Political Teen caught Jack Cafferty going haywire over the Tom DeLay judge recusal story. Cafferty was upset and confused:
I guess the precedent here, Wolf, is that if you’re a criminal defendant and you’re a Republican you should get a Republican judge, and if you’re a criminal defendant and you’re a Democrat you should only get a Democratic judge. Makes no sense to me at all.
It makes no sense to Cafferty because, as usual, Cafferty has not taken the time to inform himself before speaking. DeLay’s judge was not recused for being a Democrat. DeLay’s judge was recused because he donated to political groups that specifically opposed Tom DeLay. Cafferty went on:
When has this ever been an issue before in a criminal trial? It’s the first I ever heard of it. That you get the judge removed because he’s of the wrong political party. C’mon, I mean, it’s nonsense.
Again, Cafferty has never heard of it because he has never taken the time to study this particular case. If he had, he would know that this very same judge had recused himself before. When Ronnie Earle, the prosecutor in the DeLay case, tried (and failed) to prosecute Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison under similarly politicized circumstances, Judge Bob Perkins recused himself, not because he was a Democrat, but because he had given money to Hutchison’s Democratic challenger, Bob Krueger. Perkins refused to recuse himself this time, so DeLay’s attorneys filed a motion to recuse. Considering the politicized nature of this case, it was a wise move — the dismay of ignoramuses not withstanding.
Video at the Political Teen.