American Citizens Against Delay

Fun Trivia Question! Please read the following quotation and guess which asshole said it.

"My fellow conservatives, we have waited our entire lives for the chance the American people have given us in the next two years. I pledge to each and every one of you, we will seize it."

(A) Dick Cheney
(B) Karl Rove
(C) George W. Bush
(D) Tom "The Hammer" Delay

Does anyone else think Karl Rove is getting too much publicity? Conservative analysts love to love him, crediting his genius to the triumphantly right tip of the scale in the aftermath of one of the most divisive elections in American history. Liberals love to hate him, and he loves that liberals hate him. He's been credited with being the mastermind who did the seemingly impossible, conquering more than half of the United States electorate with the idea that George W. Bush is a strong, moral leader, even though he has created a runaway deficit, misled his own country into invading another, and...let's face it, I'm so fucking tired of running off the reasons that I just don't feel like spelling them out anymore, and it feels like a waste because it's not like anyone was really listening prior to November 2, so if you really need to know the reasons why Bush fucked up his first term, please stop your local friendly liberal on the the street and ask.

Returning to the subject of the problematic quotation above. While Rove and his Presidency are unquestionably spreading viruses that need immediate vaccination, the fat man's fanfare is distracting attention from one of the more dangerous (if not THE MOST dangerous) right wing conservatives in power today. House Republican Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) is Very Bad for America. Want reasons?


1. The House of Representatives is under his thumb...in the Rolling Stones song sense. Every piece of legislation that goes to Senate has been fucked by the House first, with Delay's seal of approval. Bush and Cheney couldn't even pass their "We're not even trying to hide favoritism to our corporate benefactors" Energy Bill because it wasn't favorable enough to Delay's coporate interests in Texas; therefore, it couldn't get past the House. He also just single-handedly killed direct lobbying from Bush and Cheney on the intelligence reform bill.
2. He's an ultra-conservative. King of the moral, religious right.
3. He can get away with re-drawing congressional districts in order to get more people like him in House and Senate seats. If it happened in Texas, there's no reason why it can't potentially happen in other states.
4. He's got a firm handle on lobbyist firms...for instance, discouraging them from even bothering to hire Democrats, because it's not as if Democrats are going to get anything done as long as everyone's lips are on his ass.
5. He seeks and accepts illegal yet sizable corporate campaign donations (including pre-bankrupt Enron) for himself and other Republicans through the front door of his political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority. His associates are currently under investigation for these crimes. Logically, he's next, and he's going down. But unfortunately, in the meantime, he's still allowed to go to work and be Very Bad for America every day.
6. He was undoubtedly instrumental in a House to vote to drop a rule that would prohibit him from keeping his leadership post if (well, assuming the justice system still works in Texas, it's more a matter of when) he's indicted.
7. He used to be an exterminator.
8. He raises gobs of money with the intention of buying power, loyalty, and influence.
9. Rumor has it he supports withholding funds for a congressman's district if he doesn't "behave."
10. Why not cut staff in the House so lobbyists can just write all the bills?
11. More high-paid lobbyists have come through his office than any other member of Congress.
12. Bill Clinton's impeachment?
13. "Delay is doing everything moral, legal, and ethical to increase the Republican majority and advance conservative ideas. He raised legal campaign money for effecive political activity and that makes his critics enraged. Unfortunately, some Democrats are making an attempt to criminalize politics." - Stuart Roy, Delay's spokesman

The fact that I could not only lengthen this list considerably but also elaborate on each of the reasons only further proves that Tom Delay is Very Bad for America. This is a tiny zygote of a brainchild right now, but I'm thinking about forming my own political action committee that will engage in direct combat with Delay. I'm calling it American Citizens Against Delay, or ACAD, because a "cad" can be defined as "someone who is morally reprehensible," or "a man whose behavior is unprincipled or dishonorable." Once Delay is indicted and working as an exterminator in prison, my work won't be done, but it will be a small dent in the infastructure of corruption in the U.S. Government.

"[the Delay case] is only one piece of a much larger picture. And the larger picture is a blueprint of what is happening in the country, namely a saturation of the political process by large corporate interests with large sums of money."

- Ronnie Earle, Austin, TX District Attorney who is probably going to end up nailing Delay (from the Washington Post 7/12/04)

It is my sincere hope as a liberal that the fight against Delay is symbolic of what Earle calls the larger picture. The political process needs to be diluted and purified of the kind of corporate influence that can be debilitating to democracy. Call me gumshoe, naive, and inexperienced, but I want to be a part of its rehabilitation.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2004