the real DeLay mug shot

(The real Tom DeLay mug-shot) 

U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks has ruled on Tom DeLay's effort to have his name taken off the ballot for the House seat representing Texas District 22.  It's not looking good for the Republicans in that district.

AUSTIN (AP) - The Texas Republican Party must keep former congressman Tom DeLay on the November election ballot, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks heard testimony last week in a daylong trial to determine whether the Republicans should be able to move ahead.

DeLay, the former House majority leader who resigned from office June 9, testified that he lives and votes in Virginia and that he has a Virginia driver's license.

But lawyers for Texas Democrats pointed out DeLay still owns a Houston-area home, where his wife Christine lives and where DeLay spends time. The Democrats also argued that it couldn't be shown conclusively whether DeLay would be an ‘‘inhabitant'' of Texas on Election Day on Nov. 7.

(snip)

‘‘Now he's on the ballot, now he's off the ballot,'' said Lampson spokesman Mike Malaise. ‘‘We're just campaigning as if we have an opponent.''

DeLay, under indictment on Texas campaign-finance charges, won the Republican primary for his district in March but announced about a month later that he was resigning from Congress and moving to Virginia.

Don Bankston, a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee from Fort Bend County, said DeLay tried to "manipulate the rules" in seeking to be found ineligible for office.

Shorter Herald-Coaster: Welcome back to the House race, Mr. DeLay!  Funny, DeLay's legal team petitioned to have this matter heard in U.S. District Court because they felt like Sparks was more likely to rule in their favor than the local judge.  Seems like these Little Caligulas of the Right can't seem to catch a break from the judicial system lately.  Funny how that whole Rule of Law thing works.  But then again, all that strident anti-judiciary rhetoric that DeLay has been spewing for the last few years can't have helped either.

Don't call it a comeback.  I been here for years.  Rockin my peers and puttin' suckas in fear. [/L.L. Cool J]

Since the judge has ruled that DeLay or no-one will be the Republican on the ballot against Democrat Nick Lampson, and DeLay has made it clear that he isn't running, I believe that Texas Congressional District No. 22 has just automatically turned blue!  Which means that now, the Democrats only need 14 seats to form a majority in the House of Representatives.  Thanks, Tommy D!!  You RULE!!

And while I'm feeling magnanimous, I would like to welcome serial plagiarist Ben Domenech back from his exile on the Island of Elba.  He has surfaced over at Red State with a dewy-eyed tribute to somebody's dead grandfathers (no link here).  He says they're his grandfathers, but he's lied about things like that before.  Before I believe it, I want somebody to make sure he didn't dig that piece out of the archives over at Slate or something. 

Maybe we can get John Barrie to run it through his plagiarism detection software.  Oh, and speaking of John Barrie!  It appears that Ann Coulter's publishers may actually investigate the glaring examples of plagiarism unearthed in her columns and her latest "book".  Thank God for John Barrie.  That poor man.  He slogged through reams of her inchoate seethings and had this to say about the experience:

It didn't take long to find evidence of plagiarism, Barrie said. "After we found three in the book, we called it quits. I think we found four of her syndicated columns that had problems." But the task proved draining, he said -- on himself, not his technology. "After combing through Ann Coulter for a while, it doesn't take long before you want to call it quits. I want to prove the technology, but I don't want to make my eyes bleed."

Or get a brain hemorrhage, dude.  Thank you for taking on this brave and necessary work.  You deserve a couple of years in the tropics being fed ice cold grapes and fanned by a pair of slaves for what you have done, Mr. Barrie.  Our hats are off to you and the brave sacrifice you have made for your country.

And that's all I've got tonight, firedogs!  Go, Lamont!!