DeLay counterstrike targets Soros

The New York Post notes today a new series of TV ads running in Houston that attack liberal activist and billionaire financier George Soros, a response to Soros' recent ads criticizing everyone's favorite congressman, Tom DeLay of Sugar Land. The ads, financed by the Free Enterprise Committee, say that Soros bankrolled anti-DeLay ads "because Tom DeLay fights for lower taxes and economic freedom." Naturally, they don't stop there:

"George Soros is full of money and liberal ideas, like legalizing drugs, letting felons vote and keeping the death tax," an announcer says ominously in the opening frame of the group's first ad, which aired on Houston broadcast and cable channels.

DeLay, of course, is still in trouble for all sorts of things, among them alleged ethics violations and money laundering and his relationship with uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. As Soros spokesman Michael Vachon told the Post:

"Obviously, DeLay has only himself to blame for running afoul of Texas law and running amok with Jack Abramoff's money. I wonder what shadowy funders are backing the Free Enterprise Committee? . . . I asked them, but they refused to tell me. I couldn't find anything in the public record. I wonder why they're hiding."

Houstonist couldn't find anything about the Free Enterprise Committee, which the Post reports calls itself the "leading voice in the public arena fighting for the American system of free enterprise," either. This isn't the first time DeLay supporters have deflected criticism by going after Soros: It happened nearly a year ago, too.