Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

Frum's Analysis About Delay's Current Troubles

Seems to me that this morning's front-page attack on Tom DeLay by the Washington Post isn't a story about Tom DeLay at all. The story makes clear that DeLay did nothing wrong. In 1997, he took a trip to Russia paid for (as far as he had any reason to be aware) by the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington D.C. The Center's president, Amy Ridenour, even came along for the trip.

The Post describes DeLay's activities on the trip thus: "During his six days in Moscow, he played golf, met with Russian church leaders and talked to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin ...." As if DeLay flew to Moscow in order to hit the links. In fact, the United States had some heavy decisions to make about aid to Russia in 1997 and 1998, and it's not surprising that the then number-three man in the House of Representatives would want to see the situation for himself.

It now turns out that the Center defrayed the cost with some doubtful donations from lobbyists, including Jack Abramoff, now the central figure in a major federal investigation of corruption and influence-peddling. Abramoff was representing Russian oil and gas interests with a special interest in influencing US policy toward Russia. Abramoff also joined DeLay and Ridenour on the mission.
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But while we're on the topic of doubtful practices, can we notice this, please? The Times story is sourced to - and is packed full of quotations from - a series of groups whistled up by George Soros for almost the exclusive purpose of attacking DeLay. (You can read some of the details here.) Maybe the Times should be alerting its readers to the true identity of those sources of these shocked-and-appalled quotations? Or even balancing this bought-and-paid-for expertise with comments from some genuinely disinterested and impartial observers?

I know you've been inundated with stories about how Hillary Clinton's finance campaign person is in serious legal trouble and that Chuck Schumer just paid the largest FEC fine ever. So much so you probably didn't notice the Delay story. Wait a second...there wasn't a single story on any of that.