Tom DeLay: Scandals take GOP off the message that 'we're winning the war in Iraq'
In the wake of sex scandals involving Senators Larry Craig (R-ID) and David Vitter (R-LA), NBC's Today Show invited disgraced former Congressman Tom DeLay to discuss the perceptions of corruption afflicting the Republican Party. "Do we have a party embroiled in scandal, or do we have two bad apples?" host Matt Lauer asked DeLay.
"I hate to say this, Matt, but you just showed the problem," replied DeLay.
"The double standard. ... You listed a whole lot of scandals that involved Republicans but you didn't mention one Democrat."
"The Democrats re-elect the people with their problems. Republicans kick them out," DeLay asserted, establishing a theme he would repeat several times during the interview. He cited as evidence recent earmarking allegations against Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) and the bribery investigation of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), along with the 1990 reprimand of Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) resulting from his involvement with a gay escort and the 1983 censure of Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA) for an incident with an underage page in 1973.
"It takes us off our message, and I grant you that," DeLay continued. "It takes us off the fact that we're winning in the war in Iraq, that the president's going to stop the Democrats from raising taxes and increasing spending ..."
DeLay refused to answer questions about what Craig ought to do next or whether he might be able to ride out the storm, telling Lauer, "You asked me to come on to talk about GOP and politics, not about this man's personal life." He returned instead to his earlier point that "the double standard in the media's amazing. The feeding frenzy, the sharks in the water that's going on right now. Where is the frenzy on Alan Mollahan?"
"I'm not going to let it end with that assumption," said Lauer, objecting to the charge of a double standard. "I think it's unfair."
The following video is from NBC's Today Show, broadcast on August 30.
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