Did you hear the new one about Tom Delay?

By Lee Russ

Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 05:01 PM

I think I've finally found the bottom...you know, that place where the bottom feeders feed.  It's where Tom DeLay is standing.  Wherever Tom DeLay is standing.

Mr. DeLay appears to be one of the universe's largest hypocrites when it comes to his professed compassion for kids, whether in the form of anti-kid legislation or using kids as a front for fundraising. And, the human hammer was always known for his attention to money--getting it, keeping it, raising it for other Repubs, using it to create a never-ending string of favors owed to Mr. DeLay by those who got money via his efforts.  And during his tenure, the Republicans have been the direct and indirect beneficiaries of countless millions of dollars poured into countless think tanks designed to spew distorted statistics and analysis that can be used to prop up the mostly untenable tenets of 21st century conservatism.

So what does Mr. DeLay bemoan now, in his new persona as sage political analyst and commentator?  The incredible danger posed by liberal organizations, especially the ones funded by George Soros.  I swear to God, I couldn't make this up.

Writing for the site The Politoco in a piece titled The Message or the Machine? the Hammer waxes passionately (if less than sincerely) as follows:

For most of the post-Watergate campaign finance era, Republicans won their victories thanks to strong grass-roots organizing and Democrats did their best thanks to a smaller but preposterously wealthy donor base.
...
as President Bill Clinton's administration ended in 2001. Thousands of well-connected, battle-hardened, experienced and talented political operatives were out on their ears in the wake of the Republican Party's sweep of the 2000 elections. The Clintonistas lacked influence and jobs. Around that time a handful of smart and extremely wealthy liberals decided it was time to close the gap on the Republicans' enormous advantage in grass-roots politicking.
...
The sizable liberal coalition's true strength is its unity, its diversity and especially its bankroll. Conservative activist David Horowitz has begun the process of unpacking and cataloguing what he calls the left's "Shadow Party." Centered on an organization called the Open Society Institute, a granting entity endowed with more than $330 million from George Soros, the liberal coalition has branched off into every direction imaginable.
...
the bulk of the money is going to former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta to start a think tank, the Center for American Progress. It's going to Harold Ickes to coordinate political activities. It's going to MoveOn.org to muster local activists. It's going to the Thunder Road Group, a political and media strategy firm run by former Clinton and John Kerry flack Jim Jordan. It's going to America Coming Together to identify and mobilize Democrat votes.
...
What this network of tax-exempt foundations, "educational" organizations, 527 political groups, and political businesses has accomplished in a short time is staggering. A good case in point is the defeat of U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif. Until last year, the Northern Californian was chairman of the Resources Committee, and a good one at that. In 2006, admittedly a tough year for Republicans, he lost to a relatively weak challenger by six percentage points.

And the Democrat Party hardly spent a dime on the race. Pombo wasn't defeated by Jerry McNerney or the Democrat Party, but by George Soros and his Shadow Party. His organizations and operatives provided the money, the television ads, the grass-roots manpower, and the media connections, with the card signed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It makes you wonder whether the former first lady really intended her crack about the existence of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" to be an insult, or a compliment.

Truth- and reality-challenged as always, eh DeLay?

Other than a propagandist of this degree, is there anyone alive who thinks that the really big money is backing the Dems, let alone the liberal Dems?  That Soros's paltry efforts could ever come close to matching the Hoover Institution, the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Scaife Foundation, all the fundings by the Walton (Walmart) family, and on and on?

Reminds of an old joke I just made up.  Did you hear the one about DeLay, the Priest and the Rabbi?  They all walk into a bar together and the bartender says "what can I get you?'

The priest says "I'll have a Bailey's and Soda."

The Rabbi says "Just a little red wine for me."

DeLay looks around and says "I'll have everything you've got if you want to see either of these other two guys alive again."