[DVaut1]

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People are trying to sidetrack the issue with attacks on DeLay's character

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Also, Earle has brought tenuous charges against people before and been shut down.

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Let's, for the sake of the argument, say that we should only judge the charges against DeLay based on the merits of the case(s).

Now, you seem to want to be critical of people for being preoccupied with issues of DeLay's character - and these don't necessarily have any bearing on the case. Okay, on it's own, fair enough.

Yet you also want to seem to be critical of Earle's past behavior/failures in his role as DA as well. On it's own, perfectly fair - but this would seem to invalidate our "let's just stick to the merits of the case" idea, would it not?

It seems to me no one really knows whether or not this case has merit or not; so I don't think it's fair to impugn people for using DeLay's character issues as a variable in speculation, if we're going to replace such variables with other variables that don't necessarily apply to the merits of the case.

In other words, I think the "DeLay has a shady history ---> he might be guilty" is just as valid/relevant as "Earle has a shady history ---> these charges are bogus".