wbur.org
support wbur today!
Listen to this show
The Fall of Tom Delay
photo

By Host Tom Ashbrook:

A grand jury indictment in Travis County, Texas is shaking Washington and the American political world today. For years now, Texas Congressman and GOP strongman Tom DeLay has been THE muscle behind the Republican agenda on Capitol Hill.

If President Bush was the public face, DeLay was – famously – the “hammer” — the inside, iron-fisted, take-no- prisoners enforcer who used carrots and a lot of stick to get his way, and the GOP’s way, in Washington.

Now DeLay is indicted on political money-laundering charges, and has stepped aside at House Majority Leader as a floodtide of ethics woes, criminal charges and internal dissent is rising on the GOP levees.

Hear about the indictment of Tom DeLay, and a tough season for the GOP.

Guests:

R.G. Ratcliffe, political reporter for The Houston Chronicle

Joshua Micah Marshall, editor of the blog talkingpointsmemo, contributing editor for The Washington Monthly

Lou Dubose, co-author of “The Hammer: Tom Delay, God, Money, and the Rise of the Republican Congress

William McKenzie, columnist Dallas Morning News

Maura Reynolds, covers Congress for The Los Angeles Times

 
 

Comments are closed.

On Point Today
Hour 2
Robots Among Us
Thursday, July 9, 2009 image

Robots among us. iRobot CEO Colin Angle on the business and science of robotics now.

Comments [37]
 
Hour 1
Stimulus, Part Two?
Thursday, July 9, 2009 image

Debate mounts over a “Stimulus II.” But with talk of a “fiscal train wreck,” can America afford to spend more on stimulus? Top Obama advisor Christina Romer weighs in.

Comments [46]

Recent Shows
U.S. Nuns and the Vatican
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 image

The Catholic Church in Rome moves to scrutinize — maybe rein in — American nuns. We’ll talk with sisters on the front lines.

Comments [43]
 
Trouble in Honduras
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 image

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya comes to Washington for help. We’ll ask what the coup against him means for Honduras, and for democracy in Latin America.

Comments [48]
On Point Blog
Christina Romer on the Stimulus

Christina Romer, chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, joined us in our first hour today to talk about the economy and the debate over whether a second round of stimulus is needed. Asked about Vice President Biden’s recent remarks, that the administration had “misread how bad the economy was,” she replied:  “It’s important to realize [...]

More »
 
Ten Minutes with Brzezinski

Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski joined Tom from Washington, D.C. this morning and shared his impressions of President Obama’s first face-to-face meetings with Russia’s leaders.  Brzezinski called it a “sober and realistic summit, one which didn’t create undue expectations, but one which also marked some real progress…. There was, in a sense, an unstated agreement to disagree, and that’s [...]

More » | Comments [1]
 
India, China and the Climate

The passage of the House climate bill – discussed in our first hour today – has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. But in some ways, the real question is whether a global framework can be established in Copenhagen in December, when countries will negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases. After all, America emits only [...]

More » | Comments [1]