Friday Roundup: I Fought The Law (Via Official Oppression)

Indictments are not fun things, as former East Texas Republican State Senator Drew Nixon knows firsthand. The Chron tells us that a grand jury has indicted Nixon on a couple of counts of election oppression. According to Chron:

A Panola County Grand Jury indicted former Sen. Drew Nixon, a Republican from Carthage, after a state investigation into the Panola County Fresh Water Supply District board elections alleged wrongdoing.

Nixon, an accountant who served as an informal district election administrator at the time, allegedly tried to keep two prospective candidates off the ballot, according to the office of Attorney General Greg Abbott.

How do you take a job as an "informal district election administrator" and turn it into a grand jury indictment? The AG's office is on the case.

While they're at it, maybe they could investigate the weather. My wife and I have commented to each other several times how freakish the rainy season has been. I have pondered aloud why the media or scientists or somebody hasn't examined what's going on, or how severe it is, in a manner befitting the event. This still isn't enough, but it does tell you that it hasn't rained this much since the 1950's, and also that some places in Texas have seen 44 consecutive days of rain. That, quite literally, is beyond biblical.

(P.S. iblametherepublicans)

Staring re-election in the face, Senator Pete Domenici decided he'd had enough of Bush's Iraq tomfoolery and announced he would join Voinovich and Lugar in opposing the President's policies. Lest you forget he's a Republican though, get a load of his official statement:

Thursday, July 5, 2007

-- Backs Plan Moving U.S. Troops Away from Combat, Toward Home --

WASHINGTON – Pointing to his profound disappointment in the Iraqi government, U.S. Senator Pete Domenici today called for a redirection of U.S. military policy in Iraq and announced his support for bipartisan legislation to create conditions by which American combat troops can be removed from that nation.

Dear George, I must withdraw my support because someone else ruined things for you. XOXO, Pete

You get the picture. And somebody ought to, because I guarantee most Republicans won't get the picture about the latest Fred Thompson revelation. This is old news — first printed in his Watergate memoir a few decades ago — but it could be an unfortunate equation for him today, in an age where cover-ups and leaks turn into circuses, both legal and media. My bet is that the true story of what Thompson leaked to the Nixon administration won't make a dent in the primary. So much better for the general.

The Huffington Post's Thomas Edsall is convinced that the vaunted independent voter bloc is swinging toward Democrat Way. The Democrats beat the Republicans on nine of ten issues in a feeling thermometer survey done by WaPo, and I am shocked to see that the only thing the GOP wins on is terrorism. I thought that's what it would be when I read 9 out of 10) but I guess I hoped I would be wrong. This might indicate something for Democrats to work on.

Some times international politics are funny. New French President Sarkozy likes to jog, and the media pictures of him sweating it large and busting out the last .5k are earning him criticism from the electorate. My favorite is that a leftist publication (Je suis les racines nettes du Texas!) has started asking if jogging is right wing. Think about that as you make your way to the weekend.