Tom Delay was convicted on a few counts of money laundering the other day, and faces up to 99 years in prison. This is a good thing even if you think you have some room to argue that he's being prosecuted for political reasons.
A couple of things here: First, we have to make a stand. We have to figure out something we can do to lessen the corrosive effects of such a huge flow of money thru the system of electoral politics.
But the main thing is that we must constantly and repeatedly re-establish the rule of law. Delay has asserted on more than one occasion that "I am the law / I am the government". We hear this kind of crap from politicians with alarming regularity. NIxon said, " when the president does it, that means it's not illegal". And recently, Junior Bush said something very similar while talking about approving torture. Some of these people actually believe their positions of power and privilege give them special status; that they can use the law as a weapon against their opponents and that they can bend the law to suit their needs.
And the bonus point: Delay has plenty of allies and plenty of ways to collect lots of money to continue his defense through the justice system. He could stay out of jail for a good long time. I wonder how many of his "conservative" buddies will criticize him for availing himself of these options while they continue to carp about death row inmates filing their "endless appeals".
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