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Corrupt Republican Criminal Tom DeLay Sentenced To Three Years In Prison

This was my favorite:

DeGeurin stressed DeLay's lifetime of public service, detailing "his good works for his party, his state and his country," and claimed that the prosecution was "political."
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What good works?
 
Dammit, Scrut, I wanted to get to this first. My thread title would have been "Slammer for The Hammer".

Is it okay if I change your thread title?:wackynotworthy:
 
Again I say, only three?

Wasn't the minimum sentence for one of the charges he was convicted of five years?
 
:Insert standard boilerplate condemnation of prison rape jokes here:

Moving on, I still don't get why I'm supposed to be outraged by this. I'm glad he's out of politics, but it seems like he just juggled the bags of money clockwise instead of counterclockwise and the referees judging the clowning contest threw him out.

He took $190,000 dollars from corporations and funneled it to candidates in violation of the rules that say you can't do it that way. Ok, Bad-Tom-Delay, bad boy. But much vaster sums of money get spent from similar sources on behalf of candidates all the time perfectly legally to no such outrage.

It seems silly to me to laud spending millions of dollars for campaign advertising through PACs as a sacred expression of free speech, yet criminalize giving a fraction of that money to candidates directly.
 
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tyr_13 said:
Again I say, only three?

Wasn't the minimum sentence for one of the charges he was convicted of five years?
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I remember hearing one of the charges allowed for a life sentence. Sounds like he got off pretty good.
 
quixotecoyote said:
:Insert standard boilerplate condemnation of prison rape jokes here:

...
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Insert standard boilerplate for agreement with the condemnation of prison rape jokes boilerplate here:


Questions:
1. Will he actually go to jail?
2. If so how long will he serve?
3. Is there any personal gain alleged in the charges or do the charges relate totally to doing something illegal to promote political associates.
4. Is the sentence appropriate?
5. Is there precedent for this long of a sentence for purely politically motivated crime?
6. Is there an element of revenge politics in the prosecution?
7. Regardless of what the charges were, did Delay get direct personal benefits in return for political favors? His relationship with Abramhoff and Reed make it seem like this was likely.

Comment:
Even if the actions were done solely to benefit his political associates it, is still reasonable to see some purely personal gain here. Success at getting Republicans elected led to increased power and position in the Republican Party and in the House of Representatives for Delay. Maybe political motives are not completely separable from motives based on personal gain.

ETA: Definitely change the name. "Slammer for the Hammer" makes me smile.
 
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quixotecoyote said:
Moving on, I still don't get why I'm supposed to be outraged by this. I'm glad he's out of politics, but it seems like he just juggled the bags of money clockwise instead of counterclockwise and the referees judging the clowning contest threw him out.

He took $190,000 dollars from corporations and funneled it to candidates in violation of the rules that say you can't do it that way. Ok, Bad-Tom-Delay, bad boy. But much vaster sums of money get spent from similar sources on behalf of candidates all the time perfectly legally to no such outrage.
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Agreed. I just can't get myself all worked up about what he did. I agree that there was a technical violation of the law, and I agree that Delay is basically a no good rotten pond scummy sort of fellow in a general lying politician sort of way, but I'm just having a hard time figuring out why I should feel righteous outrage that this guy shuffled money around the various campaign accounts to which he had access, the net effect of which was to do exactly what his donors wanted to do.

You could easily convince me that the whole system of campaign finance in America is thoroughly corrupt, rotten to the core, and is basically influence peddling. However, Delay's manipulations of that system don't seem any more corrupt than most of those activities.
 
quixotecoyote said:
:Insert standard boilerplate condemnation of prison rape jokes here:

Moving on, I still don't get why I'm supposed to be outraged by this. I'm glad he's out of politics, but it seems like he just juggled the bags of money clockwise instead of counterclockwise and the referees judging the clowning contest threw him out.

He took $190,000 dollars from corporations and funneled it to candidates in violation of the rules that say you can't do it that way. Ok, Bad-Tom-Delay, bad boy. But much vaster sums of money get spent from similar sources on behalf of candidates all the time perfectly legally to no such outrage.

It seems silly to me to laud spending millions of dollars for campaign advertising through PACs as a sacred expression of free speech, yet criminalize giving a fraction of that money to candidates directly.
Click to expand...

He should have done it the legal way. His arrogance was his downfall (Julian Assange should be taking notes).
 
[longwinded and indignant (yet still inherently true) rant about American incarceration system and the slow acceptance and even encouragement of rape as part of prison experience in American culture here]

Dude broke the law, and he should go to prison. I'd say the same if it were found to be a Democrat doing things like he was doing. There's too much of a double standard (in terms of politician/non-politician) when it comes to breaking the law.
 
fuelair said:
Hope his "Bubba" shows him the love!!
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Because nothing's funnier than having people you don't like get raped.

This is really a vile comment, fuelair. The fact that you are sadly far from alone in taking pleasure at the thought of prison rape doesn't excuse you.
 
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