RUSH: “A drive by the Democratic leadership to strip the embattled William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana) of his committee post [that would be the House Ways and Means Committee] has triggered a backlash. This happened yesterday.” With everybody else paying attention to al-Zarqawi and his assuming room temperature, the Democrats were trying to get rid of Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana). The Congressional Black Caucus stood up, opposed the move, and said the that Democratic lawmaker deserves a presumption of innocence. The caucus chairman is Representative Mel Watt of North Carolina, and he said that “some black voters might ask why some action was sought against a black member of Congress when there was neither precedent nor rule for it.”
Now, haven’t we heard the Democrats accuse the Republicans of running the House “like a plantation”? We have heard that said. That was one of the mantras that the Democrats tried, that the House was run like a plantation. Well, excuse me, but who is it that seems to be running the Ways and Means Committee and their own caucus like a plantation? It sounds to me like it is the Democrats doing this. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Okay, the Black Caucus is asking for the presumption of innocence for Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana), and they’re saying that we shouldn’t rush to judgment out there. They don’t think anything should happen to Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana) at all. 
Now, I know, this is quite a different view being taken by Democrats when it came to Tom DeLay. They wanted DeLay to step down right away after he had been indicted, but that was because the Republicans caved to pressure to show the Democrats how fair they could be when they were in the leadership. So the Republicans wrote a rule for themselves that the Democrats have not adopted, and that rule says that if any of the Republican leadership is ever indicted, then that member will step down from his leadership position. There was no reason to do this. It was again Republicans trying to show how nice they are, how cooperative and how fair they would be once they assume power.
Well, all this did was give the Democrats veto power over who sits on the Republican leadership positions in the House. All you need to do is go out and find a hack prosecutor like Ronnie Earle, come up with this phony indictment of DeLay, and DeLay has to resign by virtue of Republican rules. Democrats do not have that rule. The Democrats wanted DeLay gone, they didn’t care about DeLay’s presumption of innocence, and he didn’t even have the smoking gun of hidden cash in the freezer or a videotape of accepting a hundred grand from an FBI informant. DeLay hasn’t been convicted of anything, and yet he had to go because of this Republican rule.
I mean, they had no doubt. “No question. DeLay’s gotta go. He’s bad for the Republicans. He’s bad for the leadership, and Jefferson is going to be innocent no matter what happens.” But yet, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to come to the defense today of the Congressional Black Caucus on this. What happened so DeLay is not right. It was wrong, but two wrongs do not make a right, and the Congressional Black Caucus has a point, and you can even use the DeLay story as an example to agree with them. DeLay should have had the presumption of innocence, too. He should not have been forced to resign; the Republicans should not have thrown him overboard. 
There still has been no adjudication of his case just as there has been no adjudication of the case of Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana). What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, the Congressional Black Caucus is right, and they know this. What we have here is an example of Democrats, white, plantation, liberal Democrats, who at the first sign of trouble will throw one of their black brothers off the bus just like that in order to protect their own image. Now, some of you might be saying, “Well, Pelosi’s doing the right thing, Rush. She’s acting in the best interests of her party.”
Maybe so. But Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have played the race card their entire political career. Sort of like when you live by the photo-op, you die by the photo-op. When you live by the race card, you may end up dying by it. And I am here to tell you today that the Congressional Black Caucus as a matter of point of law is exactly right. There is no charge, even, yet against Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana). There is no trial slated. There are no charges, there is not an indictment.
At this stage there is indeed the presumption of innocence in our system, and I admire the Congressional Black Caucus for holding the Democratic leadership in the House feet to the fire on this, because a travesty of injustice according to the US system of law is being done to Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana) by Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer and whoever else in that caucus is saying this, but not being quoted publicly. It’s a travesty, and it’s a classic example how they use and take advantage of blacks in their own party, in their own organizations, of the first sign of trouble, get rid of them. And the Congressional Black Caucus, whatever else you may think of them, is right on the point of law here, and I’m standing firm with them.
END TRANSCRIPT
*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.
