On This Thanksgiving . . .

Let us give thanks to former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and his steadfast efforts to bring the criminal felon Tom DeLay to justice. I voted for Earle in the primary in his run to be the candidate for Lieutenant Governor mainly based on this righteous work.

And yes we “libruls” are crowing today as we did yesterday because victory is sweet. Nick Lampson, who tried his darnedest to run against DeLay in 2006, except ol’ Tom cut and run earlier that same year had some choice words in an email that he sent to all of his former supporters. Here is an excerpt:

“In the pursuit of power and with disregard for our democracy, Tom Delay damaged Texas and this country in a way that will be felt for years to come. This decision makes it clear that justice can still be delivered and we must do everything in our ability to assure abuses of our electoral system do not happen again.”

So then what about all of his supporters? What are they saying now? The Chronicle tried to get the reaction of Lampson’s successor, Republican Congressman Pete Olson, but all they could raise was the sound of crickets.

Republican Party Chair, Rick Miller, was a little more verbose:

“[I am] surprised and a little bit shocked. But the trial was in Austin and that's not necessarily good territory for Tom and this case.

Looking around for more pro-DeLay statements, however, is a fruitless task. People are curiously quiet and in that there is a message – Republicans are not willing to throw Tom DeLay under a bus - - - yet.

Just about the only other words of support for Tom DeLay came from DeLay himself when he said this to a reporter:

“I'm not going to blame anyone. This is an abuse of power. … and I still maintain that I am innocent. The criminalization of politics undermines our system.”

And yes, Tom is not alone in professing his innocence. Texas state prisons are full of men and women who all maintain that they are innocent. But in that last sentence DeLay almost gets it right. But here is what he should have said to get it completely and exactly correct: The criminals in politics undermine our system.

So in the appeals process, let’s just see if that is still true.