Washingtonians like Wonker regard the big and often phony political scandals that pop up in this town as so much background noise. But this stuff grows legs when it's promoted by lazy leftie reporters who'd rather collect hearsay in a bar than research a real story. In addition to the endless Valerie Plame speculation, the most riveting sleaze of the moment is Ronnie Earle's prosecutorial witch hunt in Texas--because it could slime the Bushies and maybe elect one or two Dems to the next Congress, at least in Ronnie's fantasies.
Earle, an open and notorious political hack, is peeved, as are all Texas Dems, that Tom DeLay, current US House of Reps Majority Leader-in-Suspension, managed to cause the downfall of Texas Democrats. DeLay and pals put together a team that de-engineered the left-bencher' expert incumbent-protecting gerrymandering--based on the 2000 census--helping to elect a larger Republican majority to Congress in 2004. Such heroics are unforgivable, however, since Dems are the Good Guys and Republicans are the Bad Guys as everyone knows. So Earle meticulously set up a scenario that's supposed to unfold like the bloody finale of Kyd's "Spanish Tragedy."
He managed to accomplish this by impaneling (and perhaps tampering with) enough grand juries that he finally got one to indict DeLay and his buds, which sort of reminds you how the Dems planned to win Florida in Y2K by counting the votes again and again until they got a majority. Anyhow, an Earle-y bonus of this shaky indictment was the necessity for now accused felon DeLay to head back to Texas for fingerprinting and the mandatory mugshot. Obviously, Earle and his pals cackled with glee, anticipating using this very public and embarrassing photo to damage Republican Congressional campaigns across the nation in 2006.
Citizen DeLay duly obliged his enemies and provided the obligatory incriminating mugshot:
Earle, an open and notorious political hack, is peeved, as are all Texas Dems, that Tom DeLay, current US House of Reps Majority Leader-in-Suspension, managed to cause the downfall of Texas Democrats. DeLay and pals put together a team that de-engineered the left-bencher' expert incumbent-protecting gerrymandering--based on the 2000 census--helping to elect a larger Republican majority to Congress in 2004. Such heroics are unforgivable, however, since Dems are the Good Guys and Republicans are the Bad Guys as everyone knows. So Earle meticulously set up a scenario that's supposed to unfold like the bloody finale of Kyd's "Spanish Tragedy."
He managed to accomplish this by impaneling (and perhaps tampering with) enough grand juries that he finally got one to indict DeLay and his buds, which sort of reminds you how the Dems planned to win Florida in Y2K by counting the votes again and again until they got a majority. Anyhow, an Earle-y bonus of this shaky indictment was the necessity for now accused felon DeLay to head back to Texas for fingerprinting and the mandatory mugshot. Obviously, Earle and his pals cackled with glee, anticipating using this very public and embarrassing photo to damage Republican Congressional campaigns across the nation in 2006.
Citizen DeLay duly obliged his enemies and provided the obligatory incriminating mugshot:
'Nuff said.UPDATE: Earle-y evidence is in. Other party hacks are disappointed:
Here it is, above, courtesy of Smoking Gun, and it's quite disappointing. No numbers, no height markers, no "Police Department" or any other identifiers to make it a mug shot. Maybe next time he's arrested we'll get a better one.(From Milwaukee-based Dem political operative Bill Christofferson's Xoff Files with a hat tip to our fellow travelers at Lakeshore Laments.)
PS: Some Firefox and Mozilla users may not see the photo above, apparently a glitch in Blogger. Go to the recommended source links above to catch the photo--it's priceless.
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