The folks at the Chron are not known for their love of Representative Tom DeLay, so imagine their glee when he was indicted by Travis County DA Ronnie Earle. Well, perhaps glee is not the right word, as even the people at the Chronicle can see that there is something smelly about the whole business.

Case in point: Rick Casey. The Chron columnist has opined on the second indictment of Mr. DeLay, and he seems to be having difficulty containing his disappointment. Ronnie Earle bears the brunt of his wrath for failing to secure unassailable indictments, while DeLay receives the usual gritted teeth.

Casey first takes a shot at the second DeLay indictment:

The resulting impression is of a quickie indictment that recalls Earle’s earlier history.

Mr. Casey then goes on to put some of those “highlights” on display:

I’m not just talking about Earle’s mishandling of the case against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. I’m talking about the fact that he has been an even-handed mishandler. In fact, he’s mishandled more cases against Democrats than against Republicans, probably for the simple reason that Democrats were in power for most of Earle’s nearly 30 years in office.

Hutchison is the best-remembered of Earle’s failures, partly because it’s the most recent (1994)…

Then there was the reportedly dismal performance of his office in the 1985 bribery trial of then-Attorney General Jim Mattox. Mattox, a liberal Democrat, was acquitted by a jury and re-elected by the public.

But this being the Chronicle, Mr. DeLay just cannot catch a break. Casey finishes the above reference to Earle’s Hutchison failure by including a dig at the DeLay camp:

…and partly because DeLay supporters beat it like a drum.

Obviously Mr. Casey believes he is the only one qualified to detail Mr. Earle’s shortcomings. Then there is this cheap shot at the beginning of the story:

But even without the heated rhetoric of DeLay’s lead attorney, Houston’s Dick DeGuerin, it made some Democrats nervous. (Emphasis added by LST)

Just what is DeGuerin’s “heated rhetoric?”

The Casey column cites the attorney’s response to the second indictment:

"This is a mess," DeGuerin said Monday, while Earle was silent on his reasons. "This looks like the Keystone Kops."

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Casey demonstrates Ronnie Earle’s shaky prosecutorial track record, and admits that the second indictment appears to be a “quickie” reminiscent of Earle’s previous errors, then chastises Mr. DeLay’s legal counsel for daring to be critical of the same thing.

Finally, Mr. Casey hedges his bets: 

Skepticism is the order of the day: toward both sides.  (Emphasis added by LST)

Well you know the old Democrat saying, “Never give a Republican an even break.” That seems especially true when you are a journalist.