Democrats continue to push the pathetic notion that Tom DeLay is somehow exceptional because he hired members of his family to help with his campaign, even though Harry Reid makes him look like an alter boy in that respect.
They're also trying to sell the idea that DeLay's travel, some of it privately financed, is unprecedented, and corrupt, even though CBS News, reporting on a piece by USA Today, which covered a database published by PoliticalMoneyLine, shows that Tom Delay comes in a paltry 28th among his congressional cohorts.
The PoliticalMoneyLine study reviewed 5,410 trips taken by 605 members of the House and Senate. Democratic lawmakers had the edge, taking 3,025 trips, to 2,375 trips for GOP members.
The No. 1 trip-taker in dollar terms was Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Sensenbrenner took 19 trips valued at $168,000.
In contrast, DeLay finished 28th by taking 14 trips valued at $94,568.
Among those higher on the list than DeLay were 2008 presidential wannabes Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and two members of the Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, and outgoing Marylander Paul Sarbanes (D).
The Dems, as usual, are trying to sell air. They will, no doubt, continue to get truck-loads of help in their endeavor from the Old Media, but the reality is un-shakeable: it didn't start with DeLay, and it won't end there. Just look at the behind the scenes scurrying, the last minute re-filing of forms, the travel documentation base-covering in the hallowed halls of congress, and you'll see just how naked the emperor really is.
