Arnold Ziffel or Tom DeLay? You decide...

Well, well, well...what a surprise. Not that your humble hayseed is especially prescient, but couldn't you just see this coming a country mile away? Tom DeLay just can't pull his snout out of that trough. Now that the allegations are piling on and the lasso is tightening around the PAC pigpen, in retrospect the events of last November make perfect sense. Of course the House Republicans wanted to change the rule that required House Republican leaders and the heads of the various committees to relinquish their positions if indicted for a crime that could bring a prison term of at least two years. And now we see why.

Common Cause, last November, issued a press release that stated:

Today’s vote by the House Republican conference to change its party rules is arrogant, hypocritical and in defiance of the most basic ethical guidelines to which elected officials should adhere. The change allows for the possibility that members of Congress who are indicted by state grand juries retain their leadership posts - thus protecting House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), who may well be indicted as part of a Texas investigation.

It is ironic that 11 years ago, House Republicans adopted the same rule scrapped today in an effort to draw attention to Democrats’ ethical problems. In fact, Rep. DeLay himself was a key player in calling for those tougher ethics standards.

The move is all the more outrageous when considered in light of the track record of the leader that the amendment is designed to protect.

Rep. DeLay faced back-to-back admonishments last month from the GOP-led, bipartisan House Ethics Committee. In response to the ethics complaint filed by Rep. Chris Bell (D-TX), the committee admonished Rep. DeLay for conduct suggesting political donations would influence legislative action and for asking federal aviation officials to track an airplane carrying Texas Democratic state legislators during last year’s contentious redistricting battle. The panel deferred action on the third count of Rep. Bell’s complaint which alleged that Rep. DeLay was involved in illegal fundraising for candidates for the Texas State Legislature. The substance of this allegation is what is under investigation from the Texas grand jury.

But there is more.

Here are 10 good reasons to ask the swine to resign, courtesy of the Public Campaign Action Fund.

This article in Salon by Sidney Blumenthal is worth watching an ad to look at.

With all this manure, muck and mud, it's time for the shovel and pitchfork instead of "The Hammer".