heard it from a friend who / heard it from a friend who / heard it from another

"I don't play accurately, but I play with wonderful expression," said Algernon Moncrieff of his own piano playing in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Loud and over-emotional: that's also a pretty good description of the Amarillo Globe-Republican Ghostly Voice^TM's version of "Goodbye, Earle".

The Ghost is absolutely horrified that Ronnie Earle, Travis County District Attorney and Tom DeLay chaser, made a political speech to a partisan Democratic group in which he called DeLay a "bully":

Earle clearly should have known better than to speak so openly and with such contempt about DeLay at a partisan event.

Then again, maybe all that political power Earle has acquired as district attorney in Travis County has gone to his head.

The Austin American-Statesman provided a slightly more realistic assessment of the remarks:

So was it a good idea for Earle to take shots — however minimal — at DeLay? No. Was the lapse made worse because they were delivered before a crowd of partisan Democrats? Yes.

But in context, the yelling and screaming about it is a mid-size tempest in a tiny teapot. Earle called DeLay a bully, which is not an original observation. Nor is being a bully a felony offense in Texas. (If it were, we'd see some real prison overcrowding).

The gotcha— or is that ghost-ya?— headline ("Aha! DeLay-ed or not, Earle finally reveals himself") reveals more about the AG-R than it does Earle. The Globe-Republican is just joining the Washington Times in carrying water for the Texas Republican leadership, who would love to force Earle to quit over these remarks. These Republican mouthpieces have been waiting for Earle to misstep. The basic article's probably been written for months, only waiting for the details to be filled in.

Earle shouldn't have given wingnuts ammunition, but calling someone a "bully" is hardly in the same league with the massive vote-selling, illegal and unethical junket-going, money-laundering, illegal contribution funneling, Homeland Security misusing, and golfing that his target has engaged in. Only a Moonie or a loony could pretend otherwise. We know which the Washington Times is.

SPACEDARK