There's nothing better than a good Tom Delay quote

Here's a great one from the Houston Press.

DeLay seemed to feel the issue applied personally to him, and perhaps it did. He had graduated from the University of Houston at the height of the Vietnam conflict in 1970, but chose to enlist in the war on cockroaches, fleas and termites as the owner of an exterminator business, rather than going off to battle against the Vietcong.

He and Quayle, DeLay explained to the assembled media in New Orleans, were victims of an unusual phenomenon back in the days of the undeclared Southeast Asian war. So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself. Satisfied with the pronouncement, which dumbfounded more than a few of his listeners who had lived the sixties, DeLay marched off to the convention.

Here's another on from the blog 181/2 Minute Gap.

Hilarity abounded, as when Tom DeLay took the stage and begain, "Good afternoon, or as John Kerry might say, bonjour." Ummm, Tom? Kerry's not the one with the French last name.

Delay on Meet the Press, Dec. 21, 2003.


"Go after Osama bin Laden"—I knew that that would be the first thing the Democrats said after we got Saddam Hussein. They said, "Oh, well, that's good we got Saddam Hussein, but you haven't gotten Osama bin Laden." What we have gotten is we've destroyed his network. The president took the war to them in Afghanistan. We can do both and we did both. We've upset the al-Qaida networks to the point that they can't do anything right now.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge changed the national threat level from yellow to orange on the same day Delay declared "al-Qaida networks" destroyed on Meet the Press.

Last, but not certainly not least - Tom Delay the telemarketer.

First there was a recorded message: “This is Congressman Tom DeLay. I’m asking you to serve as an honorary chairman on our business advisory council, and you will be recognized with our national leadership award.”

Then, a telemarketer came on the line: “You’d be invited to private dinners with congressmen and quarterly strategy sessions in Washington.”

In the call, Helton was also promised an exclusive black-tie president’s dinner and his name in a newspaper ad.

REQUEST FOR A GIFT

Then came the pitch from the telemarketer: “We’re asking each chairman for a one-time gift of $300 or $500 for the ad. Can we count on your support?”

Helton replied: “That’s pushing my budget a little. Does it have to be paid all at once?”

“Would $100 or $200 be any better for you? And I could even split that down into two payments as well,” replied the telemarketer.

Helton, an independent voter who voted for Bush in the last presidential election, did not send a dime. “It was dishonest, it was sleazy, and it was certainly unbecoming a national party like this,” said Helton.