DeLay’s Justice, was often Justice Denied

The system has eaten one of it’s own. The Hammer got 3 to do, and 5 for 10. The same tuff on crime ethos that Tom championed for years has finally bitten him in the ass. Here’s newly minted felon, Tom DeLay, on crime.

From OnTheIssues.Org

Voted NO on funding for alternative sentencing instead of more prisons. (Jun 2000)
Voted YES on more prosecution and sentencing for juvenile crime. (Jun 1999)
Voted NO on maintaining right of habeas corpus in Death Penalty Appeals. (Mar 1996)
Voted YES on making federal death penalty appeals harder. (Feb 1995)
Voted NO on replacing death penalty with life imprisonment. (Apr 1994)
Rated 30% by CURE, indicating anti-rehabilitation crime votes. (Dec 2000)
More prison cells; more truth in sentencing. (Nov 1993)
More prisons, more enforcement, effective death penalty. (Sep 1994)
Tom DeLay on Drugs
Voted YES on military border patrols to battle drugs & terrorism. (Sep 2001)
Voted YES on prohibiting needle exchange & medical marijuana in DC. (Oct 1999)
Voted NO on subjecting federal employees to random drug tests. (Sep 1998)

The same pol who wanted to limit writs and warehouse more Americans in government cages, is now facing the working end of those ideals. I haven’t kept up with the details of the prosecution. I know Tom saw his prosecution as a political witch hunt. That’s rich coming from a guy who has been carrying the pitch fork with the GOP mob all these years.

Guess what Tom? Our modern criminal justice system is full of witch hunts. We’ve got the Drug War, DWI, ILLEGALS, sex offender boogeymen etc. You just don’t like the particular witch hunt that landed you in jail.

Here’s how Tom felt about his verdict in November. From ABCnews-

“They’ve got to bankrupt you, ruin your family, put you in jail, put you in the grave, and then dance on your grave. That’s not good for the country.”

So spare me the outrage Tom. You helped create the system where prosecutors can unilaterally decide which citizen to destroy, and now they’ve chosen you.

I didn’t see any of this concern for the million of families the drug war has ruined. When you’re in prison Tom you can meet a few hundred new friends who have been bankrupted, incarcerated, and had their families destroyed by the criminal justice system you worked to create. (I know this is a State prosecution, and Tom was a fed pol, but the principles are the same).

Remember folks, it’s always easier to be tuff on crime when you don’t think you’ll ever be prosecuted. In a State with over 2,300 felony offenses (11 involving oysters), be careful about casting that first stone.