Tom DeLay has used Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle’s indictment of former Texas attorney general Jim Mattox as proof that that Earle is a “liberal political fanatic.” Here’s DeLay on Fox News this Wednesday:

The political situation in Texas back in those days was conservative Democrats against liberal Democrats. He indicted the lieutenant governor, a conservative Democrat. He indicted Jim Mattox, the attorney general…This is just the sleaziest of politics. He is a fanatic, a liberal political fanatic.

Jim Mattox, however, has a much different view. Appearing on Fox and Friends this morning, he was asked if he thought Earle was politically motivated:

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I don’t think he’s overly political. I think he’s been, frankly, very tenacious about this and more tenacious than what most of us would have thought possible because Delay and his friends have spent probably $2 or $3 million on legal fees in an effort to try to hide the facts of this particular matter. I think that the facts in this particular case were so egregious that any district attorney should have taken a look at the matter.

Always one for finger-pointing, DeLay’s newest target in his fight against his criminal indictment? The Austin-American Statesman newspaper.

On September 28, responding to the criminal indictment, DeLay blamed a September 11 editorial by The Statesman:

(As) recently as two weeks ago, Mr. Earle himself publicly admitted I had never been a focus or target of his inquiry. Soon thereafter, Mr. Earle’s hometown newspaper ran a biting editorial about his investigation, rhetorically asking what the point had been, after all, if I wasn’t to be indicted….It was this renewed political pressure in the waning days of his hollow investigation that led this morning’s action.

A September 29 editorial in The Statesman responds:

A Sept. 11 American-Statesman editorial questioned why only the political action committees and not the individuals behind them had been indicted. DeLay was not mentioned by name, nor was there an allusion to him. It is either DeLay’s hubris or his conscience that leads him to think that the editorial targeted him.

The much-discussed September 11 editorial can be found here. As the paper’s editorial staff states, the editorial mentions several men by name, including indicted John Colyandro, but never mentions Tom DeLay.

Let’s recap: DeLay has now blamed The Austin-American Statesman, “unabashed partisan zealot” District Attorney Earle (the truth is here), a “runaway” grand jury, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the DCCC, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Democrats generally, and the rest of the news media.

Poor Tom DeLay.

The central pillar of Tom DeLay’s defense is that Travis Country prosecutor Ronnie Earle is an “unabashed partisan,” and that DeLay is being targeted because of his political success.

But Ronnie Earle didn’t issue the indictment against Tom DeLay. A grand jury did. And as it turns out, the jury foreman William Gibson is a former sheriff’s deputy who praises DeLay specifically for his “aggressiveness.” Via Billmon, we see that Gibson spoke out yesterday:

He did his duty and that bound him to look at Tom Delay as just another Texan accused of criminal conspiracy, [Gibson] said.

“I like his aggressiveness and everything, and I had nothing against the House majority man, but I felt that we had enough evidence, not only me, but the other grand jury members,” Gibson said.

The grand jury foreman also takes great exception to accusations that he and 11 other grand jury members followed the lead of Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle instead of following the evidence.

“It was not a rubber stamp deal. It was not an overnight deal. If we needed extra information, it was provided to us,” Gibson said. …

Gibson thinks there is enough evidence to convict Delay.

“We would not have handed down an indictment. We would have no-billed the man, if we didn’t feel there was sufficient evidence,” said Gibson.

Tom DeLay says he has “very good evidence” of a massive conspiracy between Ronnie Earle, Nancy Pelosi and other liberals. He just can’t release that information yet, can’t explain why he can’t and can’t say when he will be able to do so:

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Transcript below: Read more

President Bush, 9/28/05:

At this moment, more than a dozen Iraqi battalions have completed training and are conducting anti-terrorist operations in Ramadi and Fallujah. More than 20 battalions are operating in Baghdad. And some have taken the lead in operations in major sectors of the city. In total, more than 100 battalions are operating throughout Iraq. Our commanders report that the Iraqi forces are operating with increasing effectiveness.

Associated Press, 9/29/05:

The number of Iraqi battalions capable of combat without U.S. support has dropped from three to one, the top American commander in Iraq told Congress Thursday.