If you want to know the background and the current thinking on the Rick Perry indictment, the best explanation I’ve seen so far is James Moore.

Jim really sums it up nicely and puts a bow on top, predicting Perry will be convicted.

Perry is accused of using his veto authority to coerce a publicly elected official into leaving office. And when the veto threat, and later the actual exercise of the veto didn’t work, he may have tried a bit of bribery, which is why he is facing criminal charges.

Not because he exercised his constitutional veto authority.

Read it all and be smart.

UPDATE:  Jim will be on Hardball ‘splainin’ all this at 6:30 Texas time.  MSNBC.  Check it out.

The front yard of one of my neighbors.

I live in a city that is 56% Hispanic.  An old white rich Republican couple live in this house.

Does anyone know where I can get a competing signs that says, “Jesus loves the little children”?

Bryan Fischer is the Director of the American Family Association, a rightwing hate group.  He learned to tweet.

What? Lesbians can’t indict gays?

Below is a picture of Michael McCrum, the Republican special prosecutor who indicted Perry.  Apparently, he’s a damn good lesbian.

I absolutely did not know that he’s a lesbian.  Imagine how stoopid I feel.

Thanks to Laura for the heads up.

I am not one of the folks calling for Rick Perry to step down as Governor and I believe it is a major mistake to do so.

I am a Democrat and therefore I believe in the rule of law.  You are innocent until proven guilty.  Period.  No exceptions.  None.

Additionally, we Democrats were all outraged when Rick Perry asked District Attorney Lehmberg to step down.  We were right to be angry.  We even supported her when she was found guilty and served her jail sentence.   Her behavior was unacceptable but we stood behind her.  It seems more than a tad duplicitous for us to now call for Perry’s resignation.

Instead, let’s stay true to our core beliefs – something that separates us from the other party – and allow Perry to stay in office until a new Governor is elected.  Until then, Perry can be the leader of his party, set the ethical standard for Texas Republicans, be a big help to his current Attorney General by forcing him to make shady decisions, and be the shining example of what Republicans offer the State of Texas.  That’s fine with me.  After all, he’s awesome.

With any luck at all their nominee for Attorney General will also be indicted next month.

If anyone should be calling for Perry’s resignation it should be Rick Perry himself and his fellow Republicans.

I just needed to say that.

P.S. – Ya think he was disappointed to discover that his magical glasses don’t work?

Okay, let’s get some background for folks from foreign states and those who do not eat politics and poop schadenfreude.

Rosemary Lehmberg is the Democratic Travis County District Attorney.  The Travis County (think: Austin) DA prosecutes public corruption all over Texas.  Rosemary got arrested for DWI.  It was not her finest hour.  She plead guilty and got 45 days in jail for a misdemeanor DWI.

Rick Perry knows the GOP has some ethics problems.  For example, their current candidate for Attorney General is being investigated for a violation of a state securities law.  So, Rick would love to put a safe Republican in that office.

Soooooo, Perry threatens to veto funds for the public corruption office if Rosemary doesn’t resign.  She calls his bluff.  Rumor has it that he even offered her another state job if she would just step down and let him appoint her replacement.

That’s called abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant.  Both are felonies.

We get a special prosecutor a year ago who goes to the grand jury.

And that brings us to April of this year, the last time I wrote about it.

My biggest hope is that Tom DeLay and Rick Perry get to share a prison cell.

I came to Austin for Tom’s trial and we had a little party the night before sentencing.  I will do the same thing with Rick Perry so start saving up barbeque and hotel room money.

The indictment is here.

More to come.  My phone is ringing a lot.

UPDATE:  Hey, watch the Executive Director of the Texas Democratic Party get interviewed.

UPDATE:  Tomorrow I will talk to you about the cancer fund and why Rick Perry didn’t want the Travis County DA investigating that.  By the way, he did not get indicted for asking her to step down.  He got indicted for extorting her to step down.  He did not ask.  He extorted.

I’m on my way home.  Will post soon.  Posting from my phone while gleeful is difficult.

UPDATED:  Yesterday I was in Costco shopping for a political reception happening this afternoon – wine, cheese, burritos, – when I got a call from a trusted and highly reliable source who told me that the news was fixing to break.  Had I been at home, you would have been the first to know.  However, I was in the middle of damn Costco and still didn’t have any burritos in my basket.  Screw burritos, I’m buying some extra wine and hitting the check out.

I can post from my phone but it’s a pain in the patootie and I generally screw everything up.  The check out line was a mile and half long, of freekin’ course.  Meanwhile, after about 10 minutes, my phone starts sounding like a bad handbell choir.  My favorite text came from a friend in Austin who said, “Actually, he was indicted on three counts but they can’t remember the third.”

Bubba drives home.  I post this.  And I giggle.

I’m completely serious.  The night before the punishment phase of the trial, meet me in the downstairs ballroom of Stubb’s barbeque for food and fun.  After the verdict, we go to Matt’s El Rancho for Margaritas and Bob Armstrong dip.  It’s a Texas Republican crook tradition.