DeLay’s Defense Full of (18) Holes
DeLay’s Defense Full of (18) Holes
On Fox News Sunday, anchor Chris Wallace asked Tom DeLay about the ongoing investigation into the Scottish golf junket he took with Jack Abramoff in 2000. In response, DeLay defended his inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of a decent tee time.
Without the Majority Leader workload to deal with, DeLay will again be able to pursue his passion for golf, the “only thing” he does for himself.
Transcript below:
WALLACE: All right. Let’s talk about Jack Abramoff, a big-time lobbyist you once described as one of your closest and dearest friends. And Mr. Abramoff, in an unrelated case, now faces conspiracy and fraud charges by the federal government.
The Ethics Committee is investigating now a $70,000 trip you took to Britain in May of 2000. You stayed in fancy hotels, you went to “The Lion King,” you went on a side golf trip to Scotland to play at St. Andrews.
Did you really think that Abramoff, who you say was one of your close friends and a big-time lobbyist, who was along on this trip — did you really believe he had nothing to do with paying for this trip?
DELAY: Yes, because, again, we checked everything and double- checked and had lawyers check, and — can we do it?
Look, part of my job also, and what I love doing, is being involved in international affairs. I was raised in Venezuela. I was heavily involved in the Contra movement in Central America. I was heavily involved in defending freedom in Taiwan. I stand up for Israel and I fight for Israel.
I’m involved in the conservative movement overseas, too. I went there to meet with Margaret Thatcher and other high-ranking officials talking and working with them on how the conservative party can get back into power.
Sure, I enjoy myself. Am I supposed to be limited? I can’t go to the play that is right down the street? I can’t play golf? Golf is the only thing I do for myself. I love golf. I can’t play golf while I’m there? I can’t take an afternoon off and play golf?
WALLACE: You can do all those things. The question is, can you do it if it’s paid for by lobbyists?
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Isn’t that Chis Matthews?
October 4th, 2005 at 4:03 pmEr… Wallace. I’m leaving the force.
October 4th, 2005 at 4:03 pmThanks Name Police!
October 4th, 2005 at 4:03 pmDo they get to play Golf in Club Fed?
I don’t think they do in any of the Texas joints. He may be hoping for a federal indictment soon.
October 4th, 2005 at 4:05 pmHola Payson. Great post – DeLay is a jerk. I love golf though.
October 4th, 2005 at 4:08 pmWho here thinks Mike Wallace should throttle his son? Working for Phaux News is one good reason.
October 4th, 2005 at 4:09 pmMike Wallace has the balls to buck CBS, Chris does not and has to ‘get in step’ with FOX/NAZI NEWS
October 4th, 2005 at 4:15 pmWhat was that about the Contras?
October 4th, 2005 at 4:20 pmIt is truly pathetic when the (once?) powerful play the victim game.
October 4th, 2005 at 4:21 pmHe’s a hard worker. This weasel sh*t really takes it out of you. Can’t a man play a little golf? His sense of entitlement is staggering.
October 4th, 2005 at 4:27 pmCouldn’t help but notice that Cheney and Delie only appeared on Faux news this week not the ligitimate press. Meanwhile the military was pounding the MSM as being the fault that people have turned against the war, not hearing the true story of good that is happening. Could it be more staged?
October 4th, 2005 at 4:29 pmCouldn’t help but notice that Cheney and Delie only appeared on Faux news this week not the ligitimate press.
Legitimate press? Where?
October 4th, 2005 at 4:48 pm#11 – What are Fox’s ratings compared to the other news shows on at the same timeslot? I think you’ll find that Fox is the only legimate media and all other tv news shows are has beens.
October 4th, 2005 at 4:56 pmWhen I snap my fingers you’ll cluck like a chicken, Randy
October 4th, 2005 at 5:00 pmRandy, what constitutes a ‘legitimate media’ in your opinion? Why is CNN touting it’s viewer ratings during the hurricances – what does that mean – are they has beens?
October 4th, 2005 at 5:02 pmDeLay is a big baby. I enjoy watching him whine though.
We should have a contest, who’s the bigger whinner?
Mike Brown or Tom DeLay?
(We can put Frist in the contest later)
October 4th, 2005 at 5:21 pmQuite right, Terrytheturtle. It’d be interesting to find out what Delay’s connection to the Contras was.
October 4th, 2005 at 5:26 pmThey blame everyone but themselves. They have never done anything wrong and have never made any mistakes. They are smokin’ ‘em out and staying the course. These are cowardly children who can’t accept blame. They are ill bred and have no class. This works for sit coms but not for our country.
October 4th, 2005 at 5:26 pm“I was heavily involved in the Contra movement in Central America.”
DeLay is PRO terrorist? If you don’t think the Contra’s were terrorists, you might read up on Ben Linder (http://www.bigtimepatriot.com/default.asp?itemID=456), an American citizen killed by the Contra’s for the crime of spreading rural electrification.
October 4th, 2005 at 6:15 pmCaption Contest: “I did not play golf with THAT man, Mr Abramoff”
October 4th, 2005 at 6:16 pmCaption: “Now why would Chewbacca an 8ft tall wookie, want to live on a planet with a bunch of 2ft tall Ewoks?”
October 4th, 2005 at 6:25 pm#11 – What are Fox’s ratings compared to the other news shows on at the same timeslot? I think you’ll find that Fox is the only legimate media and all other tv news shows are has beens.
Comment by Randy — October 4, 2005 @ 4:56 pm
Randy! A troll! Sadly, No!
http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/6/7/222858/6979
October 4th, 2005 at 6:31 pmlatest numbers…
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/the_scoreboard_thursday_sept_29_26583.asp
Sadly, No!
October 4th, 2005 at 6:33 pmFox News: 1,063,000 viewers, Randy.
That’s awful. There are probably 100 times that many people watching NBC or CBS. Cable News is all garbage.
More people are getting their news from blogs these days. Old media is dead. And Fox died years ago.
October 4th, 2005 at 6:38 pmAnd this is the critical demographic:
25-54 demographic:
Total day: FNC: 307,000 / CNN: 165,000 / MSNBC: 76,000 / HLN: 78,000 / CNBC: 48,000
Primetime: FNC: 540,000 / CNN: 275,000 / MSNBC: 108,000 / HLN: 108,000 / CNBC: 99,000
Pitiful.
October 4th, 2005 at 6:39 pmDeLay fights for Israel? Was he in the battle for Bakaa Valley?
And I guess in Bushworld Vietnam was lost because of the media and the Contra movement was the best thing that ever happened in Central America.
October 4th, 2005 at 6:43 pmRandy, can you really say that with a straight face? Really? Fox is reliable and every other channel is not? Really? I can’t believe you are THAT stupid. I just can’t. What you are saying is so silly that you had to have laughed when you pushed “post.” Does that sound credible to you? There is only one news channel that is legit and it happens to be the one that has rejects from other defunct shows on it. That is like saying the earth is flat and every single scientist was actually wrong. I can’t believe you; it is just too stupid. If you were really that naive you wouldn’t be able to turn your computer on for goodness sakes.
Really?
October 4th, 2005 at 6:49 pmCongress “It” Turd DeFly (R) Sugar Land TX. has just demoted itself again. (and not only as “Majority Leader”) It is now nothing but a turd…period..!
October 4th, 2005 at 7:31 pmRandy, I’m willing to bet that the majority of Faux “News” viewers are progressives who are watching to see what lies they’re telling each day. My husband and I watch Faux so that we can informatively dispute their spin. There is no “news” on Faux.
October 4th, 2005 at 7:33 pmRandy, I’m willing to bet that the majority of Faux “News†viewers are progressives who are watching to see what lies they’re telling each day. My husband and I watch Faux so that we can informatively dispute their spin. There is no “news†on Faux.
Ms. Schneider,
I would bet that a large portion of the few hits on the right blogs are from our side as well.
October 4th, 2005 at 8:06 pm#14,
October 4th, 2005 at 8:21 pmRandy, the only response to your question is that ignorance is rampant. You living proof. If you want news try BBC, but then again, you might have to concentrate on the subject matter.
#14
Randy, unfortunately 55% of americans also think evolution is wrong, and that humans sprang forth out of clay into our present form. Just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s right. And just because you believe it, doesn’t make it true! This is where the reichwing drifts into the land of echo chambers and delusion, and takes gullible fools like you down the drain with them!
October 4th, 2005 at 8:43 pm#14
Are you a fvcking retard? Oh, wait don’t answer that.
Just because a bunch of morons watch Fox doesn’t mean it is “legitimate,” It means they have high ratings (if that isn’t a lie).
A sh!t load of zombie zealots watch the 700 club. It doesn’t mean they speak the true word of God or are a legitimate religious orginization.
You need to get a grip on reality bud. Ratings does not equal facts.
I can’t believe you said that.
Here let me rephrase it to mean what you wanted to say:
“A lot of people watch Foxs news, so we will still get a lot of church fanatics to vote republican.”
See, I can make up idiotic NeoCon talking points also.
October 4th, 2005 at 11:23 pmThe numbers game is less important in a world full of multi national conglomerates. For example, Murdoch has been pouring millions down the rat hole rag known as the Weekly Standard because it aids his agenda and is chump change compared to all the favorable legislation it and his other reactionary organs have influenced. Global feudal lords playing the serfs of one domicile against the other.
October 5th, 2005 at 8:50 amEl bigmouth Rushbaugh trotted out Cheney AND Delay this week on his radio show. Between Limbaugh’s oxycontin fueled rants and the two evil twins condesending, scripted rhetoric, I wanted to hurl!
October 5th, 2005 at 9:00 amI have to tell you , the amounts for staying in St. Andrews seem a little low. I suspect that there were other credit cards involved that haven’t been found yet.
The Old Course Hotel is, next to the Raffles, one of the most expensive places to stay at when in St. Andrews. It’s a very “Americanized” hotel, and you pay for that dearly if you don’t want the full and different Scottish experience–if you get my meaning.
Yep, the more I think of it, I’m sure there is more to this–a lot more, and of course the crooked DeLay is on the receiving end of it all.
I hope he likes prison sex. Because its going to be the only hole in one he knows!
October 5th, 2005 at 11:55 amHi, Huh? You can call me Jane–just don’t call me something stupid like “Sweet Baby Jane” or whatever other crap IRI tried to call me recently!
Back to Faux, I noticed on Sunday that one of the shows, I forget if it was Chris Matthews, whatever, mentioned that they tried to get Bill Bennett on to discuss his “abort all black babies and crime would go down” comment. Whichever show it was said that Bennett couldn’t come on the show because he was contractually obligated to Faux!
October 5th, 2005 at 12:45 pmI’ve read a number of threads here now, and I keep seeing posts identified by handles such as IRightI, among others. I don’t understand why so many people keep responding to a computer program. I am a programmer, and anyone who has ever heard of ELIZA knows what I mean. This program’s algorithms are showing.
This is a program that sifts through posts looking for words or phrases that match an entry in its database. If it finds a match, it then posts an inflammatory response chosen randomly from a set of possible responses that are keyed to the index of the word or phrase in the post. Each response in the database has embedded in it, in one or more places, a string like ****. The program then replaces the occurrences of **** with a name or a keyword from the original post to make it appear to be an actual response. Done carefully and cleverly, this can create a superficial illusion of reality. However, such programs have limitations, and that’s where the algorithms peek out here, just like with ELIZA.
For example, notice that these handles are selective about which posts they respond to. This is because the program cannot respond if it doesn’t find a match in its database, otherwise the response might not make sense, which would give it away. Also look for responses that don’t really respond at all, but are clearly intended only to inflame (name-calling when someone posts to that handle, for instance). These kinds of generic responses are a dead giveaway. Changing handles in the middle of a thread when it is obviously the same poster is another clue. And on top of everything else, no typos when this is supposed to be a person typing furiously. A program will not make typos unless they appear in the database. In addition, such a program can monitor and post to many threads at once, which is why these “people” seem to appear in so many places.
Responding to a computer program is a waste of your time and your thread space, and serves only to divert the discussion, which is the program’s prime directive. I would congratulate the programmer who is responsible for this: the program appears to be doing its job quite successfully. But everyone should be aware that these handles are just a computer program that refreshes the page periodically, examines the posts and uses auto-submit to post inflammatory responses. These are all simple tasks in VBasic, perl or php, using an MS Access or MySQL database. I could easily do it myself, but I’m not a sociopath. Stop wasting your resources responding to a computer program. You can’t hurt its feelings, and you can’t reason with it because it doesn’t think. What troubles me most is that this programmer is probably also responsible for any number of destructive viruses.
October 5th, 2005 at 7:28 pm