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Delay Attacks Liberalism
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Topic Started: Jun 9 2006, 04:28 PM (150 Views)
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cmoehle
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Jun 9 2006, 04:28 PM
Post #1
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Chris - San Antonio TX
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Delay in his farewell speech struck out at liberalism:
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Liberalism, after all, whatever you may think of its merits, is a political philosophy - and a proud one with a great tradition in this country - with a voracious appetite for growth. In any time or place, on any issue, what does liberalism ever seek, Mr. Speaker? "More." More government, more taxation, more control over people's lives and decisions and wallets.
If conservatives don't stand up to liberalism, no one will! And for a long time around here... almost no one did.
It's odd to watching someone beat themselves up.
Who better represents big government, control-people's-lives liberal-, er, conservativ--, er, liberalism than ol' Tom?
Taxes, yes, way to go Tom, cut taxes...and run up the deficit. Figgin' liberal.
(Text of DeLay's farewell address)
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Politics is the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order. --Barry Goldwater
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cmoehle
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Jun 11 2006, 09:43 AM
Post #2
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Chris - San Antonio TX
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I see I mispelled figgin'!
My comments are not far from an Houston editorial, The Washington influence of once-powerful DeLay will be missed in Houston region
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In his farewell speech to the U.S. House, Rep. Tom DeLay, who resigned Friday, praised partisanship but blamed it for his downfall. Whatever forces drove him from Congress, his influence on behalf of the Houston region and Texas will be missed.
Although government grew larger and more controlling under a Republican administration and a Republican-controlled Congress, DeLay blames liberalism for these curses. DeLay also gives Democrats too much credit for bringing him down. In the end, it was not the indictment in Texas but his association with crooked lobbyist Jack Abramoff that eroded support among Republican voters of District 22 and moved DeLay to resign.
DeLay's absence in office is already being felt. Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, said DeLay always stood ready to pursue or protect Texas' interests in Congress. Now, as Texas fights to be reimbursed for its costs in feeding, housing and educating hurricane evacuees, it lacks a powerful champion in Washington.
While DeLay blocked federal support for light rail in Houston for a decade, he agreed last year to support Metro's long-range plan to expand both rail and bus service. Unfortunately, Metro won't have a friendly House majority leader to assure its success in winning scarce federal funds.
DeLay also worked to appropriate money for NASA's Johnson Space Center and fund research at the Texas Medical Center. Those pillars of Houston's economy will have a harder time without DeLay's influence.
During DeLay's days as a backbencher, Congress failed to renew the federal income tax exemption for state sales taxes, placing Texans who itemize at a disadvantage against Americans who pay a fully deductible state income tax. Had DeLay remained in the leadership, the result might have been different.
In seeking to gain power for himself and his party, DeLay stretched the rules beyond the prescribed limits. Texas law says corporate funds may not be used to affect the outcome of elections, but DeLay asserted that in most circumstances they may. He felt no guilt at charging special interests for the opportunity to play golf with him while important legislation was pending on the House floor. He denied the existence of three reprimands from the House ethics committee.
Had he been more conservative in interpreting the rules governing his conduct, DeLay probably would have wielded as much influence without endangering his political career. As it is, DeLay's loss of power deprives this region of an important political asset.
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Politics is the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order. --Barry Goldwater
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campingken
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Jun 12 2006, 10:49 AM
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I heard some sound bites of Delay's farewell address. He sounded DRUNK!!!! He will be sorely missed by the intolerant and the haters.....
Ken
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roscoe
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Jun 12 2006, 02:43 PM
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Tom WHO
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ngc1514
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Jun 12 2006, 07:34 PM
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From Jay Bookman's op-ed piece in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution: AJC
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n his farewell speech to Congress, though, DeLay was typically blunt and aggressive, neither asking nor giving quarter. In a way, it was nice to see him go out that way, since whatever charm the man possesses lies in his in-your-face manner.
"It is not the principled partisan, however obnoxious he may seem to his opponents, who degrades our public debate," DeLay told his colleagues, "but the preening, self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first principle. For true statesmen, Mr. Speaker, are not defined by what they compromise, but what they don't."
That is very true. It is also true that DeLay never compromised his own first principles, even if he was less than sincere in what those principles were.
In his speech, Delay described bitter partisanship as necessary in the struggle between conservatism and liberalism, which he claimed had "a voracious appetite for growth."
"In any time or place, on any issue, what does liberalism ever seek, Mr. Speaker?" DeLay asked. "More. More government, more taxation, more control over people's lives and decisions and wallets."
Yet it was conservatism, at least as DeLay embodied it, that has enacted a vast expansion of government power over the people, culminating in the utterly bizarre episode in which Congress was called back from recess to intervene in the Terri Schiavo tragedy. It was DeLay, you may recall, who accused a Florida state judge of "trying to kill Terri Schiavo for 41/2 years," when the judge had simply been trying to keep government from intervening in an intensely private decision.
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Eric
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cmoehle
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Jun 13 2006, 04:28 AM
Post #6
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Chris - San Antonio TX
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Like Janice Joplin once said, "Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got."
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Politics is the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order. --Barry Goldwater
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