Zebo, you have a very twisted minimalist understanding of his crimes.
You do not appreciate the gravity of how much harm white-collar crime can do, nor the significance of corrupting the public trust.
The federal government is a very powerful institution, and when a leader of Congress is corrupted to use it for corrupt things, people can be hurt far worse than one beating.
I'm somewhat open to the argument 99 years is too much, I think I've heard of a country where the longest sentence for a crime is just under 20 years, and I think they have a point that any more is of questionable justice, outside of protecting the public from some people, but anyone who can be deterred by jail, is going to be with 20 years. But your comment of 6 months is asinine. It shows you do not appreciate the crime.
A murder, a beating, a robbery of one person is a terrible crime; a corruption in government that can hurt a thousand and betray millions is, too.
Besides the public interest being betrayed, you can also note the injustice that an uneducated kid who pulls a gun to make $50 - especially if the situation turns violent - can face decades in jail, while white collar criminals who steal millions get 'slap on the wrist' sentences because 'there was no violence'. That's not justice either - sort of the way crack cocaine had far longer sentences than the same amount of power cocaine.
DeLay's extent of corruption is pretty extreme. It was a pervasive, cycnical, criminal view that would make Al Capone blush with shame. I don't think you have almost any idea what figures like Jack Abramoff he'd enable - sell the government to - did. For just one example, for this 'it's just money' policy, there were horrible almost slave-like conditions from exploitave factory owners in the Marianas islands for thousands or young women; DeLay accepted paid family vacations and donations for his 'non-profits' from these owners, go there and give a speech that "You are a shining light for what is happening in the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we’re trying to do in America, in leading the world in the free-market system."
The story is here:
http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2006/paradise_full.asp
It doesn't begin to give the flavor of Abramoff's corruption, but a taste is here:
http://thinkprogress.org/abramoff/
You are an apologist for massive corruption, Zebo, not only preventing justice for huge wrongdoing, but also hurting our system by encouraging more with lax punishment.
When Congress was ready to vote overwhelmingly for reform in these sweat shops, DeLay kept his promise t the owners, largely Chinese businessmen exploiting the loophole for the 'made in the USA' tag in slave labor conditions, and single-handedly prevented the legislation from getting a vote (it passed almost or actually unanimously in the Senate).
He wasn't convicted of all the terrible, corrupt harms he did betraying the public trust, but his crimes are ones that are that betrayal, and they deserve serious punishment.
I watched a video of his speaking to a group of fundamentalist Christians, and he played the part of pretty much pastor with his self-righteous preaching.
If you see that, and contrast it to his organized crime, you better appreciate the nature of his behavior.
You are an accomplice of the corruption as long as you minimize and come close to praising it. We need more accountability for it, not more of it as you would cause.
In contrast, let's note a hero in Congress you more than likely have never heard of, Rep. George Miller.
He began to fight for these abused girls who never voted for him thousands of miles from his district, though his efforts were stopped cold from when Republicans took over the House in 1994, and the Republican chairman of the committee would refuse his requests for hearings, until Democrats captured the House in 2006.