Interviewing DeLay, Cavuto "can't believe" he's leaving office, but didn't ask why
SUMMARY: Fox News host Neil Cavuto interviewed Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) only two days after DeLay announced his intention to resign his congressional seat. But during the entire interview, Cavuto asked DeLay nothing about why he abandoned his re-election bid after winning a contentious primary or why he decided to leave office altogether, even though Cavuto claimed he "can't believe" that he had done so. Neither did Cavuto once mention DeLay's alleged ties to Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff or the guilty pleas of two of his former top aides, Michael Scanlon and Tony C. Rudy, for conspiring with Abramoff.
On the April 5 edition of Fox News' Your World, host Neil Cavuto interviewed Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), only two days after DeLay announced his intention to resign his seat as representative of Texas' 22nd Congressional District. But during the entire interview, Cavuto asked DeLay nothing about why he abandoned his re-election bid after winning a contentious primary or why he decided to leave office altogether, even though Cavuto claimed he was "surprised" that he had done so. Neither did Cavuto once mention DeLay's alleged ties to Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff or the guilty pleas of two of his former top aides, Michael Scanlon and Tony C. Rudy, for conspiring with Abramoff. Instead, Cavuto asked DeLay to discuss issues such as Rep. Cynthia McKinney's (D-GA) recent controversial run-in with Capitol Hill police, and whether DeLay's next job might be at the White House. The rest of the interview focused on the future of the Republican agenda and immigration issues.
In an April 4 address to his constituents, DeLay announced that he will resign from Congress and will not seek re-election. In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, DeLay claimed that his re-election campaign "was going to be a referendum on me and not the values and priorities of my constituents. It's going to be nasty. Millions of dollars would be spent by the Democrats to take this seat." But DeLay's decision follows his September 2005 indictment on conspiracy charges, guilty pleas by his former top aides on conspiracy charges, and recent polling showing that his re-election campaign would face significant obstacles. As The Washington Post noted, Rudy, Delay's former deputy chief of staff, told "federal prosecutors of a criminal enterprise being run out of DeLay's leadership offices," and Rudy's guilty plea placed "the influence-buying efforts of disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff directly in DeLay's operation."
From the April 5 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:
CAVUTO: Welcome back, everyone. In 1998, a gunman got past security at the U.S. Capitol, just behind me, and killed two officers, including one that was attached to Tom DeLay's security detail. Now, last week, Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney claims that racial profiling was why a Capitol Hill police officer stopped her for identification. The congresswoman is accused of striking that officer. And now authorities are looking at striking back at her. My next guest says that Ms. McKinney is the real racist here. Joining me now is outgoing Congressman Tom DeLay of Texas. Congressman, good to have you.
DELAY: Thank you, Neil. Great to be with you.
CAVUTO: What do you think of this?
DELAY: Well, obviously, I -- I have the utmost respect for the Capitol Hill police. People think they're tour guides. These are people that are protecting that beautiful building and all the precious people in it. And, as you said, John Gibson died in my office protecting my -- my employees and me. I was in the office at the time. And he did it in -- in an incredibly courageous way. He let the shooter go by him, and he yelled at him, because he knew, if he shot him in the back, it -- he could shoot those young people sitting at their desks.
CAVUTO: Yes. And he died.
DELAY: And, so, he took the full brunt.
CAVUTO: Right.
DELAY: These -- this officer in this incident didn't know Cynthia McKinney didn't have a gun, didn't know that she had -- may have had a knife or even a bomb on her.
CAVUTO: So, you are not buying the whole racist thing?
DELAY: He still -- he still accosted her. He still showed the courage to walk up and confront her, because she had broken the protocol. It -- it had nothing to do with race. It had everything to do with doing his job, and doing it personally -- professionally.
CAVUTO: So, he shouldn't be punished in any way?
DELAY: Absolutely not. He should be -- in fact, we ought to pass a resolution commending him for his service and his courage.
CAVUTO: There is so much I want to get --
DELAY: And I am sending a letter to the chief of the Capitol Police this evening to do just that.
CAVUTO: I -- I had heard about that.
[...]
CAVUTO: All right. Hang on there, congressman.
We want to have more with Congressman Tom DeLay, who will be leaving his political job. But we will find out what -- what new job -- maybe that house -- after this.
[...]
CAVUTO: All right, back with us, the -- the man who is leaving Washington -- I can't believe it -- Tom DeLay.
We did have--
DELAY: Well, I'm leaving that building.
CAVUTO: You are leaving that building. But you are staying -- you are going to be a Virginia resident, right?
DELAY: I have to move here, yes.
CAVUTO: All right, so that they can put a Republican on -- on the ticket in -- in Texas.
DELAY: That's correct.
Cavuto's interview with Delay was very weak, the question of "why" Delay is resigning absolutely has to be explored.
But I think Cavuto's "I can't believe it" can be taken more than one way, for example if Bush gets impeached one day you may have people on the left saying "I can't believe it" even though they think he deserves it, just never expected to see it happen.
I just view Cavuto's comment to mean, "I never thought I'd see the day", not "I see no reason for it". IMO.
interesting questions to this high-profile republican, they talk about something that everyone on every corner of the street has an opinion about: Cynthia McKinney! Sad.
Further: I think that leaving office will give Delay less power. I think he will work for the republicans for Texas and other states to advise them how they can 'concur' Texas/DeLay style. Do not think DeLay is toothless and gone ... alas.
Who hasn't given Tom "The Bugman" Delay a lower body massage on national television?
you may have a point there. I thought they would have to drag DeLay kicking and scraming from his office. Then again given Foxs and Cavuto's willingness to whitewash the present administration I would not be surprised if it was an attempt to make little of the situation.
But to answer the question why, that's simple. Polling numbers Bush at 36% and the GOP Congress at 30%. It does not take much to see the writing is on the wall.
From the AP this morning,
"These numbers are scary. We've lost every advantage we've ever had," GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio said. "The good news is Democrats don't have much of a plan. The bad news is they may not need one."
And here is the rub, the GOP is saying that the Democrats have no plan again, unchallenged. However, they have beat this drum and now it is being ignored like a car alarms. The GOP is clearly not the one with the plan or at least not a good plan. If they do not do something to reverse their fortunes they could well be finished in Washington this election, due to their antics and corruption. DeLay was an attempt to stop the discussion as all the right wingers proved by jumping on the wagon and going it's not over. Especially, since Libby spoke up and said he was told, "to leak classified material" by the VP. Changes, real changes must be made but this administration is not able to so like they're gone.
Tom DeLay DID face a primary challenge this time around. He spent TWO MILLION DOLLARS to "crush" his three Republican opponents.
Now that he's "cut and run", we can be nostalgic that he no longer has that $2Mil (for his "defense" fund), and that he did his best to destroy the candidacy of his three fellow Republicans, claiming they aren't fit for office.
What a pal.
Late last night on C-SPAN, the Houston Chronicle's Samantha Levine and two other Capitol Hill reporters were on one of those call-in programs and the host (that sharp bald guy whose name I can't remember) triggered a discussion that explains all.
Delay now gets to keep all the funds raised for his campaign and apply them to his legal expenses. He apparently still has more than $1 million left from funds raised for his re-election; the host made the point that it's at least possible he delayed resigning until after the primary so that he could raise more money, ostensibly for his re-election.
And here the correct verb becomes important. Did Delay "spend" or "raise" more than $2 million? But either way, whatever's left, and it's a lot, now goes into his defense fund.
Everytime I saw his shiny head on TV , you could see the future written all over his face.
The GOP knows it's gonna take more than one flush to empty the bowl.
who's next?
When a CEO is indicted for embezzelment, fraud, and the like, what does he do??
He goes on the Rethug Talk Show Circuit to debunk the charges to the jury pool. Then he starts a charity to sell the public on his own Christian evangelical show how wrong the charges are, and create a back story of persecution by the government.
The worse part of it is that it worked!
Now we have the Rethug crooks who get caught become pundits on the talking heads to repair their tarnished reputations.
They should have a show of their own; "The Dark Side of the Beltway," or maybe " Crooks & Cronies on the Beltway." They could have Newt, Tommy, Duke, Dick, George, Jack, David, Chuck, . . . well maybe they'll need a really big stage set.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
Why would Cavuto mean that it's surprising? If anything DeLay was more likely to have this happen to him than other people in this position. He has been involved in many illegal cases.
It's clear what he really meant. He believes that DeLay is completely above charges.
Well, if Cavuto actually was up on "the news", he'd know why.
then maybe you wouldn't be so shocked . . . you sound almost as clueless as Tweety was when he couldn't understand why Bush's poll numbers were so low . . .
If you mouth-breathing rightwingnut talking heads would practice some real journalism instead of just nodding your head and repeating, you'd have discovered why Tom "The Anvil" DeLay isn't running: the money-washing charges he was indicted for, his ties to Jack A-bribe'em-off, the guilty pleas of two of his former top aides for dealings with Jack . . .
Word of advice, Neal: put down the FHM magazine spreads with Anna Benson long enough to check your facts - I realize, though, that that's asking a lot . . .
You can literally toss a dart on a dartboard of random Fox Shows and time segments within those shows to catch Fox News playing some dishonest trick providing red meat to the far right. Cavuto is one of the biggest knee-jerk conservative loyalists on the network so he's especially a soft target.
Fox News' conservative anchors - pundits all - regurgitate the same scripted talking points. Neil's following the current Fox News script of obsessing on Cynthia McKinney's striking of a police officer. Should it be covered? Definitely. Is she in the wrong? Definitely. But none of the Foxy news personalities want to discuss our ethically challenged president leaking classified documents. "Hanity and Colmes" skipped it altogether preferring to feature a long, drawn out segment on Ward Churchill (very old news) and, naturally, more obsession on McKinney. O'Reilly skipped it entirely as well.
But if you want to see Cavuto giving his worst softball interview check out the one he did of Rush Limbaugh. Fox's business block on Saturday is more about politics than business so when Cavuto featured a Rush interview during his business segment you knew in advance where it was going. Conducted at Rush's country club, a relaxed Rush did nothing but bash the Democrats to a drooling Cavuto who looked like a little boy waiting for an autograph from his favorite pro baseball player. At the end, Cavuto steered the discussion for a few brief seconds to business by asking Rush how he invested. Bonds and real estate was the answer to preserve his assets that exceed $100,000,000. Oh so helpful investment advice to the loyal middle class conservative working stiffs clinging to their hero's every word.
Talk about living the thug life, Tom Delay is nothing but a thug in a suit. He's acting as if and Fox is treating him as if he’s some kind of martyr. What a phony the man is quoting MLK and talking about how he's going to let people see the Christ in him; he should be walking around carrying a cross. Tom Delay should repent for real and accept the consequence for his own bad behavior just like the right is always lecturing others to do.