Delay calls it quits

The loss of lockstep is definitely a good thing.

Tell me though, Lash, why such personal glee? You sound as small-minded as Rush, which ain't pretty.

We should all be primarily happy, IMO, that this (alleged) criminal isn't going to be sitting in congress any more.

Just heard the Shrub on the radio wishing Delay "all the best."

Translation: Don't let the door hit ya in the ass, Tom.

Cafferty on Delay

Several years too late. The damage is done . . .

So, you can have personal glee...? But, if I do, I'm...small minded? LOL!!! That's sort of crazy.

What's small minded about being thrilled that a big stinking albatross has been removed from the neck of the GOP??? Sorry your tired, desperate lunge to drag Rush's name in didn't fit today. Try again tomorrow.

He sucks.

He's gone.

I'm happy.

And, a HUGE target has been excised from the party. I bet the Dem war room for the mid term campaigns is shrouded in mourning.

There are dozens of targets besides Tom Delay. Plus, his trial(s) will possibly be ongoing during the critical election time, keeping Republican corruption real in the eyes of the public.

...whistling past the graveyard...

That won't happen though. (the trial) The Dems can't run on this culture of corruption nonsene anyway...except perhaps in Sugarland.

LMAO !!!

You know it was better for us than for youse guys...short run and long run.

But, we'll be watching the trial of cop beater-911 conspiracy theorist, Crazy Cynthia, around election time.

Now the racists are calling her crazy. How nice!

The freaks are denying it! How typical!!

One wonders how any sane person could get fooled by the likes of Delay, but, of course, we are dealing with people who are living in a Superman-Bizzaro world, not lucid, reasoning, rational human beings. These people should be in a rubber room, instead they post on the internet...come to think of it...both actualities could be in play...

Funny how the mid-east posts get wackier as the night goes on. I wonder if alcohol could be a factor.

Translation: She's drunk posting from a rubber room, and was obviously fooled by DeLay.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/14276602.htm

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay called it quits this week, days after his former deputy chief of staff pleaded guilty to corruption and conspiracy charges based on activities run out of DeLay's office. Last November, another DeLay protege pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe public officials. One of DeLay's ``dearest friends,'' convicted super lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is singing louder than backups to the Rolling Stones in order to try to dodge more prison time.

With more indictments inevitable, you'd think that especially Republicans in Congress would want to get out ahead of the headlines and confront head-on the influence-peddling and decade of institutional corruption that are DeLay's legacy.

amigo - 142,536

Peanut gallery - 0

April 7, 2006, 4:57PM
Poll: Bush, GOP hit new lows with public


By RON FOURNIER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON ?- President Bush's approval ratings hit a series of new lows in an AP-Ipsos poll that also shows Republicans surrendering their advantage on national security ?- grim election-year news for a party struggling to stay in power.

Democratic leaders predicted they will seize control of one or both chambers of Congress in November. Republicans said they feared the worst unless the political landscape quickly changes.

"These numbers are scary. We've lost every advantage we've ever had," GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio said. "The good news is Democrats don't have much of a plan. The bad news is they may not need one."

There is more at stake than the careers of GOP lawmakers. A Democratic-led Congress could bury the last vestiges of Bush's legislative agenda and subject the administration to high-profile investigations of the Iraq war, the CIA leak case, warrantless eavesdropping and other matters.

In the past two congressional elections, Republicans gained seats on the strength of Bush's popularity and a perception among voters that the GOP was stronger on national security than Democrats.

Those advantages are gone, according to a survey of 1,003 adults conducted this week for The Associated Press by Ipsos, an international polling firm.

?- Just 36 percent of the public approves of Bush's job performance, his lowest-ever rating in AP-Ipsos polling. By contrast, the president's job approval rating was 47 percent among likely voters just before Election Day 2004 and a whopping 64 percent among registered voters in October 2002.

?- Only 40 percent of the public approves of Bush's performance on foreign policy and the war on terror, another low-water mark for his presidency. That's down 9 points from a year ago. Just before the 2002 election, 64 percent of registered voters backed Bush on terror and foreign policy.

?- Just 35 percent of the public approves of Bush's handling of Iraq, his lowest in AP-Ipsos polling.

"He's in over his head," said Diane Heller, 65, a Pleasant Valley, N.Y., real estate broker and independent voter.

By comparison, Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan had public approval in the mid 60s at this stage of their second terms in office, while Dwight Eisenhower was close to 60 percent, according to Gallup polls. Richard Nixon, who was increasingly tangled up in the Watergate scandal, was in the high 20s in early 1974.

As bad as Bush's numbers may be, Congress' are worse.

Just 30 percent of the public approves of the GOP-led Congress' job performance, and Republicans seem to be shouldering the blame.

By a 49-33 margin, the public favors Democrats over Republicans when asked which party should control Congress.

That 16-point Democratic advantage is the largest the party has enjoyed in AP-Ipsos polling.

On an issue the GOP has dominated for decades, Republicans are now locked in a tie with Democrats ?- 41 percent each ?- on the question of which party people trust to protect the country. Democrats made their biggest national security gains among young men, according to the AP-Ipsos poll, which had a 3 percentage point margin of error.

The public gives Democrats a slight edge on what party would best handle Iraq, a reversal from Election Day 2004.

"We're in an exceptionally challenging electoral environment," said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a former GOP strategist. "We start off on a battlefield today that is tilted in their direction, and that's when you have to use the advantages you have."

Those include the presidential "bully pulpit" and the "structural, tactical advantages" built into the system, Cole said.

One of those advantages is a political map that is gerrymandered to put House incumbents in relatively safe districts, meaning Democrats have relatively few opportunities to pick up the 15 seats they need to gain control.

In the Senate, the Democrats need to pick up six seats.

"I think we will win the Congress," Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean said, breaking the unwritten rule against raising expectations.

"Everything is moving in our direction. If it keeps moving in our direction, it's very reasonable to say there will be a Democratic Senate and House," said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Strategists in both parties say it would take an extraordinary set of circumstances for Democrats to seize control of Congress.

First, the elections would need to be nationalized. Democrats hope to do that with a burgeoning ethics scandal focused on relationships between GOP lobbyists and lawmakers.

Secondly, the public would need to be in a throw-the-bums-out mood. It's unclear whether that is the case, but 69 percent of Americans believes the nation is headed in the wrong direction ?- the largest percentage during the Bush presidency and up 13 points from a year ago.

Third, staunch GOP voters would need to stay home. Nobody can predict whether that will happen, but a growing number of Republicans disagree with their leaders in Washington about immigration, federal spending and other issues.

Bush's approval rating is down 12 points among Republicans since a year ago. Six-in-10 Republicans said they disapproved of the GOP-led Congress.

"I'd just as soon they shut (Congress) down for a few years," said Robert Hirsch, 72, a Republican-leaning voter in Chicago. "All they do is keep passing laws and figuring out ways to spend our money."

?-?-?-

The Republican party has something up it's sleeve. I wonder what it will be?

After all where talking about......The Architect.

This is too funny.

Then why are you the only one laughing?

It is a boon for the GOP. Pelosi and Reid made every effort to squeeze out a few last drops of their Culture of Corruption rant during their comments on The Hammer's retirement. As much as it had to pain the little ratter that he was conceding a fight, I suspect he took solace in the fact that he deprived the Dems of a political advantage.

To some extent it is a boon for the American people in general in the sense that it clears from the decks a nasty piece of political work, however Delay was but one of many of his kind (Repub and Dem alike) in DC, and his demise is not much more significant then ridding a roach infested apartment of one of its largest oily bugs.

On the other hand, to the extent that he was uniquely effective in ramming conservative agenda items into law, his departure has a detrimental effect on the country.

As for his exit being particulary positive for Texans, that's simply ridiculous. Texans throughout the state have benefited from Delay being a major force in Washington, just as the citizens of any state that sends a representive to Washington who is able to achieve major influence and status. Texas Liberals (as small and sorry a lot as they may be) are probably rejoicing, but they need to accept the fact that no matter how many Texan Republicans are dethroned, they will always, in the minds of the Blue State Liberals, be lumped into the great throng of Redneck Rightwingers that their Coastal cousins are convinced reside with the Lone Star State.

I suspect you will not agree, but I believe the American people, in general, will benefit from the retirement of Senators Byrd, Kennedy, and Reid. I don't for a minute, however, contend that the citizens of West Virginia, Massachusetts, and Nevada will.

The typical Liberal (outside the DC Beltway) reaction to Delay's passing is "Ding Dong The Witch is Dead!" which is evidence of the fact that they are at best hypocrites, and at worse incapable of logical thought. For a group that abhors the notions of Black vs White, or that their is not a redeemable aspect of even the most heinous of criminals, it is amusing how absolute their regard is for those whom they deem to be political Bad Guys.

I have no doubt that your garden variety Lefty is dancing the Happy Dance because of DeLay's demise. He has long been one of their most despised bogeymen, and to see him in ruins has long been one of their most fervent hopes (although in the sort of empathetic way to which Lefties are so proud of laying claim).

However, hard core DC Libs have a different perspective than you Coffee House Libs. They profess to buy into all this Left-wing nonsense because it provides them with a platform from which to obtain power. You and your Pals, on the other hand, do so so because it in some way makes you feel superior.

In any case, the Hard Core Politicos, while savoring the wounds of a powerful enemy, are thinking beyond individual battles and striving to win the war. A tainted Delay continuously commanding headlines was much more to their liking and their strategy, then a momentary period of gloating over his ruin.

It's probably more a Hollywood cliches than a historical fact, but Delay's departure brings to mind the classic scene wherein a captured spy smiles as he bites down on a false tooth filled with cyanide.

But hey, by all means have a ball reveling in the personal ruination of another human being. Afterall, DeLay was Satan Spawn and deserved the most hideous of fates. Much worse than someone who murders her children because of postpartum depression.