Everyone knows that Tommy Delay
will swallow for pocket change,
but do they also know about the
Chemical Light Stick of GOP Enlightenment
He Keeps Shoved Up Where the Sun Don't Shine?
==============================================

this post is a straight rip
of a Wonkette Blog Post:

Wonkette, the blogger with
the lowdown on beltway whores
<http://www.wonkette.com/>
================================
Tom DeLay, Then and Now
September 7, 2005
<http://www.wonkette.com/politics//tom-delay-then-and-now-124241.php>

Cue the wavy-lens time travel music, since here is Tom DeLay in 2001,
taking credit for getting an additional $1.3 billion allocated to
FEMA, on top of the disbursement of some $583 million in disaster
relief for Tropical Storm Allison in 2001--pretty much all of the
agency's remaining budget at the time. Most of the funds went to
assistance to Houston, where his district largely sits, which bore the
brunt of flood damage from the storm:

"We've attained our goal of equipping FEMA
with the resources they need to carry
out their responsibilities," DeLay said Wednesday.
"I'm also pleased that the White House has released
additional funds to help Houston recover
from the damage inflicted by Tropical Storm Allison."

And what might those FEMA responsiblities be, for which DeLay fought
his own party--and the Bush White House--at the time to fund? Well,
cue that sound spooky harp-distortion soundtrack, because here is Tom
DeLay today:

"The emergency response system was set up
to work from the bottom up . . . .
It's the local officials trying to handle the problem.
When they can't handle the problem, they go to the state,
and the state does what they can to, and if
they need assistance from FEMA and the federal government
they ask for it and it's delivered"

Translation: FEMA needed $1.3 billion in 2001 to wait
for a phone call from the plucky, exhausted mayor of Houston.

-- HOLLY MARTINS
==============

Wonkette,
cutting through the cheese,
and getting down to the sleaze.