politburo diktat 2.0

Ronnie Earle, the Travis County DA who indicted TomDeLay, is now in the spotlight himself.

Unsurprisingly … (well, none of the claims that follow are surprising) Tom DeLay calls him “an unabashed partisan zealot engaging in personal revenge.”

Media Matters, Kos, and the Lefties point to this record of his prosecutions

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, 1994:

Former state Rep. Betty Denton, D-Waco, 1995:

Former state Rep. Lane Denton, D-Waco, 1995:

House Speaker Gib Lewis, D-Fort Worth, 1992:

Attorney General Jim Mattox, Democrat, 1985:

State Rep. Mike Martin, R-Longview, 1982:

State Treasurer Warren Harding, Democrat, 1982:

Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Yarbrough, Democrat, 1978:

The Conserva-sphere weighs in — Michelle Malkin: a lengthy, multi-link post, expressing no criticism of Earle

Captain Ed: “Earle has conducted himself in a most partisan fashion in doing it. Rather than investigate these charges in a clearheaded, direct, and nonpartisan manner, Earle has made no bones about his personal and political vendetta. He has openly used this investigation as a Democratic Party fundraising device. ”

Jeff Goldstein: “hyperpartisan” (note: use of ‘hyperpartisan,’ or any other word on Protein Wisdom may be an inside joke, and may or may not represent Goldstein’s real opinion of Earle. I have commissioned a full contextual, semiotic analysis of all references to the words ‘Ronnie Earle, hyper-partisan, partisan, gay cock porn, Travis, Texas, and ham sandwich’ as they have appeared on PW, which analysis I will read carefully before I adopt an originalist view of Jeff’s use of ‘hyperpartisan.’)

Powerline: “partisan.” Powerline basically reprints DeLays’ statement to the press, and says, “The Bush administration should take a lesson from DeLay’s aggressive self-defense.”

The Lefties also note this editorial from a Houston paper, “During his long tenure, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has prosecuted many more Democratic officials than Republicans. The record does not support allegations that Earle is prone to partisan witch hunts.” although Media Matters unintentionally? mis-stated the date of that editorial.

Got whiplash yet? A couple more RINO-ish, rational Righties opine. Mark Coffey , in “Hardly a disinterested figure,” criticizes Earle for his prosecution of GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Just One Minute sets Media Matters straight, as part of its very comprehensive roundup.

Lastly, here’s a column from The Christian Science Monitor, which generally describes Earle as an honest, non-partisan, very serious prosecutor.

Yesterday I had never heard of Ronnie Earle. But before I subscribe to Tom DeLay’s characterization of his prosecutor, I’d like to learn some more.

I’d be delighted to get links or TB’s from other blog posts that shed some light on Earle’s partisanship or his impartiality.

Update: Read J. Mann’s summary of Earle’s prosecution of Hutchison. Mann is a self-described Republican who thinks the DeLay case is bogus, but he details the Hutchison prosecution, very favorably to Earle.