← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Gabrielle
Thread ID: 20696 | Posts: 10 | Started: 2005-10-19
2005-10-19 11:17 | User Profile
Paul Weyrich: Tom Delay is more than a good leader; he’s a good man By PAUL WEYRICH Guest Commentary
REP. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) spoke before a conservative meeting last week and received two standing ovations. Having attended those meetings for nearly a quarter century, I recall no one receiving two standing ovations. The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen would say, “When they clap for you at the beginning of your speech it represents faith. When they applaud in the middle of your speech it represents hope and when they applaud at the end of your speech it represents charity.” It is true that one standing ovation occurred before DeLay said a word. The other occurred after he spoke. There was no charity involved. While DeLay has a poor persona in the media, he is revered in many Republican and conservative circles. Even the House Republican Caucus, which has been fractured in recent weeks, came together after DeLay was indicted.
Prosecutor Ronnie Earle has accomplished what no Republican Leader has been able to accomplish. Just as Sen. Jesse Helms had been portrayed negatively in the media, so has DeLay. Recently a new home for foster children was dedicated in Houston. DeLay saw that it was built. Most people are unaware of what DeLay has done to get foster children out of often abusive situations. That doesn’t fit with the image of “The Hammer.” That is what the national media has called DeLay because DeLay is the first Republican Leader in modern times to attempt to enforce party discipline.
**If DeLay is worried about his indictment on money laundering charges, he surely does not act worried. He is a man of great religious faith. Over the past 20-odd years I have known Tom DeLay there have been countless times we have prayed together in his office or on the telephone. It doesn’t really matter where, as far as he is concerned. He believes God has a plan for his life and if it is God’s will he will be returned to the GOP Leadership but if God has something else He would rather have Tom do that would become clear. **
**DeLay is blessed to have a wife with whom he shares his burdens and triumphs. The problem with so many Members of Congress is that their spouses are alleged to be sometimes more liberal than they are. Not so with Christine DeLay. If anyone keeps Tom DeLay on the straight and narrow it is Christine. She knows the Scriptures. She understands her role as DeLay’s partner. Tom and Christine are very close. In fact, they always are, as a DeLay supporter put it, “singing off the same sheet of music.” It frankly is refreshing in this era of shattered marriages and broken relationships to see them working closely together. **
DeLay when he was elected to the Texas legislature had owned a small extermination business. He ran for the Texas legislature because he was fed up with regulations which were ruining his business. After gaining experience in the legislature, DeLay realized that his state legislature could not solve all business problems. He ran for Congress and was elected. DeLay was introduced to me as a “solid citizen” by Houston Contractor Bob Perry, who helped establish the Swift Boat Coalition, which opposed Sen. John F. Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election.
DeLay was conservative, but he was not religious. After some time in Congress some colleagues led him to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Charles W. (Chuck) Colson, who founded Prison Fellowship after jailed for a Watergate-related crime, also was helpful in his journey to the Lord, according to DeLay.
DeLay, who is an achiever, got frustrated after a few years in Congress and wanted to quit. I suggested that would be a terrible mistake and that he should take over the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the caucus of conservative House Members, which Ed Feulner and I organized in 1973. DeLay did, ending his frustration.
Few recall that Hastert was DeLay’s chief deputy when Gingrich was forced to resign as speaker after two terms and a narrow win by Republicans in the 1998 election. Some wanted DeLay to run for speaker, but he understood he then was ill-equipped for that post.
**Of the Republican Leaders I have met in nearly four decades of working in these vineyards, DeLay surely is the most courageous. He does not back down. He compromises only when he must. What of the ethics charges against him? Other than warnings, all have been dismissed. What of this indictment? DeLay says he is being punished for his effectiveness. One thing is clear. He is the Republican liberal Democrats hate the most. As Rep. Ralph M. Hall, R-Texas, a Democrat who became a Republican prior to the 2004 election, thanks in some measure to DeLay’s redistricting plan, said, “[DeLay] is one straightforward honest guy. He is the kind of guy you want as a leader.” **
[url]http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=61820[/url]
2005-10-19 12:15 | User Profile
Could be the jews will make a movie about DeLay being scared straight...of course there will not be any evil kikes like Abramoff in the movie...:smartass:
2005-10-19 12:56 | User Profile
Isn't Delay a major supporter of Israel? That alone makes him a dirtbag as far as I'm concerned -- though I agree with him on some political issues.
By no means does his religious faith make him a good person. Lots of evil and hypocritical people are deeply religious. Look at any of the Christian Zionists who want the US to start WWIII in the Middle East, for example. They might pray to Jesus 50 times a day, but they're still loathsome worms.
Are the Democratic politicians scum? Yup. But so are the Republicans (with a couple of exceptions, e.g., Ron Paul). Their interparty fighting -- sleazy tricks and witchhunts and all the rest -- constitutes the ONLY separation of powers left in the US government.
2005-10-19 16:44 | User Profile
his type has destroyed America. Let Wilma kill every goddam one of them.
2005-10-19 17:25 | User Profile
When you finally realize that the US gummint is run the same way as a Mafia family, eg. the don, the capos, the foot soldiers, informants, etc., you really can't feel sympathy when the orders are handed down and a fall guy is established in order to distract the heat and protect the "family business".
2005-10-19 17:33 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Gabrielle]DeLay was conservative, but he was not religious. After some time in Congress some colleagues led him to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Charles W. (Chuck) Colson, who founded Prison Fellowship after jailed for a Watergate-related crime, also was helpful in his journey to the Lord, according to DeLay. [url]http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=61820[/url][/QUOTE]Too bad he fell in with the dispensationalists. But one could understand, as a new believer, how he might be more vulnerable to that claptrap than a really well-grounded Christian.
Unfortunately men of genuinely deep religious conviction aren't the sort that tend to graviate into politics, by and large, to my general knowledge.
2005-10-19 17:51 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Okiereddust]Unfortunately men of genuinely deep religious conviction aren't the sort that tend to graviate into politics, by and large, to my general knowledge.[/QUOTE]
Those who seek power for its own sake -- i.e. most politicians -- are exactly the kind who can be least trusted with it.
2005-10-20 00:43 | User Profile
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]DeLay is a two-faced neocon, rabid war-hack, open borders shill and a [B]traitor[/B]. He is [B]NO[/B] friend of liberty or of the Republic!
He deserves a fair trial for these and all of his crimes against the Constitution and, if convicted by a jury of his peers, [I][B]the hangman's rope[/B][/I].[/SIZE][/FONT]
2005-10-20 01:58 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Hivemindgammahydra7][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]DeLay is a two-faced neocon, rabid war-hack, open borders shill and a [B]traitor[/B]. These days, what public figure isn't? [QUOTE]He is [B]NO[/B] friend of liberty or of the Republic![/QUOTE]These days, who is?
He deserves a fair trial for these and all of his crimes against the Constitution and, if convicted by a jury of his peers, [I][B]the hangman's rope[/B][/I].[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]What constitution?
I think the Delay situation is a joke. Its more like you'd read about in immediate post-Soviet Russia, where Yelstin attacks parliament with tanks and imprisons them. or some African country.
But I can't feel too sorry for Delay and his pubbie "friends". They're the ones who have passed all those laws which make it possible for them to be prosecuted like this. And if they think Ronnie Earle is bad, imagine what a really bad Democrat like Hillary could, and probably will, do in the White House now that we've given them the Patriot act. The Ronnie Earle's of the country will be coming after all of us, including those that don't have gobs of money for hi-falutin lawyers.
:ph34r:
2005-10-20 03:21 | User Profile
[quote=Okiereddust] Unfortunately men of genuinely deep religious conviction aren't the sort that tend to graviate into politics, by and large, to my general knowledge.
Those who wish to actually serve the republic are often not trusted by those who will support folks in a run for office.
AE