janelane wrote:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post.

DeLay, 58, was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee.

CNN actually has the 4-page indictment posted on their webpage. Its pretty staggering to see all of the companies that could get hell for being part of the scandal. I hope that C-SPAN broadcasts a roast of DeLay similar to Brown's yesterday. If you haven't, GET THE TRANSCRIPT...its fucking hilarious to watch Republicans pick apart Brown on the stand.

Grr...lack of a memestreams bookmarklet is compelling me to include the link here instead of the title.

-janelane, damning Texas Republicans since 2000.

At least he immediately is stepping down. I've never seena democrat do this (most republicans won't either). Bill Clinton being the worst - lying to a judge, then on national tv to the American people, then finishing out his term. I guess Delay gets some respect from me, moreso then BJ Clinton - although that doesn't say much.

ibenez wrote:

At least he immediately is stepping down. I've never seena democrat do this (most republicans won't either). Bill Clinton being the worst - lying to a judge, then on national tv to the American people, then finishing out his term. I guess Delay gets some respect from me, moreso then BJ Clinton - although that doesn't say much.

Ah once again, completely incorrect. As far as this one goes, both Democrats and Republicans in the legislative branch operate under basically the same rules. If you hold a leadership position and come under criminal indictment you step down from that position. The Republicans changed their rules about a year ago so that if DeLay was indicted, he wouldn't have to step down, but that so incensed the general public that they reinstated the rule.

Comparing this to Bill is equally false. There are no such rules for the executive branch, nor are the two situations even comparable. Bill denied having sex with Monica as part of the civil Paula Jones case. What DeLay is being charged with is conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of Texas election laws. That falls under subverting democracy. These are not in the same ballpark.

Mike the Usurper wrote:

ibenez wrote:

At least he immediately is stepping down. I've never seena democrat do this (most republicans won't either). Bill Clinton being the worst - lying to a judge, then on national tv to the American people, then finishing out his term. I guess Delay gets some respect from me, moreso then BJ Clinton - although that doesn't say much.

Ah once again, completely incorrect. As far as this one goes, both Democrats and Republicans in the legislative branch operate under basically the same rules. If you hold a leadership position and come under criminal indictment you step down from that position. The Republicans changed their rules about a year ago so that if DeLay was indicted, he wouldn't have to step down, but that so incensed the general public that they reinstated the rule.

Comparing this to Bill is equally false. There are no such rules for the executive branch, nor are the two situations even comparable. Bill denied having sex with Monica as part of the civil Paula Jones case. What DeLay is being charged with is conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of Texas election laws. That falls under subverting democracy. These are not in the same ballpark.

OMG, defending BJ Clinton is horrible. The guy was a failure.

I'm not defending Delay so no need to bring him up - I say he should step down.

BJ should have resigned right away, he went on national television and lied to everyone. I can't believe you say "there are no such rules for the executive branch".... nice dude, real nice.

ibenez wrote:
I can't believe you say "there are no such rules for the executive branch".... nice dude, real nice.

There really aren't. There is an actual proceedural rule which requires House leaders to step down if they are indicted. Delay did not voluntarily step down. He was forced to. There is no such rule for the executive.