the president and this coming wednesday the republican majority in the house will vote to repeal it. neither tucson nor rhetoric nor gloom of tragedy will stay these republicans from the swift completion of their appointed rounds to destroy what president obama as achieved it. what obama has joined together, let republicans tear asunder. all of this comes at a time when president obama is looking more like a national leader. a big one. his approval rating is up and he s crushing all republican rivals in a brand new poll especially one former governor from alaska. our strategists will get at that and what it means for the fights ahead tonight. plus, tom delay, remember him? used to be one of the most feared players in politics now fighting a conviction on money laundering. he says he s the victim of a politically driven court. tom delay is here to smash the case against him. also, some are talking of getting rid of that island of congress during the state of the union. the
there was talk of a culture of corruption and specifically the jack abramoff scandal and tom delay was involved in that and federal charges were later dropped, but the culture of corruption was a effective campaign tool for democrats and defeating republicans, that year, 2006. martha: what do you think when you look at the situation? is it a personal vendetta from ronnie earl against tom delay? as you point out, you have to the justice system has played out here, and, there has been a conviction. well, there is no doubt that earl felt very, very strongly about this, and, it was personal between him and delay and it is an incredible fall for the man who was the most powerful man of the house of representatives, just five years ago but the justice system has spoken and we ll have to see what happens with the appeal. martha: byron, thanks for weighing in. it is quite a story and quite a sentence for tom delay, as you point out, held a lot of power in washington in his day,
motivated and the in the most democratic district in texas and let s bring ein byron york, a fx news contributor, to talk about that, good to have you with us today. good morning, martha. martha: obviously he was relieved of the federal charges against him and went back to texas and these charges were brought in the middle of the course of the whole legal situation, and, he claims the county d.a. has been after him since day one and brought him on charges that everybody does, quote. that didn t fly well with the judge. well, delay has always argued he was the victim of a vendetta by a man, ronnie earl, who was the district attorney, who pursued issues of money and politics with almost religious zeal, and he said that money is the root of all evil in politics and the devil s brew of politics and felt that tom delay had taken parts in a essentially a money laundering scheme, corporate political donations are illegal in texas, and, the
picture that was of him, he looks so different from the pictures we ve seen. good morning, i m martha maccallum. we re learning new and disturbing details. just when you thought you had heard it all about jared loughner, we re getting more information on him. we re going to speak to someone who knew him well. many people begin the process of paying respect to these victims, well wishers will sign a book of condolences on capitol hill as we speak, the president now set to travel to tucson. we re getting more details on when and where he will speak at the memorial service there tomorrow. bill: that s where we start this morning, trace gallagher, leading our coverage at the medical center where giffords is being treated. first of all the latest on the suspect is what, trace? reporter: we can tell you that when jared loughner made his first appearance in court the judge was very direct with him, saying you realize this this could get the death penalty or life in prison and jare