Six plus six=six?

Apparently Republicans forget basic math when they are on the spin cycle of damage control. On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) made a big deal, in responding to Rep. Rahm Emanuel’s (D-IL) statement that it was “a grand jury that indicted Tom DeLay,“ of the fact that it was just a “six-member jury.” See transcript. Apparently, the congressmen was suggesting that only six individuals needed to be convinced, and therefore, the indictment was somehow less credible.

But a local TV station in Austin reports differently, and their information comes from a man who should know, grand jury foreman William Gibson. He reported that "he did his duty and that bound him to look at Tom Delay as just another Texan accused of criminal conspiracy. I like his aggressiveness and everything, and I had nothing against the House majority man, but I felt that we had enough evidence, not only me, but the other grand jury members, Gibson said."

"The grand jury foreman also takes great exception to accusations that he and 11 other grand jury members followed the lead of Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle instead of following the evidence. It was not a rubber stamp deal. It was not an overnight deal. If we needed extra information, it was provided to us, Gibson said....We would not have handed down an indictment. We would have no-billed [editor's note, a no-bill means the grand jury declined to indict] the man, if we didn't feel there was sufficient evidence, said Gibson."

"The evidence is there to prove Delay was involved in wrongdoing and also prove that he and his fellow grand jurors acted independent of political influence, Gibson said...It wasn't Mr. Earle that indicted the man. It was the 12 members of the grand jury, Gibson said."

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=146685.