Tom DeLay once again foils the liberal establishment
SHOT . . .
"With the series scheduled to start Saturday in Chicago, the mood in and around Houston was positively giddy" (Houston Chronicle, 10/21/05).
. . . CHASER
Look, props to the guy. A lot of people were confused as to why Tom DeLay was smiling like an idiot for his mugshot. Those people didn't read this AP story:
Why is Tom DeLay smiling? After all, he's been indicted. Forced out of his job as House majority leader. And called into court for fingerprinting and a mugshot like a common criminal.Answer: A photo of DeLay grinning from ear to ear doesn't pack quite the punch in a Democratic attack ad as one that looks more like the mugshot of, say, actor Hugh Grant.
I have to admit, I was really looking forward to this mugshot and its eventual appearance in the campaign ad of every single Democratic challenger next year. It's simple: you put up the mugshot, you list all of your opponent's ties to Tom DeLay, and everyone knows what your opponent thinks about a pretty corrupt guy.
So well done to the DeLay political team for realizing that a "positively giddy" mugshot will make it harder for Democrats to use it in campaign ads. That said, this is still not a huge problem. I see two things happening:
- The mugshot becomes such a running joke that Democrats wind up using it anyway. This probably won't happen, but we didn't expect the president's "Mission Accomplished" event to become such a liability either.
- We just go ahead and use photos like this:
or this:
And so on. I think we'll be okay. By the way, am I the only one who thinks that Tom DeLay looks like Chris Cooper's character in American Beauty? Seriously:
Not that there's any connection between the two.
Finally, here's the opening of a Tom DeLay speech from July 2003:
Good afternoon, or, as John Kerry might say: “Bonjour!”
What kind of last name is DeLay, anyway?
(Thanks to National Journal's Hotline for the joke at the top.)