It's time for DeLay to go
Courtesy of loyal blog reader Susan of Local Tint, we learn that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, warned federal judges on Thursday that they could face repercussions for upholding the law in the Terri Schiavo case.
"The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior," said DeLay, who wouldn't mind if you'd forget all about his ethics brouhahas and the criminal indictments of his associates. He also whined about "an arrogant and out-of-control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president" and spoke in vague terms about impeachment proceedings against the judges involved in the case.
(I wonder if he'll call for the ouster of the entire U.S. Supreme Court, which declined at least five times to hear appeals in the case? Or maybe he's just talking about Florida Circuit Judge George Greer, an extreme liberal leftist purveyor of... Oh, never mind, he's a Republican and a Southern Baptist.)
U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., rebuked DeLay, noting that "at a time when emotions are running high, Mr. DeLay needs to make clear that he is not advocating violence against anyone." Standing alone, DeLay's rhetoric would have been reckless in a country where we've recently seen the murders of a judge's family and of a judge in his own courtroom. Those ill-considered words begin to border on incitement when you consider that a man has already been arrested for plotting the murders of Greer and Schiavo's husband, Michael, and that a Michigan militia leader was ready to storm Schiavo's hospice at a moment's notice.
I've long suspected that some in the GOP were using the Schiavo situation as a test case to see just how much public resentment they could stir up against the courts. Now, with DeLay calling for a Judiciary Committee investigation of "the failure of the judiciary on the federal level," it appears that theory may hold some water. However, considering that 82 percent of the public opposed politicians' intervention in the Schiavo case, any attempt to tinker with the courts based on that situation will face very long odds. The Republicans' best political strategy at this point would be never to talk about the Schiavo case again.
The GOP also would benefit from reining in its No. 2 man in the House. DeLay has received three admonishments from the House Ethics Committee. Three of his associates have been indicted on money-laundering charges. Now he wants to put political pressure on the judiciary because judges didn't do what he wanted.
For the good of his party, for the good of his countrymen, and for the good of the Constitution, DeLay should resign as House majority leader.
"The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior," said DeLay, who wouldn't mind if you'd forget all about his ethics brouhahas and the criminal indictments of his associates. He also whined about "an arrogant and out-of-control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president" and spoke in vague terms about impeachment proceedings against the judges involved in the case.
(I wonder if he'll call for the ouster of the entire U.S. Supreme Court, which declined at least five times to hear appeals in the case? Or maybe he's just talking about Florida Circuit Judge George Greer, an extreme liberal leftist purveyor of... Oh, never mind, he's a Republican and a Southern Baptist.)
U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., rebuked DeLay, noting that "at a time when emotions are running high, Mr. DeLay needs to make clear that he is not advocating violence against anyone." Standing alone, DeLay's rhetoric would have been reckless in a country where we've recently seen the murders of a judge's family and of a judge in his own courtroom. Those ill-considered words begin to border on incitement when you consider that a man has already been arrested for plotting the murders of Greer and Schiavo's husband, Michael, and that a Michigan militia leader was ready to storm Schiavo's hospice at a moment's notice.
I've long suspected that some in the GOP were using the Schiavo situation as a test case to see just how much public resentment they could stir up against the courts. Now, with DeLay calling for a Judiciary Committee investigation of "the failure of the judiciary on the federal level," it appears that theory may hold some water. However, considering that 82 percent of the public opposed politicians' intervention in the Schiavo case, any attempt to tinker with the courts based on that situation will face very long odds. The Republicans' best political strategy at this point would be never to talk about the Schiavo case again.
The GOP also would benefit from reining in its No. 2 man in the House. DeLay has received three admonishments from the House Ethics Committee. Three of his associates have been indicted on money-laundering charges. Now he wants to put political pressure on the judiciary because judges didn't do what he wanted.
For the good of his party, for the good of his countrymen, and for the good of the Constitution, DeLay should resign as House majority leader.
posted by Alabamian at 3:05 AM
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