Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose myriad ethical malfunctions forced him to resign this past June, is a blowhard. Some might even choose stronger words. But he’s a political heavyweight, to be sure, and one with a good deal of free time these days. That said, he’s found a new hobby, Slate.com notes.

Blogging!

That’s right, TomDeLay.com debuted December 10. While DeLay only writes some of the blogs - during an interview on Hardball, he said that “I have the ideas and I have somebody else put the words together” - he and his cohorts have already come out with some interesting posts.

DeLay’s most recent blog touches on Republicans’ early election strategies for 2008. His thoughts on the frontrunners:

“The top tier candidates appear to be RINO-IN-CHIEF John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Romney, who was looking to run from the right, touted himself as the lone conservative of the three, however, former statements and gaffe’s [sic] that have recently been revealed suggest otherwise.”

The article goes onto discuss the lower-tier contenders, ones he believes worth talking about and those he believes are little more than flashes in the plan. Further down the home page, there’s the obligatory criticism of Hillary Rodham Clinton and incoming House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

To his credit, Delay did make an appeal to bipartisanship regarding the brain hemorrhage that recently struck Sen. Tim Johnson:

“I too am a fierce partisan when it comes to principle, but I am also a fierce defender of the value that each person brings. I was appalled, as I am sure many of you were yesterday, by the immediate, callous and ghoulish speculation on the part the network news shows about the political effects of Tim Johnson’s health situation… Tim Johnson, get well soon.”

At least we know if that Johnson ever ended up on life support - which now seems unlikely, thankfully, as recent reports state he is recovering - Tom DeLay wouldn’t pull the plug. Political observers remember his steadfast opposition to the efforts of Terri Schiavo’s husband, Michael, to remove the feeding tube from his dying wife.

You can read his 2005 statements to Time Magazine on the subject by following the link. Be sure to check out his new blog, too - if nothing else, The Hammer is the ultimate political insider.

Once a loser in Columbia, S.C., Republican Senator John McCain desperately wants to avoid repeating the same fate he took accepted in this Southern state’s primary in 2000 - a shellacking that marked the beginning of the end of his first presidential campaign.

The Arizona senator who ran six years ago against party favorite George W. Bush now is positioning himself as the establishment candidate and building a campaign he hopes will ensure victory in South Carolina, mindful that the state’s GOP primary winners have always become the nominee.

“He obviously has learned from that experience,” said the state’s House Speaker Bobby Harrell, a Bush backer in 2000 who so far is unaligned for 2008. “He has been in South Carolina probably more than anybody else over the last year, and has been trying to line up folks who were the key Bush supporters.”

Obstacles, however, stand in McCain’s way, not the least of which are two potential rivals - Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has a significant presence in the state and also is aggressively courting high-profile Bush backers, and the popular former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

More than a year before South Carolina votes in early February 2008, McCain also faces lingering mistrust among some Republicans who voted for Bush in the bitter 2000 primary that raised doubts about the senator’s conservative credentials.

“We’re programmed to hate McCain,” explained Lisa Manini Sox, executive director of the state Senate Republican caucus. She couldn’t pinpoint a single reason for her opposition but cast doubt on whether her mind could be cdhanged.

McCain aides dismiss such comments as the griping of a handful. In fact, his allies insist that many former Bush supporters are rallying behind him as they seek a candidate with a conservative record, a strong chance of winning the general election and solid national security credentials in the post-September 11 world.

“He is the perfect man for his time,” says Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s attorney general and a McCain supporter who was neutral in 2000.

In 2000, McCain - an underdog courting independents and Democrats as well as Republicans - won handily in New Hampshire before losing to Bush by 11 percentage points in South Carolina.

Stunned by the loss up north, Bush’s campaign and the party establishment that supported him went after McCain, who was relatively unknown in the Southern state, raising questions about both the senator’s positions and his character. McCain traded insults in what became a heated battle, and his campaign never recovered.

Since then, McCain has sought to strengthen his standing among Republicans in South Carolina, the state of his close friend, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. McCain’s efforts intensified this year in preparation for a run at the White House.

Continue reading this article …

Vice President Dick Cheney will be called as a defense witness in the much-anticipated CIA leak trial involving his former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, MSNBC reports today.

“We’re calling the vice president,” Libby’s attorney, Ted Wells, said in a hearing. After the hearing another attorney for Libby, attorney William Jeffress said he does not expect the Vice President to resist testifying at the trial scheduled to begin in January.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, responded by saying, “That settles that.” Fitzgerald had said that he did not expect to call Cheney as a witness.

“We don’t expect him to resist,” Jeffress said of Cheney’s proposed testimony.

Fitzgerald said earlier this week that he did not expect the White House to resist if Cheney or other administration officials are called to testify.

The Vice President himself has said in a CNN interview in June, “I may be called as a witness.”

Cheney’s spokeswoman, LeAnn McBride, said in a statement:

“We’ve cooperated fully in this matter and will continue to do so. In fairness to the parties involved and as we’ve stated previously, we’re not going to comment further on a legal proceeding.”

She did not say whether Cheney will appear in the courtroom to testify or if his testimony would be done in an other way, like a deposition or taped testimony. Legal experts said they were surprised by Cheney not resisting testifying, citing personal and institutional reasons.

Fitzgerald he does not intend to examine any witnesses on any topic for which, “we expect an assertion of privilege.”

If Cheney appearsm, he would be the first sitting Vice President to testify at court in a criminal case, according to legal experts.

Cheney, who was Libby’s boss at the White House, has said in interviews on CNN and FOX News that Libby is “one of the finest men I’ve ever known. He is a great guy. I worked with him for a long time. I have tremendous regard for him.”

A series of court filings in the CIA leak case provide details of Cheney’s role at the center of an administration effort to rebut an outspoken critic of the White House’s rationale for the Iraq war in the summer of 2003.

Libby is charged with lying to investigators and a grand jury about his conversations with journalists regarding former CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Plame is the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson and worked for the CIA when her husband was sent by the agency to Niger to investigate claims that Iraq was seeking yellowcake for a nuclear program.

Wilson wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, titled, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” that the Bush administration somehow, “twisted” some intelligence about Iraq’s nuclear weapons program.

Fitzgerald offered new details of Cheney’s reaction to the article when he filed in court several months ago the handwritten annotations on the newspaper clipping by Cheney himself.

Fitzgerald argues that Wilson’s article itself lies at the center of the sequence of events leading to Libby’s alleged criminal conduct.

The annotated version of the article shows handwritten notes at the top, and underscores within the article by Cheney, that Fitzgerald says reveal the harsh reaction the Vice President had to Wilson’s assertions about U.S. intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

The notes by Cheney seemingly question the CIA’s motivation for sending Wilson on the fact finding trip to Niger.

“Have they done this sort of thing before? Send an Ambr (ambassador) to answer a question? Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us? Or did his wife send him on a junket?” Cheney writes.

Libby’s attorneys also indicated today that they did not intend to call Wilson as a witness for the defense. Other government officials and journalists are expected to be key witnesses in the trial, which is expected to last six weeks.

It’s more than a little disconcerting that, from a political point of view, the condition of Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat from South Dakota who suffered a crippling brain hemorrhage, has taken a back seat.

But nevertheless, given the configuration of the next Congress, one can’t help but consider the potential fallout.

• If Johnson dies, the Republicans will be a big winner and the Democrats a big loser. If he doesn’t make it, control of the U.S. Senate is practically guaranteed to shift back into the hands of the Republican Party, which lost control of the Senate in the midterm elections.
• If Johnson lives - even if he remains seriously impaired, the Senate will remain in the hands of the Democrats, unless he decides to resign.

To their credit, Republican leadership has taken the position that it wants to see their fallen comrade from the other side of the aisle recover and take his seat again in the next election.

For example, Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the second-ranking Republican in the next Senate, said: “My expectation and hope is that Tim will recover fully and come back and we’ll go to work. You know, I’d like to be in the majority, but I don’t want to do it that way.”

While it is not certain at this point how Tom Johnson is doing, it appears that while his condition remains critical, reports suggest he is making a recovery that has been without complications.

The situation is garnering widespread interest because during the midterm elections in early November, 49 Democrats and two independents with left-leading views were left with Senate seats giving the Dems a 51-49 slim majority.

This gives Democrats the edge in a number of ways. In addition to being able, at least in theory, to control votes on issues, the majority party also chairs all Senate committees. But if Tim Johnson were to die, the Republican governor of South Dakota would name a successor. A Republican would almost certainly get the nod, squaring the most exclusive club in America at 50-50.

That total, given the Republican vice president’s authority to vote in case of a tie, would shift power back to the GOP.

Interestingly, a U.S. Senator does not have to be able to work to hold office. Unlike the presidency, which under the 25th Amendment transfers authority to the next person in the line of succession if the head of state becomes incapacitated, senators only have to be alive to hold office.

We hope Tim Johnson successfully overcomes his affliction and is able to return soon to his Senate seat. Not because he is a Democrat, but because South Dakota voters elected him to represent them. If he were a Republican, we would wish no less.

President George W. Bush says he is happy for Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter, Mary, who is expecting a child with her partner, Heather Poe.

In an exclusive year-end interview, the President told People that despite his opposition to gay marriage, he’s happy for the Vice President and his daughter.

“The Vice President took me aside and gave me the good news. He and his wife, Lynne, are very happy for Mary,” Bush said.

In 2005, Bush said that “ideally, a child is raised in a married family with a man and a woman.” Ballot initiatives banning gay marriage in several key states played a major role in securing his re-election bid in 2004.

Asked if he still felt that way, knowing Mary Cheney and her partner, he said:

“I think Mary is going to be a loving soul to her child. And I’m happy for her.”

Mary Cheney, 37, and Poe, 45, have been together for 15 years and are expecting their first child late in the spring. Cheney’s other daughter, Elizabeth, has five children.

Although Mary Cheney was a key aide on her father’s 2004 campaign, she has said she disagrees with Bush’s stance on gay marriage. Dick Cheney voiced his difference of opinion as well, but stated matter-of-factly that Bush sets the policy for the administration.

“I am in favor of legalized same sex marriage,” Mary Cheney said. “But in the campaign, I had no doubt, even with that disagreement, that President Bush was the absolute best person to be leading us at this time in our country’s history.”

Mary Cheney’s sexual orientation has, understandably, become a sticking point in a decade in which gay rights have risen to the forefront of public debate. In 2002, she joined the gay-friendly Republican Unity Coalition and said that sexual orientation should be “a non-issue for the Republican Party”, with a goal of “equality for all gay and lesbian Americans.”

The organization soon vanished after the 2004 election, however, and Mary resigned from the RUC’s board in July 2003 to become the director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney 2004 Presidential re-election campaign.

In 2004, the Bush administration supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have limited marriage to heterosexuals and also banned civil unions and domestic partnership benefits. Some pundits believe the bill, which had little chance of passing Congress, was an appeal to the party’s conservative base.

Mary Cheney did not publicly express her view until her autobiography, Now It’s My Turn, where she stated her opposition to the amendment, yet felt it important, nevertheless, to support the president’s re-election bid as she felt only he was capable of protecting the country from terrorist attacks.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is getting ready to chat it up with Democratic voters at a house party in Hooksett, N.H.

But first, the Manchester Union Leader reports, he has to make a quick phone call.

“Tell him I want to see, obviously, President Bashir,” the Democrat tells his scheduler via cellphone as the state trooper at the wheel speeds their SUV onto the interstate. Richardson is referring to Omar al-Bashir, the president of war-torn Sudan, and a humanitarian mission the governor is trying to orchestrate.

“Just put, ‘Anybody making decisions on U.N. force,’” Richardson tells the woman on the line. “But, you know, certainly the president.”

Richardson, who spent the weekend in New Hampshire as he considers a run for U.S. president, has been keeping a high profile in foreign affairs. Last Friday, he met with North Korean diplomats to discuss this week’s talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

His sights, however, have not strayed far from the homefront. Richardson has made repeated visits this year to New Hampshire, where he and other prospective presidential candidates are already gearing up for a primary that’s still more than a year away. The governor says he plans to announce his intentions next month.

Richardson said he was surprised by Sen. Evan Bayh’s decision to quit the race, two weeks after the Indiana Democrat said he was forming an exploratory committee. He maintained, however, that underdogs can win in New Hampshire and that voters are starting to recognize his name.

“I know the media’s not taking me seriously right now. I know the pundits aren’t,” he told the Union Leader. “And that’s fine with me. You’ve got to peak at the right time. I don’t want to peak now.”

Richardson has previously served as a congressman, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and U.S. energy secretary. Last month, he won re-election to a second term as governor of New Mexico. His margin of victory was the largest in state history.

As a candidate for president, Richardson said he would aim to diminish the country’s dependence on foreign oil and improve port security.

As for the Iraq war, as with North Korea, Richardson favors diplomacy over force. The governor said he would withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq next year and encourage Iraq’s warring factions to try reconciling their differences peacefully.

“I believe a civil war subsides with us taking a secondary role but (also) helping the Iraqis make the transition to secure their country,” he said.

Richardson said he also supports the Iraq Study Commission’s recommendation of resuming talks with Syria and Iran.

“We have not emphasized diplomacy and face-to-face negotiations. You can deliver a tougher message by doing it directly,” he said.

About 20 people came to see Richardson in Hooksett at the home of newly elected Rep. Eileen Ehlers. There, voters pressed Richardson to discuss his take on illegal immigration.

Richardson, a Hispanic, said he supports a policy of “earned legalization” that would allow illegal immigrants to become citizens if they learn English, pay back taxes, incur a fine and pass a background check. He opposes plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Attendees were impressed with Richardson’s intelligence and articulateness. Their support, however, is not guaranteed. If there’s anything New Hampshire voters can be counted on for… it’s not to be counted on, at least not early. Granite State residents are an independent-minded bunch that will listen to everyone, but where they come down is anyone’s guess at this point.

Richardson would face stiff competition from Barack Obama as an alternative to likely front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, though none of the three have officially thrown their hats into this ring.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is a “dedicated and energetic” man who loves his country, President George W. Bush said at the Pentagon this afternoon where Rumsfeld is being honored.

“I have come to appreciate Don Rumsfeld’s professionalism, dedication, his strategic vision, his deep devotion to the men and women of this nation who wear the uniform and his love for the United States of America,” the president said.

On the day of the 9/11 attacks, Bush said, “Secretary Rumsfeld’s first instinct was to run toward danger” to help those who were injured at the Pentagon.

Bush told Rumsfeld, who is about to be replaced by the confirmed, but not yet sworn-in Robert Gates, that “the country thanks you for six outstanding years at the Department of Defense and I thank you for your sacrifice and your service and your devotion to the men and women of our armed services.”

History will judge the true influence of Rumsfeld, 74, by all accounts a polarizing figure. Some believe he is a man of honor and strength, even an inspiration to us all. Many disagree with his Iraq war policies and admit he made major miscalculations, but are nevertheless willing to acknowledge his long and distinguished career in public service.

Others believe, to the contrary, that he set back the image of this country and the entire concept of human freedom like no one in U.S. history.

He has been described as arrogant, an egomaniac, out of touch with reality, and certainly far worse. One thing is for certain in all of this - Rumsfeld shouldered an enormous burden as the fall guy for an administration whose mishandling of Iraq borders on epic, and Robert Gates has one hell of a mess to clean up.