Am I the only one who remembers the line from Bloom County: "Leaving a trail of slime wherever he goes..."? I think it's relevant here.

"Now, Senator Bedfellow, we here at the Bloom Beacon really think you'll like this one . . ."

Josh Marshall over at talkingpointsmemo.com is trying to figure out how much weight to give DeLay's attacks on Earl.

Any anecdotes/facts/figures you can supply to shed a little light?

Ken - I think Earle's record more or less speaks for itself. He's prosecuted far more Democrats than Republicans (though as he says, you have to have power to abuse it, and for most of his tenure it was Democrats who had the power), and he has a pretty good ratio of convictions/guilty pleas to losses.

DeLay defines this as "partisan" because Earle is a Democrat, plain and simple. In his world, only a Republican can criticize (much less prosecute) a Republican. Of course, in his world, that never happens.

Tom DeLay is the son of Satan, and just hearing his name makes me want to cry. I signed the petition; any little bit will help, right?

I think people are off base when they accuse Earle of being partisan. i am not aware of DeLay saying that about him, but it is certainly accurate to accuse Earle of being a publicity-mad egomaniac who cares entirely about being in the public eye and who are cares not at all about doing his real job, which is putting criminals behind bars.

Take a look at the record of rates of violent crime in Travis County. While rates of violent crime have been falling across the nation over the past 20 years, these rates in Travis County have not mirrored that decline during Earle's long tenure. And the actual stats of Earle's DA office in convicting and imprisoning criminals bear out a causal relationship between Earle's shirking of his real duty and the plight of Travis County residents who are victimized by violent crime.

Earle has pursued public figures on the flimsiest of cases. It is true that, in some cases, his campaigns have been warranted, and even meritorious. Perhaps he has become addicted to the feeling he got in those few good cases and now sees scoundrels everywhere.

His case against DeLay, like his case against Kay Bailey Hutchison, is without merit.

I expect the lege to unburden Earle of leadership of the Public Integrity Unit. He has demonstrated that he lacks the judgment necessary to perform this role, and it is unfair to the residents of Travis County that he continue to be distracted from his real job.

I've called a couple of the Texas delegation to see how they voted. So far, Burgess was at a funeral, and his staff will call me back with his opinion on the matter, and Granger was for the rule change. Any bets on whether any of the Texas Republican delegation will go on record against the rule change?

"I think people are off base when they accuse Earle of being partisan. i am not aware of DeLay saying that about him"

Then you haven't been paying attention, because the "partisan witch hunt" line has been the staple of DeLay's defense all along. Here's a quote from February:

With Republican campaign-spending practices under investigation in Austin, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay blasted Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle on Tuesday for using his power for "vindictive" ends.

"This is nothing more than a vindictive, typical Ronnie Earle process. The district attorney has a long history of being vindictive and partisan," Mr. DeLay said at a weekly session with reporters, responding to a question about a grand jury investigation being run by Mr. Earle.

"This is so typical. This is criminalizing, or an attempt to criminalize politics. We have a runaway district attorney in Texas," Mr. DeLay said.

Mr. Earle said of the leader's comments: "Being called partisan and vindictive by Tom DeLay is like being called ugly by a frog."

Any questions?

Ok, then, i think DeLay is off base with the partisan accusations. However, his other pejorative remarks about Ronnie Earle are precisely on target.

But if "partisan" means persecuting republicans rather than ratsocrats, that charge is clearly not supported by the facts.

Absolute power corrupts. It may be the beginning of the split of that oddball duo of blatant monetary greed/graft and religion... the New Republikkkan Party...
More like Neo-Dickensian...Neo- Dicks for short

Dear Mr. Earle, I wish you success in procecuting Tom Delay who is DELIGHTED with being able to hide his abuses. Then, to hoodwink the nation along with his colleagues in Congress, he is a happy man! Although that may not be hard to do for the power hungry, we are watching over here in Georgia! Good luck to you. Delay needs to return to dry cleaning or smoke screaning. Perhaps Bush will need another occasion to use his tailored flight suit? (I thought he would use it recently while speaking to the nation from New Orleans...) Good luck,