Night And Day On DeLay

For an interesting study, read conservative and lib side-by-side on DeLay.

Conservative: Dem's Delight by John Podhoretz in the NYPost
Liberal: Justice Delayed by John Dickerson in Slate

Dickerson scribes ad hominem attacks in Delay's direction:

"...in a flourish that proves he was a former exterminator and not a lawyer ..."

"At the level of personality, he positively oozes meanness ..."

Then he uses personal attacks foil to skirt the issue of prosecutor Ronnie Earle's own highly questionalbe ethics and personality:

[DeLay] then went on to lambaste the Texas prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, repeatedly. He called him an "unabashed partisan zealot" and "fanatic" ...

Dickerson doesn't waste any time rebutting this, since his Slate readers will just accept that DeLay's the bad guy and Earle's all right. Podhoretz, on the other hand, gives detail:

Earle was humiliated in 1994 when he sought to drop a case he had brought against Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on the eve of trial just so he could switch judges and give it a second shot — only to see the judge swear in a jury to assure that Hutchison receive a full acquittal.

Some liberals defend Earle on the strange grounds that he isn't guilty of using his office to play politics because he's also indicted fellow Democrats. But in the highest-profile case he had before Hutchison, Earle was also humiliated when an absurd bribery charge he had brought against Democratic state Attorney General Jim Mattox led to a quick jury verdict of "not guilty." He also indicted himself once — on some campaign-finance charge — so there's some reason to believe he might be a bit cracked.

More importantly, Dickerson just leads his readers through a series of rib-pokers about the GOP, focusing primarily on the Drier-Blunt machinations -- which, if anything, showed a disciplined party -- so he can conclude that the GOP is still in the hands of the pro-life, pro-family, anti-gay marriage crowd his readers love to hate.

Podhoretz avoids these shallow issues for a more significant question that Dickerson avoids: What will the 2006 and 2008 fallout be? The answer isn't one readers who like Podhoretz want to hear:

What makes this an especially dangerous time for Republicans is that the party's troubles — beginning with the president's falling poll numbers — have come early enough in the 2006 campaign cycle that Democrats might be able to convince a great many decent candidates. Good recruitment was crucial to GOP success in 1994.

It's unlikely that Democrats will take back the House and Senate. But it's not impossible, and it's almost certainly the case that Republicans will remain on the political defensive for some time to come.

A thoughtful, informative analysis vs. an emotional rant that's about feelings, not informing. Reminds me of Air America vs. its conservative competition.

Footnote: Podhoretz column also has a neat rebuttal of the current Dem line that it only took the GOP 10 years to get corrupted by power, while it took the Dems 50. I heard that presented by Time's national editor on NPR last night and was struck speechless by the audacity and silliness of the argument.

h/t Real Clear Politics