DeLay's Silver Bullet Defense

Tom DeLay effectively lost his position of power as Majority Leader of the House yesterday when a senior judge upheld the charge of money laundering against him. A second charge of conspiracy was dropped. The judge told DeLay that there was no chance of any trial before January at the earliest which means it is now certain that a new permanent Leader will have to be found. Expect the GOP feeding frenzy to kick into high gear now.

However, my own guess is that DeLay will eventually walk on this charge too. His defense is relying on what they call a "silver bullet":

that the definition of money laundering did not include checks until 2005. TRMPAC transferred the $190,000 in corporate money to the RNC by using a check.

Yup, that said what you thought it did. The defense's big argument will be that even though Tom is "actually" guilty of money laundering he is still "technically" innocent because of a loophole in the law.

Which leaves two interesting questions.

Will the American public be fooled by the "technical" innocence, even spun hard by the GOP, given the media attention the trial will attract?
and

By the time Tom walks on this one will he be indicted for other charges as Abramoff or some other co-conspiritor in other corruption fingers him for something he can't find a convenient loophole on? Don't forget, there are conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder charges still out there awaiting somebody.