In a heated discussion stemming from the Sen. Larry Craig arrest, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay blasted “Today” show host Matt Lauer for the media’s “amazing” double standard regarding GOP and Democratic scandals.
Lauer prefaced DeLay’s Thursday morning appearance on the NBC program by reciting a litany of recent Republican problems, mentioning Rep. Mark Foley and Jack Abramoff among others.
DeLay responded: “I hate to say this Matt, but you just showed the problem, the double standard, and you just participated in it. You listed a whole lot of scandals that involve the Republicans, but you didn't mention one Democrat…
“I think in your premise, if you had listed all the Democrats that are having problems right now, it would have been different. You see the Democrats re-elect the people with their problems. Republicans kick them out.”
DeLay mentioned several Democrats who have been afflicted by scandal, according to a transcript provided by the Media Research Center: “You have right now, Alan Mollohan, a Congressman from West Virginia, who is being investigated by the FBI, and the Democrats have kept him on as chairman of the committee that has oversight of the budget of the FBI. You have William Jefferson…”
Lauer cut in: “So, you're saying it's a positive thing. Is it a positive thing that the Republicans do this, they weed out immediately?”
A testy DeLay responded: “You don't want me to finish it? Because you don't want me to…”
LAUER: “No, no go ahead.”
DELAY: “You have William Jefferson caught with $90,000 of marked bills in a freezer. And they did put him off the Ways and Means Committee, but they put him on a highly sensitive Homeland Security Committee. You have Barney Frank, who was caught with a homosexual prostitute who was re-elected over and over again. Gerry Studds who was caught in a bathroom with an under-aged page and he was re-elected.”
Later on DeLay told Lauer: “The point here … is the Republicans handle it. They look at it, and when the evidence is right on that someone is guilty, they do something about it. On the other hand, the Democrats don't. And the media, the double standard in the media is amazing. The feeding frenzy, the sharks in the water that's going on right now because of a Republican. Where is the frenzy on Alan Mollohan from West Virginia or William Jefferson from Louisiana?”
LAUER: “I think you mentioned William Jefferson. There was an awful lot of coverage of William Jefferson when that story broke, Congressman.”
DELAY: “Yeah, for just a couple of days and then we went on. In the case of a Republican, believe me, I've experienced this, it's day in and day out in the media, and they write this story over and over and over again. We all know the double standard in the media. It's amazing.”
DeLay was himself hounded by the media after he was charged in 2005 with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws.
DeLay concluded at the end of the Lauer interview: “There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them.”
Later on Thursday, DeLay appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball” and told Chris Matthews: “I do know that the national media is incredibly biased against Republicans that find themselves [in trouble].”
Matthews actually conceded that assertion, to a point: “That’s a charge which I’ve heard before and I can understand why you make it. You make it a lot and sometimes, you know, you have a case to make. Sometimes.”
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