CNN.com – DeLay faces money laundering charge – Oct 3, 2005:
DeLay faces money laundering charge
Former majority leader calls indictment ‘abomination of justice’

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A Texas grand jury brought a charge of money laundering Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader indicted last week on conspiracy charges stemming from a campaign finance probe.

DeLay and two associates are now also charged with conspiring to illegally steer $190,000 in corporate donations to state legislative candidates in 2002 and to disguise its source by sending it through national Republican campaign committees.

To be fair, it *does* seem like the Dems are trying to hit him w/ two charges on a related crime, but to that I say, it’s about time.  DeLay’s lawyer is trying to get the charges dropped because his client’s alleged conspiracy isn’t subject to the state code cited, but instead to the state election code.

This is just too slimy for me — as a child, my older brother told me, “You know when you’re doing wrong.”  Whether or not a technicality admonishes him or not, something doesn’t smell right.  This is what’s wrong w/ American politics — there’s just no room for people in Washington who act on what they know is right.  As soon as they make too much noise, they’re crushed by people who aren’t afraid to lie to the press and make up damaging news stories, or even just embellish upon the truth.  By the time the real story is brought to light, the damage is done, and your career is over.

The wife & I were discussing how much we both admired and were disappointed w/ Senator McCain.  By all accounts, this man is a real-life war hero.  As a fellow alum, I have a certain amount of respect and reverence for him — he’s the embodiment of that unflinching manliness you see in films where men are willing to die for freedom, the American way and trade their own life for the lives of his men.  Yes — he really did stuff like that.  Our beef is that after Bush publicly crushed him in a smear campaign during the ’04 election campaign, he quietly took his place aside the rest of the republicans in their efforts to get Bush re-elected.

The sad reality is that McCain knows that he can NEVER climb to presidency if he doesn’t play the game.  That’s just how DC works — don’t play the game and you’re finished. 

It’ll be interesting to see if the Democrats can make this one stick.