I'm officially starting a countdown until Tom DeLay backs up the claim that the Democratic leadership is conspiring with Ronnie Earle (reported in the New York Times today), which he conveniently failed to substantiate under questioning from Wolf Blitzer yesterday:
DELAY: Ronnie Earle has been district attorney in Travis County since 1976. In 1976 there were no Republicans -- certainly no Republicans other than governor, and he didn't get elected until '78. There were no Republicans. The fights were between conservative Democrats and liberal Democrats. Ronnie Earle does this to all his political enemies. He did it to conservative Democrats. He did it -- and he does it to Republicans. And particularly in my case, he did it in conjunction and working with the Democrat leadership here in Washington, D.C.
BLITZER: Well, that's an explosive charge you make, that there was some sort of collusion or conspiracy between Ronnie Earle and Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders in the Congress. What evidence, if any, do you have to back that up?
DELAY: It's very good evidence, that they announced this strategy publicly, they put it on their website and this strategy is in their fund-raising letters.
BLITZER: Who specifically -- who announced this?
DELAY: The DCCC, the Democratic Campaign Committee, run by Chairman Rahm Emanuel.
BLITZER: They announced that they were working with Ronnie Earle to get you an indictment?
DELAY: No, they didn't do that.
BLITZER: What evidence is there they consulted with Ronnie Earle, that they talked to him or they had any dealings with him whatsoever?
DELAY: That evidence is coming. But the point is, they announced the strategy, and it's very funny that two weeks ago, when Ronnie Earle said publicly that I was not part of the investigation, that I hadn't been investigated, and then turns around in two days -- over the weekend -- he now is going to indict me. It is quite obvious, because the Democrats announced this strategy. And we all know how this place works. I'm sure they worked closely with Ronnie Earle on this strategy.
BLITZER: When is the evidence going to be made available? You say it's coming. When are you going to make that evidence available?
DELAY: When it's timely.
BLITZER: What does that mean?
DELAY: When it's timely.
BLITZER: All right. Well, we'll have to wait and see for that evidence.
In other news, DeLay later asked Pelosi when she stopped beating her husband.
Update 9/30: Jon Chait does a great job of explaining what DeLay represents in his LA Times today (via Kevin Drum).
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