Wahhhhh
Austin, the most liberal town in America? Inside the mind of Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay did not back down on the Today Show.
Even with his lawyer by his side.
Tom DeLay
Is Austin's Travis County the most liberal county in the country?
It is according to Tom DeLay, who appeared on The Today Show Thursday to discuss his conviction and sentencing for money laundering and conspiracy charges stemming from funneling corporate donations to Texas Republican campaigns illegally.
"I was tried in the most liberal county in the state of Texas, and indeed in the United States," DeLay told Matt Lauer.
Most liberal county in Texas? Probably. Most liberal in the country? Not unless San Francisco, Manhattan and Provincetown, Mass., secede.
It's not clear whether DeLay is looking to change public opinion or if the political leanings of his jury pool will be a factor in his pending appeals. But we're doubtful legendary Texas attorney Dick DeGuerin failed to properly question potential jurors about political bias during voir dire (even if the foreman was a Greenpeace activist, as DeLay claims).
And if the Surpreme Court denied Jeff Skilling's claim that he couldn't receive a fair trial in Houston, it seems unlikely that the atmosphere in Austin (which has tolerated Rick Perry for a couple decades now) will be considered so incendiary as to prevent DeLay from receiving a fair trial.
But it's not only liberals that were after DeLay. Lauer quotes DeLay's claim that he was "Tea Partied" and attorney DeGuerin said that the prosecution made their case by "making people hate politicians and politics in D.C."
Do you think Tom DeLay was fairly convicted? Is it possible to get an Austin jury without a Greenpeace activist? And should DeLay's conviction have instead been of assault on our eyes during his Dancing With The Stars days?
