Delay Shoots Back

John Fund reports on last night's fundraiser in honor of embattled GOP Majority Leader Tom Delay (from Political Diary):

DeLay Was Honored and Democrats Were Roasted

Embattled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay certainly enjoyed himself as 900 conservative leaders gathered last night to mock his critics and support him in his fight against allegations he had abused his office. The occasion was a $250-a-plate fundraiser at the Capitol Hilton that was broadcast on C-SPAN.

One of the most heartfelt moments came when Ina Feinberg, a Jewish "refusenik" whom Mr. DeLay helped convince authorities in the then-Soviet Union to release in 1987, gave him a testimonial. Mr. Delay thanked Ms. Feinberg for her comments and then joked to her that she shouldn't have brought up his trip to Moscow at the time: "You gave them another trip that they haven't found yet." He then quickly added: "And I can assure you that at the time there was no golf course in Moscow," a reference to stories that he had played golf with U.S. lobbyists during a 1997 trip to Moscow paid by a private foundation.

But Mr. DeLay reserved the heart of his remarks for a slashing attack on Democrats. "No ideas. No leadership. No agenda. And, just in the last week, we can now add to that list, no class," Mr. DeLay said in a reference to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's remark to a group of Nevada school children that President Bush was "a loser." Mr. Reid later apologized to the White House. "Democrats have become just the party of 'no,'" he roared as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Mr. DeLay no doubt faces even more criticism in future months, but last night he demonstrated an ability to fire back.

Harry Reid has some other problems after yesterday's debate (from The Washington Times):

Minority Leader Harry Reid strayed from his prepared remarks on the Senate floor yesterday and promised to continue opposing one of President Bush's judicial nominees based on "a problem" he said is in the nominee's "confidential report from the FBI."

Those highly confidential reports are filed on all judicial nominees, and severe sanctions apply to anyone who discloses their contents. Less clear is whether a senator could face sanctions for characterizing the content of such files.

"Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway," Mr. Reid said on the floor yesterday, about the Michigan Appeals Court judge who is nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. "All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree that there is a problem there," Mr. Reid continued.

Republican staff members and supporters of Mr. Bush's nominees were outraged.

"Can you think of a better way to trash someone's reputation?" Sean Rushton of the conservative Committee for Justice asked after seeing a transcript of the remarks. "Say that there is bad stuff from an FBI investigation in a file somewhere and leave that hanging. This is character assassination of the lowest order and completely improper."

At the very least Reid should be censured for thie grievous breach of ethics. Will the GOP have the guts to file an ethics complaint?