans."

Hmm. And yet the Republicans have a culture of corruption.

And it looks as though Frist has a pretty substantial exculpatory paper trail...