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Cracker Squire

THE MUSINGS OF A TRADITIONAL SOUTHERN DEMOCRAT

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Location: Douglas, Coffee Co., The Other Georgia, United States

Sid in his law office where he sits when meeting with clients. Observant eyes will notice the statuette of one of Sid's favorite Democrats.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Group calling for DeLay's resignation is spending $75,000 to run commercials in the majority leader's home district in Texas.

The advertisement opens with a man wearing cuff links and a Rolex watch walking down the stairs into a basement, where he begins washing his hands. An announcer ticks off cases surrounding Mr. DeLay as the figure tries harder and harder to get clean.

"Tom DeLay can't wash his hands of corruption by involving Congress in one family's personal tragedy," an announcer says, referring to Mr. DeLay's involvement in the Terri Schiavo case. "But Congress can certainly wash its hands of Tom DeLay."

Another group is spending $25,000 to pressure Republican lawmakers to denounce Mr. DeLay.

One Democratic lobbyist said, "You can't complain of partisanship when you are one of Congress's leading partisans. This is somebody who has contributed to the sharp and bitter partisan environment in Washington."

(3-30-05 The New York Times.)

The Washington Post reminds us that casting DeLay as a symbol of Republican excess was the same tactic critics once did with former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

Democratic officials in the House and Senate said that news coverage of DeLay's ethics problems, his travel and ties to lobbyists, and his high profile in the congressional intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, have given them an opening to use him as more of a foil. They said that until now, he was so little known to the public -- despite his enormous power at the Capitol -- that attacks on him were not effective.

The group also plans ads designed to put pressure on Republican members to "stand with DeLay or decency."

The announcement will come two days after the conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal said: "The Beltway wisdom is right. Mr. DeLay does have odor issues. Increasingly, he smells just like the Beltway itself." (See 3-29-05 post entitled "If you are a conservative Republican and The Wall Street Journal starts writing bad stuff about you . . . . - Rep. DeLay 'Smells Like Beltway.'")

(3-30-05 The Washington Post.)

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