Jail-Bound Tom Delay Defends Himself On Hardball

video

by Jon Bershad | 6:48 pm, January 14th, 2011

» 27 comments

A few days after Tom Delay was sentenced to three years in prison, he showed up on Hardball to defend himself. They also had a fun conversation about gun control that led to Chris Matthews accusing Delay of “laughing like a car bomber.”

Matthews baited Delay by asking if he thought there was any conspiracy that led to his conviction. Delay wouldn’t badmouth the jury, but he maintained his innocence and said there was a problem when a “political hack” like Texas D.A. Ronnie Earle could keep filing charges against him. Matthews also brought up “the movie” (presumably Casino Jack) and said it depicted Delay less like a criminal than like the “dupe” of the criminals. Delay didn’t seem to have a very high opinion of the film. Matthews then asked why he ever spent any time with said criminals, namely Jack Abramoff. Delay didn’t answer, instead reminding Matthews that the FBI had investigated him for five years without finding anything.

When the conversation turned to gun control, Delay said he’d support measures to allow politicians to carry weapons in Congress, citing the Capitol shooting in 1998. Matthews promised Delay that he liked him but, laughingly, assured him that he sounded like a crazy person.

Watch the segment from MSNBC below:

Chris Matthews, Gun Control, Jack Abramoff, Ronnie Earle, Tom DeLay

Duke

Rep. Delay was screwed by a liberal judge! Bastards!!!!!
Pokerdude777

1/14/2011… I’m marking this down on my calander. The first day I’ve ever seen Tingles conduct an interview where he didn’t look like the raving mean spirited leftist loon he seems to be. I’m speechless. uhhhhh.
Moderate

In Travis County, politics is a blood sport.
BlackWidow

Tweety loves Delay. He used to have him on all the time.
BlackWidow

Duke said:
Rep. Delay was screwed by a liberal judge! Bastards!!!!!

I didn’t know there was such a thing as a liberal judge in Texas!!
tatboy

BlackWidow said:
I didn’t know there was such a thing as a liberal judge in Texas!!

Yep… Texas (just a few years ago) was ALL Dem all the time.
Pablo

BlackWidow said:
I didn’t know there was such a thing as a liberal judge in Texas!!

It’s Austin, which is where Texas keeps ‘em.
mibwilso

Hey Mr. Delay….what goes around comes around. If you play brass knuckle politics all the time, it’s just a matter of time before people want to get revenge. You had this coming.
murf

tatboy said:
Yep… Texas (just a few years ago) was ALL Dem all the time.

Where The Real Royal King resides , go figure..
murf

Pablo said:
It’s Austin, which is where Texas keeps ‘em.

This was the quote where my comment was directed *
ImNotBlue

@ murf

I doubt Royal has ever visited Texas, let alone really lives there.
murf

ImNotBlue said:
@ murf

I doubt Royal has ever visited Texas, let alone really lives there.

HA!
WCinWI

I saw this segment live. It was truly awesome.

Delay laughed so many times at Matthews that you just knew Delay was thinking “what was I smoking to have decided to come on this show”…don’t know Delay as a politician (too young to know enough) but he’s one of the few that has defended Palin on O’Donnell’s show so he’s A-Ok with me!
david r

Duke said:
Rep. Delay was screwed by a liberal judge! Bastards!!!!!

One of my friends was voted out by Delay’s illegal money funneled into her opponent’s campaign. I’m glad he got the gas.
Color Me Badd

Two of the more unfortunate nicknames for an old rich white guy to have in prison would be The Hammer and Hot Tub Tommy.
http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

Matthews is saying someone sounds crazy, LOL. How would he know?

Delay did NOTHING wrong. There was NO illegal money. His conviction will be overturned.
adastra

Wow, justice in Texas! I guess even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
anitalou

Interesting that Delay admits to being a victim of a dirty judicial system in Texas and can’t believe this has happened to him. With the resources he has, he should think about and wonder how many other people this has happened to and may be serving time for crimes they did not commit. Maybe he will now that he has had this experience. Also, wonder if he’s given the first thought to all the people that are executed and if any of those may have not been guilty.
anitalou

or rather not quilty.
Yoda002

gordonbloyershow said:
Matthews is saying someone sounds crazy, LOL. How would he know?

Delay did NOTHING wrong. There was NO illegal money. His conviction will be overturned.

Gordon you need to wake up. The evidence was so blatant that it wasn’t that hard to convict him. You would of thought he could of covered it up better that. He basically wrote the ransom note on his bank statement.
http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

Yoda002 said:
Gordon you need to wake up. The evidence was so blatant that it wasn’t that hard to convict him. You would of thought he could of covered it up better that. He basically wrote the ransom note on his bank statement.

You need to quit being a coward and come out of the closet.
Anne 1

Mini-Nuggets ( tm)
Anne 1

Mini-Nuggets ™
George C

Still mourning the loss of the late Mr. Spensen , eh Cubby ? Chin up , you’ll find some one new to cheerlead for .
George C

Glackhole ( tm )
George C

(tm)
George C

glackhole ™