The Tale of Two Toms
By Tim Saler Posted in User Blogs — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
From the Diaries by Leon H...
This past week has been an eventful one for Republicans, with nearly constant chatter from the mainstream media about coming indictments in the Valerie Plame investigation and President Bush's apparent error in nominating Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. With these two stories front and center, the American people are getting a story of Republican criminality and incompetence. It shouldn't be surprising to anyone, then, that the Democrats have gotten a bit excited about their electoral prospects in the 2006 midterms. The Republicans may be down, but they are not out. The road to the future lays in the tale of two Toms -- Congressman Tom DeLay of Texas and Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
Read on.DeLay, the former House majority leader, has come under massive scrutiny in the past weeks. After having been indicted on several criminal charges ranging from criminal conspiracy to money laundering, a warrant for DeLay's arrest was ordered on October 19, 2005. Democrats rejoiced at this news, expecting a media circus to erupt wherever DeLay was to turn himself in. After the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee faked a mug shot photograph of DeLay for their "House of Scandal" campaign, the real thing was finally coming down the pike. It wasn't to be, however, as DeLay dodged the media and turned himself in to a Harris County sheriff's office. The mug shot, expected to be at the core of every Democrat campaign in 2006, backfired on those who wished the worse for the congressman. DeLay, smiling brightly, completely disarmed his adversaries with a photo that could be used for his own campaign materials rather than his opponents'.
More importantly, DeLay's excellent handling of the situation demonstrates another fundamental truth: he is fighting back. His lawyers have petitioned for a different judge after discovering that the man who would play a large role in deciding the congressman's fate had donated a significant amount of money to the left-wing group MoveOn.org, which has run a major campaign against DeLay in several marginal congressional districts across America. DeLay is not going to back down, and despite the fact that things don't look the best right now, the congressman continues to look towards the future.
The congressman's conduct in this matter has been nothing short of inspiring to Republicans who feel that they too are down, but not out. Whether DeLay has engaged in any wrongdoing remains to be seen, though prominent Democrats like Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, have found themselves quite comfortable with sentencing the congressman to a prison sentence before, at the time, he had even been indicted. If DeLay is found to have committed a crime, he will be punished, and rightly so. In America, though, a man charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Many Democrats have forgotten this key fact.
As one Tom fights back against those who wish to bring him down, another Tom battles on against those who sacrifice principle for their own share of the people's money. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has long been considered a maverick within his party. When he ran for Senate in 2004, he defeated a rather milquetoast Republican in the primary, and faced off against a formidable challenger in Congressman Brad Carson, the Democrat candidate. Everyone in the mainstream media expected this race to be close, but, in the end, Coburn won in a walk.
Coburn's opponents tried to paint him as an extremist, but they missed the point. Coburn is a model conservative, the kind of man who conducts his public career in the way of former senator Barry Goldwater, who said in his 1964 acceptance speech to be the Republican nominee for President, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." The senator has gained new opponents upon entering the Senate, however, in Republicans who campaign on fiscal discipline but play the pork game better than anyone.
The senator introduced an amendment to H.R. 3058, the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development appropriations bill, which would redirect funding from wasteful pork-barrel spending projects towards repairing, instead, the infrastructure that had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The funding for one of these projects, the "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska, is so large, in fact, that Congress could instead buy a Lear jet for every resident of the connected island for the same amount of money. The only reason the project exists is because Alaska congressman Don Young is the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Alaska senator Ted Stevens is the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate. Together, these two men seem to deliver more wasteful pork-barrel spending to their state than any other.
It only makes sense to vote for the Coburn amendment, which would shift badly needed federal funds from unnecessary projects to those that have far greater importance. Despite this, Senator Patty Murray of Washington threatened to block any spending project of any senator who votes for the amendment. The aforementioned Senator Stevens claimed that he would resign, then added later that, if the amendment passed, the bill would fail, and he would have to be taken out of the chambers on a stretcher.
Eighty-six senators decided to side with pork-barrel spending and the ability to draw from the people's pockets the money necessary to pay for any silly project that would perhaps help increase their poll numbers back home. Thirteen senators had the courage to vote for keeping the amendment alive, including Coburn himself. George Allen of Virginia, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, John Ensign of Nevada, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Jon Kyl of Arizona, John McCain of Arizona, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, John Sununu of New Hampshire, and Jim Talent of Missouri all deserve great credit for their principled stand.
Too few Republicans are willing to take a stand for what's right anymore. They are too quick to back down, and they have taken a liking to governing exactly how the Democrats did when they controlled Congress. If the Republican Party expects to maintain its position as the majority party in America, however, it will have to begin acting in a way that is consistent with their election-year rhetoric. If the Republican Party is to get its bearings back, it will be for two reasons: because Congressman DeLay showed that you can fight back and win even when major media outlets and the opposition party have pre-judged you, and because Senator Coburn demonstrated that the principles of fiscal restraint are not dead after all.
If DeLay is successful, it will be considered the beginning of a Republican recovery. But if Coburn is successful, it will be the beginning of a Republican revival. The future of the party is at stake. Where Republicans go from here depends a lot on the tale of two Toms.
Well written, informative and insightful. Definitely front-pager material. Keep up the great work.
I received an e-mail this afternoon from someone at the DCCC. He says that they never published a mug shot photo of DeLay, "real, fake, or otherwise." He says that was the DNC.
So, I retract my statement that the DCCC was responsible for publishing that photo. The link at the bottom of the article now shows the corrected information.
While I fully supported his Amendement I have a feeling that he didn't make a whole lot of friends on either side of the aisle with this Amendment.
I think that people may rally around Coburn a bit but it may be at the expense of the Republican Party on the whole. Why? Because mavericks make the rank and file Senators look like nothing more than shills without integrity.
However it is possible that Coburn could shift the party if he continues on this anti-pork campaign. I think that is something that we all would like to see.
Our two Tom's are inspiring. Lets not waste the momentum. We need to fight liberals on all fronts. We need to start playing their game. We need to start using their tactics of courtrooms and the media. They are beating conservatives on two fronts. 1. The courts. We have to get smarter at beating them in this game. They have shown their hand. The are using the Grand Jury process to fish for convictions. If Rove/Libby are indicted on "crimes" after the fact (ie. during the Grand Jury fishing expidition) then we need to present an united front and fight back. We need to beat them at this tactic or we will be forever waiting for the next idictment. 2. The MSM. They have proven themselves to be a wing of the Democratic Party. We need to have an effective strategy on how to diffuse their power and influence. In summary, WE NEED TO FIGHT BACK! It is no longer enough to just stick to our knitting. I encourage dissent and brainstorming. Please continue this discussion......
Alaska Senator Stevens said that he will resign if the Coburn amendment passes. He further said that he is tired of seeing vast amounts of tax money leave Alaska for the lower 48 states.
He said this in defense of two bridges slated to be constructed using federal tax dollars in Alaska totaling over 400 million dollars, one bridge will serve 50 people living on an island.
The simple truth is that Alaska receives over 12,000 dollars in federal tax money per capita. They rank number 3 in receiving federal tax dollars of the 50 states.
Coburn is right. But if anyone expects to see any change in wasteful spending coming from that bunch in Washington, the treatment of the Coburn initiative should be instructive.
Anybody want to bet that if Coburn is successful, that Stevens will actually resign? If so, let me know. I want to take that bet.
But alas, I doubt it is to be.
But I hope you'll be less inclined to compare McCain to Coburn - you'll give me a complex.
You can bet he'll follow through.
I just have an incredibly hard time believing he Said it.
Alaska has less need for federal money than most states. Before the Transportation Bill, those bridges were paid for with State money and we're not happy at all with Young arranging that pork barrel that would take that money and give it to out of state contractors. That bill gives Nothing to Alaska.
The rumours about Stevens's senility must be true if he truly said that. i just can't believe he would. No greater a violation of trust could he commit. We love him like family and trust him for good reason.
If you could, I would appreciate a link to your source for this comment.
I was ziping around the Sunday talk shows on TV( something I never do) when I saw and heard Stevens say it from what I took to be the floor of the Senate. It was on one of those Sunday talk/news type shows, but I don't remember which one because I kept going back and forth between about three of them. I know Face the Nation was one is saw, Fox News was one, and the show that George Stephonoplous does, whatever that is.
Sorry I can't get any closer than that. But if I had to guess which of those would put that segment on the air, I would guess Fox.
seeing all the Republican pantywaists. I am happy that these two guys are around to reaffirm my faith.