Houston Democrats

DeLay agreed (no surprise) with Rove's recent comment about liberals wanting to "prepare idictments and offer therapy" instead of "preparing for war," and he was attempting to quote it, but had some difficulty with his diction.

Here's the video clip of Tom DeLay's speech via DEM bloggers.

Maybe this is what DeLay was worried about:

From the Houston Chronicle:

AUSTIN - Documents released in a civil lawsuit Friday show that Texas Association of Business officials were trying to influence the outcome of state House races when they ran a $1.7 million "voter education project" paid for with corporate money.

"Of the nine incumbents ... we went after, seven were defeated. This is huge news," a TAB executive said in a 2002 e-mail the day after the group helped Republicans win control of the Texas House for the first time since Reconstruction.

It appears the Texas Association of Business and Texans for a Republican Majority were pretty cozy bedfellows.

Additionally, Daily KOS is reporting that Ralph Reed the former head of the Christian Coalition and current Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor in Georgia is swirling amid scandal (WXIA-TV Atlanta).

Ralph Reed delivered what was expected as a consultant to two Alabama anti-gambling campaigns: victories over proposals for a state lottery and video poker, and donations totaling $1.15 million.

But Reed didn't tell the campaign organizations -- and, he insists, he didn't know -- that the money came from a Mississippi Indian tribe trying to protect its casinos from competition.

It's amazing to think that so many Republicans are former businessmen, and they all don't seem to know anything about accounting for their money.

I think Representative Randy Hinshaw, a Georgia Democrat has it right:

Republicans blocked last-minute efforts to revive a bill requiring nonprofit groups -- such as the Christian Coalition -- to disclose the sources of money they use to buy advertisements to influence referendums. The sponsor, Rep. Randy Hinshaw, a Democrat from Huntsville, said he was skeptical that such groups don't know where their money comes from.

"You give me $850,000," Hinshaw said Tuesday, "and I'm going to know who gave me that so I can give them a big ol' kiss."

It's interesting to note that Reed was also a consultant for Enron and a close buddy of Jack Abramoff. Need I say more?

Check out the Daily KOS for the rest of the scandal. It seems to me that powerful Republicans stand for a "culture of corruption and personal gain" rather than a "culture of life," but maybe they meant a "culture of the good life."