Kangaroo Court, Parte Deux

Tom Delay was booked today. To add insult to injury, Delay was fingerprinted and had his mug shot taken.

DeLay was fingerprinted and released on bond on state conspiracy and money laundering charges.

"He posted $10,000 bond and they have left the bonding office," Lt. John Martin with the sheriff's department said.

DeLay, accompanied by his attorney, Dick DeGuerin, showed up about 12:15 p.m., appeared before a judge and was gone in less than 30 minutes, Martin said.

The appearance came a day after a state court issued an arrest warrant for DeLay and set an initial bail, a routine step before the Texas Republican's first court appearance Friday in Austin.

He had been expected to appear for booking in Bend County, but went to Houston instead. Under Texas law he could check in anywhere in the state

Also, this from CNN:

Outside the building, DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin blasted prosecutor Ronnie Earle, accusing him of singling out the Texas Republican for political retribution and planning to use DeLay's mug shot in Democratic mailings.

Ya gotta admire DeLay's composure. It's my educated guess that Ronnie Earle wanted a frowning mug shot; instead he got a confident looking Tom DeLay, appearing to treat the situation for the absolute joke and abomination of justice that it is.

"He's got what he wanted. There's no reason for this. It was pure retaliation on the part of Ronnie Earle," DeGuerin said, holding up DeLay's mug shot. "There he is. Take a good look at him."

He also said the defense team "will expose his prosecution for what he is."

I'm looking forward to that, barrister. Give 'em hell.

***UPDATE***

Here's another take on how the DeLay smile may have well foiled the dems opportunity to use his mug shot for any of their 2006 literature:

He looks in the photo like a proud member of Congress who might just have won the lottery, not one indicted on charges of money laundering. The photo looks like it could have been taken anywhere.

And that was just the point.

Democrats nationally are already sounding as if they'll make DeLay the poster boy for bad Republican behavior in next year's elections, when every House seat and a third of those in the Senate are up for grabs.

Just makes me wonder why the republicans aren't making political hay regarding democrat abuses of power, which have been legion these past five years. Now I know that it is merely second nature for democrats to seize opportunities to point their collective bony finger of indignation at republican "scandals", real or imagined; but it just isn't in the Republican party's collective nature to respond in kind. Now this could be seen as both a positive and a negative. The republicans' collective tendency to take the high road in these matters may (correctly) portray the image that they are above taking the cheap political shot. But at the same time they run the danger of alienating their base, who feel that their party has become a doormat of sorts and who in turn view their leadership as weak-kneed and ineffective in standing up to the dems. Many in the republican base are disaffected as it is, and it will take some real red meat to energize them. Although at times it may indeed be a good idea to "walk away" from a confrontation, the current climate suggests that now is not one of those times. The now-disaffected republican base are looking for leadership who will grow a spine and stand up for their interests. If this does not happen, look for much of the base to "vote" by staying home in 2006.