In today’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan was particularly noncommittal and vague about President Bush’s “friendship” with the scandal scalded House Majority Leader Tom DeLay:

QUESTION: You said a couple days ago that, as the president said, he considers Tom DeLay a friend. I actually went back and I never saw the president saying that anywhere. He said he had confidence in Tom DeLay. And I also noticed that Tom DeLay said, when the president was running for the president in 2000 or 1999, that Bush was not a social friend of his. So does Bush consider…
MCCLELLAN: There are a number of congressional leaders that he works closely with on the Hill and he considers a friend. Sure.
QUESTION: And he considers Tom DeLay a friend.
MCCLELLAN: Sure.
QUESTION: OK.
MCCLELLAN: I think there are different levels of friendship with anybody…
(LAUGHTER)
No, you referred to social friends. But, no, he certainly is a friend.
QUESTION: What level of friendship are you referring to here…
MCCLELLAN: A friend: The president considers him such. And we support his efforts, along with the efforts of other congressional leaders to move forward on the agenda that the American people want us to enact.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-NE) has told The Hill that he is negotiating with Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), chairman of the Rules Committee, to reach a “compromise” that would forfeit the right of senators to filibuster President Bush’s most radical judicial nominees.

Why would Nelson bend on such a fundamental issue? According to The Hill, Nelson thinks standing on principle has put him and others in “politically difficult positions”:

Nelson … suggested that a few Democrats in so-called red states might be relieved should the prospect of filibustering the president’s nominees be eliminated.

“I think that some of my colleagues have had some discomfort in voting against cloture but have felt that the nominees were sufficiently unwise choices to feel that was justified,” he said. “I’ve sensed some concern.”

Nelson said that one such colleague is Sen. Ken Salazar (D), who represents Colorado, a state that President Bush carried twice.

Someone should to tell Nelson that Salazar backed off his opposition to filibusters last month. On this vital issue, Nelson ought to forget the politics and follow Salazar’s lead.

UPDATE: Carpetbagger is also blogging on this.

Since we’ve started dropthehammer.org — a site designed to pressure corporations to stop contributing to Tom DeLay’s legal defense trust — we’ve received a lot of email from people around the country expressing their views on our efforts. This one from Councilman Kevin Cole of Pearland, Texas caught our attention:

Hey ass hole [sic]. Tom Delay happens to be my congresman [sic] and I am happy with the job he does for me and my district. Why don’t you get the F@&* out of our district and leave us alone. Better yet, come speak to me personally and I will show you what I think of you.

Kevin Cole
Pealrand [sic], TX
[Cell Phone # Redacted]

Mr. Cole is also a Baptist deacon.

“The Act does not suspend our freedoms. Various courts have already held that the Act is consistent with our Constitutional freedoms. The Act reflects a careful balance by Congress to protect our country and secure our liberties.” Alberto Gonzales’s Chat on the Patriot Act, 4/12/05

“[U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero] struck down a key provision of [the Patriot Act], ruling that the FBI cannot require Internet service providers to turn over subscriber information and keep quiet about it forever without giving the providers a chance to fight the government in court…Marrero said he appreciates the government’s concerns about terrorism. But, he said, freedoms must be guarded in times of crisis.” — USAToday, 9/30/04

Tom DeLay — just a poor, hapless victim of a partisan witchhunt?

No way, according to Newt Gingrich. Here’s Newt, from last night’s CBS Evening News:

“DeLay’s problem isn’t with the Democrats, Delay’s problem is with the country. And so Delay has a challenge to lay out a case that the country comes to believe.”

(Hat-tip: National Journal’s Wake Up Call)

Washington Post, 4/13/05:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) implored Republican senators yesterday to stick with him…The attendees said DeLay thanked Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) for supportive comments on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

ABC News, 4/10/05:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think that this is just attacks on him [Tom DeLay] or attacks on the conservative movement, or are there serious issues here that he has to address?

SANTORUM: …If those things were not out there, obviously they wouldn’t be raising them. And so there are issues that he has to deal with personally…I think he has to come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it and let the people then judge for themselves.