Introduction Rep. Tom Delay of Texas - a thoroughly miserable excuse for a human being - has made it his personal life's work to zealously undermine everything most of us in this nation hold dear - like compassion, honesty, democracy, freedom, and justice. He has gained and hung onto power not through talent, diplomacy, or even winning the respect and affection of colleagues. He has done it through such systematic intimidation of anyone who questions him that he is nicknamed the "Hammer." As in cold steel and claws in place of a soul and heart. Even Bush is afraid of Delay - just like weaker playground bullies always cower in corners when a bigger, meaner, more sociopathical bully comes along. As a result, he continues to allow Delay to alienate in increasing numbers the very people who could actually help this floundering administration out - and believe me, it needs help.

Tom Delay enrages me because I believe America deserves better - so, so, so much better. There is not one of us who would want our child to be in a school presided over by a cruel despot who shames, intimidates, threatens, lies, cheats and steals. Yet we allow our entire goverment to be presided over by just such a person. What the hell is wrong with the people of Texas? And even more, what the hell is wrong with the Republican Party that it has allowed itself to fall to this abysmal depth?

If you think this is hysterical hyperbole, just keep reading...to the end. That is, if you can stomach the facts you will find here.

THE CRIMES OF TOM DELAY

I would be so much more impressed by the "hard-hitting" journalism that the "New York Times" (and also phony investigative reporter Lisa Myers) recently pretended to display on the topic of Tom Delay if they had gotten onto Delay's case earlier... Like three years earlier! Tom Delay has been running the boiler room fund-raising scam Myers et al. "exposed," first on small business owners, then doctors, now children's charities, for years. REAL journalists have been trying to draw the public's attention to Delay's crimes since 2000. Their efforts have showed up as one-shot articles stuffed onto page 26 or so of the "NY Times" or "Washington Post," with no follow up, no network coverage. In short, the tracks are quickly swept up.

But if you want to get a taste of the sort of people the corporate media routinely protects, check out this ongoing history of Tom Delay's criminal activity. After reading it, you'll ask yourself: "WHY IS THIS MAN STILL IN OFFICE?" Followed by: "WHY IS THIS MAN NOT IN PRISON?"

Let's go back to November, 2000 and work our way forward through the DeLay cesspool (several of the synopses of articles and links were retrieved in chronological sequence from the archives at Democrats.com, where the editors have been tracking this career criminal's "progress" for years.

Nov 2000:
Delay Tries to Intimidate Supreme Court Judges to Fix Election Outcome

"Those who cherish the idea of judicial independence can only be chilled by Mr. DeLay's utter contempt for it. Listen to him, as quoted in The Washington Post in September 1997: "The judges need to be intimidated. They need to uphold the Constitution." If they don't behave, he said, "we're going to go after them in a big way." --Bob Herbert, NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/04/opinion/04RUSS.html?ex=1069390800&en=6b806e48e32ae34d&ei=5070

Nov 28 2000:
Tom Delay Finances Trip of 'Rioters' to Florida to Disrupt the Presidential Election Recount

The Miami-Dade thugs included 200 Capitol Hill aides rounded up by Tom DeLay's staff and sent on an all-expenses paid trip, paid for by the Bush campaign. Right up front on television images were Thomas Pyle, an aide DeLay, and Michael Murphy, who works for a DeLay fund-raising committee. That evening, the vigilantes received a congratulatory call from George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, who joked about the riot. Then Wayne Newton sang to them - unbelievably - in German.

Dec. 2000:
Washington Post Scrubs Photo of Florida Rioters that Shows Delays Staff

Remember the thugs who rioted in the Miami-Dade elections office and stopped the manual recount of 10,000 undervotes? This one criminal event probably stole the election for Bush. But please try to forget it, because the Washington Post doesn't want you to remember this ominous event. On December 6, the link below showed a photo of the leaders, current and former Republican Congressional staffers. Now it's gone - straight out of Orwell. If you don't want this event to disappear down the memory hole, here's the full list, courtesy of bushwatch.com: 1. Tom Pyle, policy analyst, office of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). 2. Garry Malphrus, majority chief counsel and staff director, House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice. 3. Rory Cooper, political division staff member at the National Republican Congressional Committee. 4. Kevin Smith, former House Republican conference analyst and more recently of Voter.com. 5. Steven Brophy, former aide to Sen. Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.), now working at the consulting firm KPMG. 6. Matt Schlapp, former chief of staff for Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), now on the Bush campaign staff in Austin. 7. Roger Morse, aide to Rep. Van Hilleary (R-Tenn.). 8. Duane Gibson, aide to Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) of the House Resources Committee. 9. Chuck Royal, legislative assistant to Rep. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). 10. Layna McConkey, former legislative assistant to former Rep. Jim Ross Lightfoot (R-Iowa), now at Steelman Health Strategies. These individuals should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and ethics complaints should be filed against the Members of Congress who employ them.

Here's the mirrorered version:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=politics/fedpage/columns/intheloop&contentId=A30170-2000Dec5¬Found=true

Feb 2001 (report on campaign 2000):
Delay's Daughter Launders $60,000 in Donations in 2000 for Daddy

"The Washington Post revealed that the daughter of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was paid nearly $60,000 in consulting fees during the second half of 2000, according to financial disclosure reports made public under the new law. The money came from political committees tied to DeLay"

http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/020701/opi_lawhnabs.shtml

January 2001:
Delay uses Corporate Slush Fund to Finance Ads Attacking Democrats Who Oppose Ashcroft's Nomination

House Republican Whip Tom DeLay (TX) is using one of his corporate slush funds - the Republican Majority Issues Committee, chaired by Karl Gallant - to run attack ads against Democratic Senators, starting with Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson in South Dakota. This action by a House member attacking a Senator raises political warfare to new and dangerous levels.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A9875-2001Jan17¬Found=true

April 12, 2001:
Delay Sells Meetings with Bush to Top GOP Donors

"The group, Judicial Watch, announced a three-fold legal action against [House Majority Whip] Tom DeLay and the NRCC Tuesday for allegedly 'selling meetings with Bush officials' to top Republican donors. The group filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission, the Criminal Division of the Justice Department and the House Ethics Committee...However, the NRCC contends that [Judicial Watch] owes them a mailing list of 45,000 names that conservative activists say is worth up to $20,000...business documents ?show the company brokered the transactions between the NRCC and Judicial Watch since the fall of 1999. DeLay is a de facto member of the NRCC." Larry Klayman is the head of Judicial Watch, which has acted on Richard Mellon Scaife's behalf as what he calls "almost a shadow Justice Dept" -- -- especially in filing dozens of lawsuits against the Clintons. This internecine battle between New Right soldiers Klayman and DeLay is certainly an interesting turn of events.

April 27 2001:
Delay Scam Targets Small Business Owners

In a recorded phone message, "the House Republican whip, Tom DeLay, is promising meetings with top Bush officials to small business owners whose donations would underwrite a GOP ad campaign promoting the president's [sic]tax plan... People familiar with the fund drive say it is part of an effort to raise up to the maximum $20,000 in donations to the party from each donor." DeLay has been behind several shady fundraising schemes, including the Triad shell corporation, and a Nixonian townhouse operation. Said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, "They're selling access." Will any of these donors get to drive a nuclear submarine, like the Republicans on the USS Greeneville?

May, 2001:
Tom Delay Brags That His Strategy Is To Kick People When they Are Down

"He's lied under oath, admitted to a pathological hatred of Clinton, tries to destroy any who oppose him, has cheated business associates of thousands at least twice, has callously cut off all contact with his mother (who watches C-SPAN every day just to catch a glimpse of her son), wants to force a fundamentalist Christian model on American society, and has an approach to politics that one of his top staffers summed up in a memo: "This whole thing about not kicking someone when they are down is BS - Not only do you kick him - you kick him until he passes out - then beat him over the head with a baseball bat - then roll him up in an old rug - and throw him off a cliff into the pounding surf below!" But Tom Delay goes to church regularly, so that makes it all OK."

June 2001:
Tom Delay Bilks Doctors in Boiler Room Scam

"Common Cause has condemned Tom DeLay's egregious fundraising tactics as resembling the worst sort of boiler-room telemarketing scams. DeLay's people call doctors and announce that the MD has been selected to be an 'honorary co-chairman' of a prestigious 'Physician's Advisory Board' addressing public health policy. Only later in the pitch are victims told that Tom DeLay isn't really interested in their advice: he just wants their money. It's like being told you 'may already have won' a million dollars and then -- after buying some magazines you don't really want -- you find out you didn't even get the cubic zirconia or the set of steak knives. Gee, whatever happened to Judicial Watch's big show about going after Delay? Guess they're too busy doing their own boiler-room form of 'justice.'

Comment from same week:

Phony 'Watchdog' Group Judicial Watch Looks Other Way as Delay Defrauds Public

Judicial Watch went after Bill Clinton and everyone he had ever so much as sent a Xmas card to, hammering away in the name of 'justice' for months and months. Now, just since January, Karl Rove and Bush operatives have blatantly committed white collar crimes deserving jail time. The refusal of Cheney to reveal the task force names is a FEDERAL offense, while his and Shrub's past business dealings (Halliburton, et al.) make Whitewater look like a small town crap game. Tom Delay was caught red-handed several times in highly unethical fund-raising scams, including a scheme to fleece doctors. The White House has called for a settlement of a major tobacco suit while accepting money THE SAME week from the industry. Do we hear of Judicial Watch anywhere on the scene of these crimes? Of course not! They are now too busy trying to drum up yet another case against the Clintons. We say, why doesn't someone investigate Judicial Watch... we bet that's where the richest dirt vein can be found.

July 2001:
Tom Delay, Former Exterminator, Wants to Allow Extensive and Undisclosed Use of Pesticides in Elementary Schools

According to the Washington Post, "House Republicans vowed yesterday to eliminate a proposal, which the Senate added to President Bush's education bill, that would require school districts to regularly disclose to parents the use of pesticides on school grounds. Senate Democratic and Republican leaders crafted the measure last month in consultation with representatives of the pest control and chemical industries, school officials and environmentalists. Supporters said it was designed to protect students, teachers and staff from excessive exposure to potentially dangerous pesticides. But Republicans attacked the provision during a hearing of the House Agriculture Committee." First they put arsenic in our water, now they want to put RAID in our kids' school lunches. Who's evil idea is this? Obviously Tom DeLay, whose pre-Congressional career was - you got it! - an EXTERMINATOR

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A16197-2001Jul18¬Found=true

July 2001:
Tom Delay Helps Hastert in Push to Block Patient's Bill of Rights

The Patients' Bill of Rights has the 218 votes needed for passage, including 11 Republicans. The Senate passed the bill and, even more importantly, the American people overwhelmingly support the measure. But the House "leadership" (is that supposed to be satire?)- a tiny posse that includes Tom Delay, Dennis Hastert, Ernie Fletcher (author of an alternative- as in fake - bill) and J.C. Watts (who apparently doesn't do the right thing even when the whole nation is looking, to paraphrase his own hypocritical line), have refused to let the bill come to the floor for a vote. In doing so, they have loudly proclaimed their real allegiance: to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and to making Bush look good.

May, 2002:
: Media, Judicial Watch, and Congress Continue to Look other Way as Doctors are Preyed on By Delay Boiler Room Scam

Despite scores of complaints, the National Republican Congressional Committee - in a boiler room scam spearheaded by flimflam artist Tom Delay - continues to prey on doctors. Doctors are treated to a flattering spiel that they've been chosen to join a "select panel" of physicians, who will advise congressional GOPers on healthcare issues. Most are even told they've been named "chairman." Said one disgusted NY doctor: "Had you listened to the sales pitch, you would have thought the next thing, you were going to do was get a ride on Air Force One." When the victims, who are eager to have a voice on issues close to their heart, accept the position, they are promptly hit up for a $500 donation. The fact is - there is no "select panel." Over 1,000 doctors have been reeled in this way - to the tune of over one million dollars. Some doctors were savvier than others. Retired family physican James Langley, himself a Republican, said "C'mon, give me a break. How many chairmen can you have?"

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/nrcc_020502.html

January 2002:
Tom Delay Used Enron Money to Fund Political Racketeering

Tom DeLay, the vicious Republican who organized the criminal Miami-Dade election riot, was on Enron's payroll big-time. Besides taking $28,900 in over-the-table bribes (i.e. campaign contributions), DeLay also took vast untold sums in secret bribes through his racketeering enterprise, the Republican Majority Issues Commission. (In April, RMIC settled a racketeering suit filed by the DCCC, after running up $450,000 in legal fees.) RMIC, a notorious "527" organization, was finally forced to report its donors in 2000, revealing $75,000 from Enron execs that year alone; the Devil and his spawn Tom DeLay only know how much was laundered through those accounts previously. DeLay's PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority, got another $57,250.

Feb. 2002:
Tom Delay Fights to Block Campaign Finance Reform

The NY Times writes, "Campaign finance reform, which sprang back to life last month, is under a new assault by its enemies and a few misguided 'friends.' The House Speaker, Dennis Hastert, and the chief Republican fund-raiser, Tom DeLay, are trying hard to kill the Shays-Meehan soft-money ban now that reformers in the House have signed a petition to force it to the floor... Those who persist in fiddling with Shays-Meehan must be told by their constituents that voters will not tolerate changes that threaten the bill." Call your Representative today (202-224-3121) and demand a clean vote on Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform.

Feb. 2002:
Tom Delay Refuses to Return Money to Enron Employees

According to the NY Times, "The bulk of the money feeding charitable funds for former Enron employees has come from politicians anxious to purge themselves of what Mary Matalin, the counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney, termed 'guilt by contribution,' or who simply feel that it is appropriate to return donations from people who have fallen on hard times. The two largest funds here swelled to more than $700,000 last week... The largest individual donor was Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, who gave $100,000 to one fund and $500 to another. Some politicians, notably Representative Billy Tauzin, Republican of Louisiana, and Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, have said they will not give back campaign contributions because the money did not influence their decisions." That's great - we can't WAIT to see the TV ads their Democratic opponents will run this fall!

April 2002:
Delay Claims Only Christians Know what's best for Nation

Speaking to about 300 people at the First Baptist Church of Pearland, Tex., on April 12, DeLay said that God is using him to promote "a biblical worldview" in American politics, and that he pursued Bill Clinton's impeachment in part because the Democratic president held "the wrong worldview." "Ladies and gentlemen, Christianity offers the only viable, reasonable, definitive answer to the questions of 'Where did I come from?' 'Why am I here?' 'Where am I going?' 'Does life have any meaningful purpose?' " DeLay said. "Only Christianity offers a way to understand that physical and moral border. Only Christianity offers a comprehensive worldview that covers all areas of life and thought, every aspect of creation. Only Christianity offers a way to live in response to the realities that we find in this world -- only Christianity."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A18077-2002Apr19¬Found=true

http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/5518

May 16, 02:
Tom Delay Financial 'Godfather' Implicated in Mob Murder

In part three of his Tom DeLay expose, Stephen Pizzo writes in AlterNet that "supporting any form of legalized gambling was not without its risks for DeLay. After all, his public persona was that of a devoted evangelical Christian who supports all that is wholesome and opposes all that is evil. His church-going constituents back in Texas believed that gambling was destructive to families and communities. But thanks largely to Abramoff, the amount of money flowing to DeLay and his PAC from tribes with gambling operations swamped any potential contributions from the Christian right. The risks involved in backing gambling interests came home to roost for DeLay's friend [and finiancial god father, Jack Abramoff], when he and Tom DeLay's former aide, Mike Scanlon, suddenly found themselves smack in the middle of an alleged mob assassination in Miami, Florida."

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13134

Feb 2003:
Tom Delay Smears Firefights as "Threat to National Security"!!

Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has rankled even some GOP colleagues with a fiery diatribe seeking money for the National Right to Work Foundation's legal defense fund. His letter accuses 'Big Labor Bosses' of using the nation's security worries 'to grab more power,' a move that 'presents a clear and present danger to the security of the US at home and the safety of our Armed Forces overseas.' Examples are 'as numerous as they are sickening,' he wrote, criticizing the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters union by name... Harold Schaitberger, who heads the firefighters' union, called the letter 'probably the most despicable display of demagoguery I've seen in years.'

May 2003:
Tom Delay Uses Homeland Security and State Police Resources to Terrorize Political Opponents

When Tom Delay tried to ram through a redistricting plan in Texas that would have fraudulently created a new batch of Republican legislative seats, a group of courageous Democrats walked out of the State House and left the state to prevent a railroaded vote on the move. An enraged Tom Delay, obviously drunk with his own power (enabled and encouraged by the nonaction of the media, watchdogs like Judicial Watch and a failed legal system) used both state law enforcement and Homeland Security to try to terrorize the missing Dems.

Reports Common Dreams: "State troopers have followed the Democrats wives, parents and children. Troopers even staked out a hospital where one lawmaker's premature twins are being cared for. Staffers have been harassed. All this has happened after the location of the Democrats was known. Now, in a chilling revelation, we discover the Homeland Security Department was apparently used to try and track the Democrats' whereabouts. "

">http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0514-07.htm

June 2003:
Delay and 15 other GOP Congresscreeps Accused of Taking Bribes from Energy Corporation seeking favors

"The head of the Democratic Party asked the attorney general on Friday to seize records of leading Republican lawmakers regarding more than $55,000 in political donations by an energy conglomerate that was seeking favorable treatment from Congress. The request followed news reports Thursday on internal documents of Topeka, Kan.-based Westar Energy about campaign donations and the company's desire to get "a seat at the table" of a House-Senate conference committee on the Bush administration's energy plan. The Westar documents said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Senate Banking Committee chairman Richard Shelby and Reps. Joe Barton of Texas and Billy Tauzin of Louisiana had requested the contributions from Westar. A DeLay fund-raising organization collected $25,000 of Westar's contributions. "

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/06/06/national1747EDT0714.DTL

So has Ashcroft done a goddamned thing about this? Of course not! Ashcroft, like Bush, dance like marionettes to the Cockroach's sick tunes

June, 2003:
Delay Blocks Efforts to Restore Tax Cuts to Poor Families left Out of Bush Plan

"The House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay, said today that the House would not consider a Democratic measure to provide an increased tax credit to 6.5 million low-income families who did not receive it in the new tax law. Mr. DeLay, a Texas Republican, said the increased tax credits would be approved only if they were part of a broader tax-cut package, possibly including permanent repeal of the estate tax.." In other words - throw the poor folks a bone, but only if the rich get a whole side of beef!

August 15, 2003:
Record Shows that Democratic Efforts to Upgrade Electrical Grid to Prevent Blackouts was Ridiculed and Blocked by DELAY

Daily Enron reports, "When Bush weighed in on the issue he quickly politicized the situation. He argued in favor of modernizing the grid, adding that he's 'said so all along.' This statement should immediately be filed under the long list of Bush administration falsehoods concerning energy policy. In June 2001, Democrats in the House advanced a proposal that would offer $350 million in federal loans for the express purpose of updating the outdated power grid. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) blasted the proposal, calling it 'pure demagoguery' and arguing that Democrats 'have no credibility on this issue whatsoever.' http://www.thedailyenron.com/documents/20030815132640-93614.asp

October, 2003:
Memo Is Smoking Gun Proof of Tom Delay's Collusion with Enron

To: Ken Lay and Steve Kean
From: Enron governmental affairs executives Rick Shapiro and Linda Robertson
Date: June 1, 2001
Subject: The President's Dinner, A Congressional Salute Honoring President Bush and Vice President Cheney, June 7, 2001With the assistance of... TOM DELAY, we were able to apply our previously contributed soft money toward this dinner. Consequently, we will be credited as giving $250,000 to this event, even though we are being asked to give only $50,000 in new soft money... Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has requested that Enron give her some credit for raising the money....In addition, ...TOM DELAY has asked Enron to contribute $100,000 to his leadership committee, ARMPAC, through a combination of corporate and personal money from Enron's executives. ARMPAC funds will be used to assist other House Members as well as the redistricting effort in Texas. We will be meeting this request over the course of this calendar year.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/14/enron/index_np.html

Oct. 13 2003:
Tom Delay Thumbs His Nose at the Will of 80% of Americans And Blocks Efforts to Overturn Hated FCC Corporate Giveaway

Bill Moyers writes: "Such indignation from the grass roots caused even the United States Senate to say 'Whoa, something's going on -- people really care about this.' And the Senate stopped the FCC in its tracks. There are enough votes to do the same in the House. But then... General Electric, owner of NBC; News Corp, owner of Fox; Viacom, owner of CBS; and Walt Disney, owner of ABC, brought on the hired guns -- the lobbyists -- to wage a Trojan War on Congress. A passel of former insiders moved through the revolving door, Rolodexs in hand, trading their influence for cash -- top aides of the Senate Majority Leader, the House Majority Whip and of John Ashcroft himself. Now the most powerful Republican in Congress -- Tom Delay, the House Majority Leader -- won't allow a vote to happen. The effort to reverse the FCC is dead in the water -- taking democracy with it."

Oct. 2003:
Bush Cowers as Delay Guts the Americorps Program

More broadly, AmeriCorps itself faces a reduction from approximately 55,000 to 35,000 members. Just before the summer recess, the Senate passed a $100 million appropriation to restore these cuts, but House majority leader Tom DeLay—who has made no secret of his desire to kill AmeriCorps—blocked the money. The President says he wants these funds restored, but he doesn't seem to have much control over the powerful DeLay.

http://www.time.com/time/columnist/klein/article/0,9565,476274,00.html

Nov. 22 03:
Thug Delay Steals Medicare From the Elderly by Threatening fellow Congressfolk

MedicareTom DeLay engineered the most outrageous vote in the history of the House of Representatives. Votes always take 20 minutes, but DeLay was LOSING 218-216 so he kept the vote open for 3 HOURS until he could kneecap enough members to win.

The final hall of shame vote:http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=669 "Texas Democrats have subpoenaed House Majority Leader Tom DeLay as a witness in a lawsuit to overturn a congressional district map DeLay helped push through the Texas Legislature. Democrats want to depose DeLay and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, but are expecting the Texas Republican to fight the subpoena, said Tom Eisenhauer, an aide to Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas. Eisenhauer said DeLay should respond to the subpoena because he openly pushed for the new map. 'Tom Delay is happy to brag about his new map until he has to take an oath to tell the truth. What does he have to hide now?' Eisenhauer said. 'He was the instigator, facilitator and author of the new map, that's why they want to depose him about it.' DeLay spokesman Stuart Roy said attorneys 'would take appropriate action' in response to the subpoenas. He said a response would be filed Monday

Nov. 2 03:
ow Tom Delay Engineered a Junta-style Takeover of the Texas Government

How Tom DeLay Engineered a Right-Wing Coup in Texas02-Nov-03Tom Delay"Two years [ago, Rep. Tom] DeLay and his political aide Jim Ellis devised the scheme that delivered the House to the Republican Party. It involved the novel use of federal PAC money to influence statehouse races. The money DeLay brought home to Texas - $1.5 million - delivered the House to the Republicans. DeLay's fund-raising... was coordinated by Jim Colyrando, a former colleague of Karl Rove. Colyrando did more than write checks on the account of DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority PAC. Colyrando and his staff carefully selected Republican candidates, provided each one of them a cut of the $1.5 million... In a word, a campaign was provided for each Republican candidate funded by DeLay's Texas PAC. The results were stunning. Not only did DeLay's PAC elect 17 Republicans to the Texas House; by systematically marking for elimination moderate Republicans, as the Texas Observer reported, it provided the right-wing majority needed to make Tom Craddick speaker. "

Nov. 2003:
Tom Delay Aggressively Promotes and Defends War Profiteering in Iraq

Tom Delay Nixes Anti-Profiteering Penalties in Iraq Spending Bill 02-Nov-03 Iraq Occupation"The final version of the $87 billion spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan is missing provisions the Senate had passed to penalize war profiteers who defraud American taxpayers. House negotiators on the package refused to accept the Senate provisions... 'When the Senate Appropriations Committee considered this supplemental request, Senators Leahy, Feinstein, and I joined together to criminalize war profiteering -- price gouging and fraud -- with the same law that was passed during World War II. Yet this amendment, was stripped out of the final bill,'.....By TOM DELAY

Now tell me, is this a man you want to have in charge of the largest governing body in America?

NOTE: An alert reader pointed out that I had inadvertently referred to Delay once in the article as a "senator" I responded with the following note (scroll down about 14 comments):

Re: DeLay is not a Senator...You are right! Whoops - I knew that - which of course is why later in the article I refer to him as being in control of the largest governing body in the US, which, of course, is the House of Reps.) Good point though... we indie unpaid writers - even when trying to keep our eyes from crossing as we put in those extra hours - cannot afford to be careless, as the rightwingnuts love to point out these things with as much force and indignation as they DON'T exhibit when one of them LIES INTENTIONALLY through their teeth!