President Says DeLay Is Not Guilty of Money Laundering

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 15, 2005; Page A07

President Bush said yesterday he is confident that former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) is innocent of money-laundering charges...

In an interview with Fox News, Bush said he hopes DeLay will be cleared of charges that he illegally steered corporate money into campaigns for the Texas legislature and will reclaim his powerful leadership position in Congress.

"I hope that he will, 'cause I like him...

Bush and DeLay: Never A Texas Two-Step

The Bush Administration sees the former House majority leader as a necessary burden

Sunday, Jan. 08, 2006

When legal and ethical questions began spinning around House majority leader Tom DeLay last year, President George W. Bush was publicly supportive.

But with the possibility that DeLay's could be indicted in the Abramoff case, the Administration fears that the scandal could tarnish all Republicans and even hand the House to the Democrats.

"They're worried about the Congress," an adviser said after talking to White House aides, "and they're worried about themselves." Although DeLay's forfeiture of his leadership post makes things easier for the White House, the Abramoff saga will continue to be a problem. Bracing for the worst, Administration officials obtained from the Secret Service a list of all the times Abramoff entered the White House complex, and they scrambled to determine the reason for each visit. Bush aides are also trying to identify all the photos that may exist of the two men together.

By golly, I think we have a wedge issue in the Republican party!
[right][snapback]38965[/snapback][/right]

I think we have a fear issue in the Republican party.  They are terrified.  The K Street strategy, which they used to gain a stranglehold on the US government, is coming back to bite them on the ass.

The fearmongers are afraid.  How sweet!
[right][snapback]38970[/snapback][/right]

No wedge, sorry. The repubs are a dysfunctional system, and the system has a life of its own. Its sole purpose becomes self-preservation, and its individual members are entirely expendable as they outlive their usefulness. The system will find adequate replacements.
[right][snapback]38988[/snapback][/right]

No wedge, sorry. The repubs are a dysfunctional system, and the system has a life of its own. Its sole purpose becomes self-preservation, and its individual members are entirely expendable as they outlive their usefulness. The system will find adequate replacements.
[right][snapback]38988[/snapback][/right]

Abramoff---Delay---Bush 

Connect the Dots
The Abramoff/Bush Connection

President Bush is donating $6,000 in tainted Abramoff donations to charity. But how much cash did the Don of K-Street raise for the president? As he bragged to the New York Times back in July of '03: "So far I?ve raised about $120,000, and I haven't even really started making calls."

[B]The total cash raised hasn't been disclosed by the White House. But this USA
Today story from last May suggest that Abramoff had already bought his firm wide access to the White House.

Bush and Abramoff's contacts date back to at least 1997, when then Governor Bush wrote a letter at Abramoff's behest supporting education reforms on the Mariana Islands, an Abramoff client.

During Bush's first 10 months in office, Abramoff's firm logged 195 lobbying contacts with the administration on Marianas issues alone. Specifically, Abramoff & Co. sought to preserve the American territorial islands -- notorious for their "Made in the USA" sweatshops -- as exempt from federal minimum wage standards.

The USA Today story suggests the firm got very cozy with the administration indeed, even securing a post for one of Abramoff's firm members, Patrick Pizzella, as an assistant secretary at the Department of Labor. Needless to say: The collective effort stalled a 2001 proposal to bring the minimum wage the islands. [/B]

Link:  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/nataf...sion=6.0.11.847

Catherine
[right][snapback]39035[/snapback][/right]

No wedge, sorry. The repubs are a dysfunctional system, and the system has a life of its own. Its sole purpose becomes self-preservation, and its individual members are entirely expendable as they outlive their usefulness. The system will find adequate replacements.
[right][snapback]38988[/snapback][/right]