Religious Right: The Immoral Majority

It may be too much to hope that the former House majority leader -- and how good it feels to write "former" -- will actually be convicted and do jail time. The indictment for criminal conspiracy returned by a Texas grand jury on Wednesday is for alleged campaign finance violations that are the rough equivalent of money laundering, which is not the easiest crime to prove in court.

But DeLay's problems are bigger than Texas. His golf-buddy relationship with Jack Abramoff, a fat-cat lobbyist under federal indictment, will face months of scrutiny. DeLay's resignation from the House leadership is supposed to be temporary, but Republicans ignored his wishes and picked a strong successor who could serve out the rest of this Congress if necessary. Clearly they believe their former leader will be distracted for some time.

Now, it's no secret that the radical right loves Tom Delay, and it's easy to see why; he supports them politically. But this piece on far-right groups' statements on the indictment is just fascinating.

Prominent Religious Right groups went days without saying a word in defense of Pat Robertson after his assassination gaffe.

But when Tom DeLay gets in trouble, the response is immediate. Clearly, people like James Dobson and Tony Perkins know where their bread is buttered. When DeLay gets hurt, so does their right-wing agenda.

Family Research Council

Robertson: No comment.
DeLay: "Tom DeLay is a great leader for pro-family public policies of enduring importance to the nation."

Focus on the Family

Robertson: No comment.
DeLay: "Todayâ��s indictment of Majority Leader Tom DeLay bears all the signs of a trumped-up, political witch-hunt. The extreme left has seized this chance to take a swipe at one of Americaâ��s leading advocates of family values."

Traditional Values Coalition

Robertson: No comment.
DeLay: DeLay is "a Christian man" and prosecutor Ronnie Earle is exacting "political retribution."

Christian Coalition of America

Robertson: No comment.
DeLay: "Yesterday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on an unsubstantiated charge of conspiracyâ�¦ [has] been a major objective for the past several years of the extreme left wing and enthusiastically supported by their sychophants in the 'Old Media.'"

I don't expect them to be happy, but wouldn't part of a Christian view of government be that breaking the law is wrong, and wouldn't a sensible response be something like "Tom Delay has been a good supporter of our views, and we hope that the charges will be found to be baseless" or something like that?

Instead, groups that support him from the religious right have (without evidence) decided that the charges are wrong, picked up Delay's talking points, and - if he is found to be guilty - will have basically sided with lawbreaking.

The 12-member grand jury that indicted U.S. Rep. Tom Delay, R-Sugar Land, faces scrutiny from critics who say they are lackeys for Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle. It wasn't Mr. Earle that indicted the man. It was the 12 members of the grand jury," the grandjury foreman Willaim Gibson said. Gibson is a former sheriff's deputy and a former investigator for what is now the Texas Department of Insurance. "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.

I don't think he took too kindly to the fact that the Ken Mehlman talking point is that "You can indict a ham sandwich."

UPDATE: From Texas to Florida to Ohio, from K Street to Congress to the inner circles of the Bush administration itself, the Republican Party is suddenly -- or maybe not so -- looking like the party of scandal. You can't keep up without a scorecard. Here's ours.

Tom DeLay: The House majority leader was indicted today on a felony charge that he conspired to launder corporate campaign contributions through the national Republican Party in Washington and back to legislative candidates in Texas.

Bill Frist: The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are both investigating the Senate majority leader's sale of shares in his family's healthcare business just before the stock's value plummeted in June.

Jack Abramoff: The Republican super-lobbyist, known to have bragged about his contacts with Karl Rove, was indicted in Florida last month along with his business partner on wire fraud and conspiracy fraud charges related to their purchase of a fleet of gambling boats. This week, three men were arrested -- including two who received payments from Abramoff's business partner -- in the Mafia-style killing of the man from whom Abramoff and his partner purchased the gambling boats.

David Safavian: The president's chief procurement officer stepped down two weeks ago and was arrested last week on charges of lying to investigators and obstructing a separate federal investigation into Abramoff's dealings in Washington. Some Republicans who received campaign contributions from Safavian are divesting themselves of his money now.

Timothy Flanigan: The president's nominee to serve as deputy attorney general has announced that he will have to recuse himself from the Abramoff investigation if he is confirmed because he hired Abramoff to help the company where he works -- scandal-ridden Tyco International Ltd. -- lobby DeLay and Rove on tax issues.

Michael Brown: The president's FEMA director resigned earlier this month amid complaints about his handling of Hurricane Katrina and charges that he and other FEMA officials got their jobs based on political connections and cronyism rather than competence or qualifications.

Bob Taft: The Republican governor of Ohio pleaded guilty last month to criminal charges based on his failure to report gifts as required by state law, among them golfing trips paid for by Tom Noe, a major Republican fundraiser who is the subject of his own scandal regarding the state's investment in $50 million in rare coins, some of which have mysteriously gone missing.

Randy "Duke" Cunningham: A federal grand jury in San Diego is investigating allegations that the veteran Republican congressman received financial favors from a defense contractor who allegedly bought Cunningham's house at an inflated price and let him live for free on the contractor's 42-foot yacht.

Ernie Fletcher: The Republican governor of Kentucky has refused to answer questions from a grand jury investigating whether his administration based hiring decisions on political considerations rather than merit. Fletcher has pardoned nine people in the probe -- including the chairman of Kentucky's Republican party -- and fired members of his staff.

George Ryan: Federal prosecutors made their opening statements this week in the criminal trial of the former Republican governor of Illinois. Ryan and a friend, Chicago insurance adjuster Lawrence Warner, are charged with racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, tax fraud and lying to federal agents.

And then there's Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. The grand jury investigating the outing of Valerie Plame is scheduled to complete its work in late October. While neither Rove nor Libby is apparently a "target" of the investigation -- and while the "corruption" in Plamegate is moral rather than financial -- both men are known to have played a role in revealing or confirming Plame's identity in conversations with reporters, which may be a crime under federal law.
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