When Hammers attack

Tom DeLay, less than two weeks ago, on why he wouldn't debate Richard Morrison:

“His name ID is nothing.”

DeLay must now be assuming that people know who Richard Morrison is, because he's got an attack ad running that links Morrison to various evildoers (John Kerry! Howard Dean! Teenage immigrant welfare mothers on drugs!), which I saw last night on Channel 11. And now he's continuing the attack himself.

DeLay supporters have pointed to a calendar listing on the Morrison Web site as a smoking gun linking Morrison to the LaRouchians.

"LaRouche is a con felon and all I can tell you is that Mr. Morrison has supported and campaigned with LaRouche followers and Mr. Morrison also has taken money and is working with the Daily Kos, which is an organization that raises money for fighters against the U.S. in Iraq," said DeLay.

Morrison called DeLay out of line, accusing his connections in the capital for fighting his battles.

"Instead of addressing the real issues between us, the (National Republican Congressional Committee) decided to make a public calendar of political events in the 22nd district to make outlandish charges against me," Morrison said.

"He should come forward and address (his recent legal and ethical problems) openly instead of using his Washington friends to lodge attacks."

Via the aforementioned Kos.

Go back and read that again. This is the Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives. He's one of the five or six most powerful people in the country, he's got access to zillions of dollars, he's got over a quarter-century of experience representing his district in Austin and Washington, DC, and in the waning days of a campaign against a modestly-funded, longshot first-time candidate, he's screeching about bloggers and Lyndon LaRouche. He can't campaign on who he is and what he's done any more, mostly because what he's done lately is get his ass reprimanded left and right for sleazy behavior, so this is what's left for him. Does anybody out there still cling to the belief that he isn't running scared? What a sad, pathetic little man he is.

The poor man is becoming delusional, too.

SUGAR LAND, Texas — “I did 95 doors yesterday in a little over two hours,” said Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who has traded his hard-soled dress shoes for white running sneakers since Congress recessed for the election.

“I love knocking on doors,” DeLay said Sunday, after giving a pep talk to nearly 20 precinct-walking volunteers in his campaign headquarters, tucked near a golf course in the Greatwoods planned community on the outskirts of Houston.

[...]

DeLay’s reelection campaign committee has organized precinct walks in the past, but not to the extent it is now — at least, not in years. His campaign is also airing an estimated $250,000 in television advertisements, after buying virtually no TV time during the past several elections.

And, personally, DeLay is throwing himself into his reelection effort, an effort that in the past required little of his time and attention. This past weekend, the solemn business suit, the standard uniform in Washington’s corridors of power, was gone, dropped in favor of collared shirt sleeves embossed with the American flag, all the better for navigating precincts in the heat and humidity of southeast Texas, still sweltering in late October.

DeLay decided unexpectedly last week to participate in a debate against Democrat Richard Morrison and two third-party candidates organized by a local high school’s debating team. It was the first time in political observers’ memory that DeLay had exposed himself to the barbs of political pygmies in a campaign debate.

He loves block walking, but it's been years since he's done any. Given the choice between knocking on doors in Clear Lake to introduce himself to new constituents, and holding big-money fundraisers for fellow Republicans - you know, like the ones who are trying to win in the new districts he drew for them - which do you think DeLay would rather do?

Validation time:

[Poll] numbers have prompted the conservative Club for Growth to spend tens of thousands of dollars on television ads in the district defending DeLay. David Keating, the group’s executive director, said that it wouldn’t have if DeLay had an easy race.

“People wouldn’t pay attention to them and [the ads] wouldn’t be a factor in what people are thinking regarding these issues,” he said.

Which is what I've been saying all along. Via The Stakeholder.

UPDATE: In case you want to find out more about Tom DeLay's fascinating claims about Kos' fundraising, you can contact his campaign via these addresses and phone numbers.

UPDATE: The Morrison campaign responds to DeLay:

“Tom DeLay has crossed the line many times before but this time he’s gone beyond the pale…even for Tom DeLay. In a desperate attempt to shore up his support by making outrageous claims about me he has libeled an American veteran. He claims Daily Kos is an organization that raises money for anti-American Iraqi fighters. This is a bald-faced lie. The Daily Kos is not an organization. It is a blog written by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, a veteran of the U.S. Army. Daily Kos doesn’t shy away from pointing out DeLay’s ethical and legal problems but that doesn’t make Markos a terrorist sympathizer. This is the United States of America and freedom of speech is a right that Tom DeLay can’t over ride just because he doesn’t like what you’re saying…even if he thinks he is the federal government.”

Indeed.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 27, 2004 to Election 2004 | TrackBack