Republican Leader Warns Judges: You Will Answer for This
DeLay's threat to judges was greeted with shock in many quarters. Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy branded it "irresponsible and reprehensible. At a time when emotions are running high, Mr. DeLay needs to make clear that he is not advocating violence against anyone," he said.In Houston, his home district, DeLay said Congress "for many years has shirked its responsibility to hold the judiciary accountable. No longer.
"We will look at an arrogant, out of control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at the Congress and president when given jurisdiction to hear this case anew and look at all the facts ... The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today."
DeLay's comments are important on two fronts — an epic struggle over anticipated Supreme Court vacancies is expected to mark the second Bush term, with Democrats threatening to try to block overtly conservative nominees. But that will be played out in the Senate, not in DeLay's domain in the House of Representatives.
His remarks also ignored the fact that many of the judges who ignored Bush and the Republican-led Congress were Republican appointees.
DeLay is also fighting a litany of allegations of ethics violations and is the target of third-party TV ads alleging he used the Schiavo case to deflect attention from his own problems.
He had told a group of social conservatives just before the Palm Sunday recall of Congress that God had given Schiavo to America to highlight the need to fight for a "culture of life."
Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia, said he believes DeLay was likely speaking from conviction while trying to rally a Christian-right base that could help him keep his key post....
Polls have consistently shown Americans believe Michael Schiavo was right to act on what he said was his wife's wish — not to be kept alive in a vegetative state — and a strong majority indicated Congress was wrong to intervene in a private matter.
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