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If there’s one thing that pisses me off more than just about anything else, it’s someone who takes a stand for what’s right in our fucked-up society – and then apologizes for doing so.

The Department of Spineless, Wimp-Assed Bastards has delivered up one such individual on a silver platter – and it’s the Congresscritter I just got through defending a couple posts below.

That’s right, Denizens.  Tommy-boy DeLay has caved in to whatever pressure was being brought to bear on him for what he said about Terri Schiavo and the out-of-control excuse-for-a-court system.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay apologized Wednesday for using overheated rhetoric on the day Terri Schiavo died, but refused to say whether he supports impeachment of the judges who ruled in her case.

DeLay backtracked as White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President Bush considers the Texas Republican, who is battling ethics allegations, a friend, but suggested that the majority leader is more of a business associate than a social pal.

“I think there are different levels of friendship with anybody,” McClellan said.

There are different levels of cowardice too, McClellan.  Your boss demonstrated the worst kind of same when he bended his knee to the fucking swamp rat George Greer – a level of spinelessness matched only by Shrubya’s brother, Jebbie.

Now Tommy-boy DeLay has just about matched that particular brand of wussiness by apologizing for daring to speak the truth the other day about the Backstabbing Bench Bastards™ who helped murder Terri.

At a crowded news conference in his Capitol office, DeLay addressed remarks he made in the hours after the brain-damaged Florida woman died on March 31. “I said something in an inartful way and I shouldn’t have said it that way and I apologize for saying it that way,” DeLay told reporters.

Shortly after Schiavo’s death, Delay said it represented a failure of the legal system. DeLay’s statement also said, “The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.”

If that’s the way you feel, Tommy-Boy, then I couldn’t give a flying fuck if you should be tossed out of Congress on your yellow can.  We need congressfolk in Washington who aren’t afraid to stand up for what’s right, even if it doesn’t jibe with poll numbers sautéed by the NY Slimes.

And if you don’t have the balls to stand up for what’s right, perhaps you should step aside for someone who does.

3 Comments to “Tom DeLay:  “Congressman Cave-In””

1. David Hartung — April 13, 2005 @ 10:13 pm
   

   Steve,

   The best thing you can do, is to understand that all 535 members of Congress are politicians first, and everything else comes after that. Once you understand that simple fact, you can calmly get on with the business of tossing the bums out, and perhaps replacing them with a true statesman. Of course, you must remember that the man you hope is a stateman is, in all likelyhood, just another policitian. .This is why some of the founders advocated regular changin of political leadership.

2. Sean Sirrine — April 14, 2005 @ 2:24 pm
   

   I’ve gotten a lot of response to my post Tom DeLay, Go Home, in which people seem to think I am anti-DeLay. Nothing could be further from the truth. I certainly don’t agree with his politics, but that has nothing to do with my stance on him as a Representative. He was voted in by Texans, and if they like his politics, that is their business not mine. I am simply attempting to show some logical inconsistencies in DeLay’s remarks on the judiciary. I do respect, however, his ability to be honest about his opinions rather than proclaiming a popular opinion without acting on it. I don’t have to agree with DeLay to respect his mastery of this lost art.

   The Boston Globe has this news story about how Tom DeLay has apologized for his rash remarks on the judiciary:

   “House majority leader Tom DeLay apologized yesterday for saying federal
   judges are ‘responsible” for the death of Terri Schiavo. But he added that he
   has asked the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the judges who declined
   to order that a life-sustaining feeding tube be reinserted for the brain-damaged
   Florida woman, as part of a broader review of ‘judicial activism” that he
   suggested should extend to the Supreme Court.”

   “At the news conference, DeLay said he wanted to clarify his previous
   statements by restating that he thinks the country should have an ‘independent
   judiciary.” He also apologized for saying that judges who reviewed the Schiavo
   case will soon ‘answer for their behavior” after ruling against her parents,
   who wanted her feeding tube replaced.”

   Unfortunately, DeLay still believes that:

   “At a news conference yesterday, DeLay said Congress retains oversight of
   the federal courts and should use it to hold judges accountable. He said the
   Schiavo case, in which federal courts refused to intervene despite extraordinary
   efforts by Congress and President Bush, warrants particular scrutiny.”

   It seems that DeLay still doesn’t understand what happened in the Schiavo case. The federal courts DID intervene, they just decided that DeLay and the other members of Congress that supported the bill had incorrectly interpreted the law.

   For some legal background, here is a great article by John Dean that deals with some of the issues involved in a judicial impeachment, including:

   “Toward this end, once confirmed by the Senate, a federal judge is effectively
   tenured for life, or as Article
   III of the Constitution sets forth, they “hold their offices during good
   behavior.” In addition, also under Article III, judges’ compensation cannot be
   reduced while they are on the bench. Good behavior, as Hamilton made clear, is
   “to secure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws.””

   “Judges can only be removed because of their “Treason, Bribery or other
   high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Only a handful of federal judges have ever been
   impeached under this high standard. And Congress’s failure to impeach and
   convict Chief Justice Samuel Chase made clear that mere disagreement with a
   judge’s decisions, or judicial philosophy, is not grounds for removal.”

   So, what are the ground of impeachment? There are none, DeLay is simply wrong, honestly wrong, but wrong none-the-less.

3. Alan K. Henderson — April 15, 2005 @ 12:22 am
   

   Rush Limbaugh says DeLay’s apology is being misrepresented by the media. The money quote:

   He did not “apologize” for the comments. He apologized for the way he said it. He said, “‘I said something in an inartful way, and I shouldn’t have said it that way, and I apologize for saying it that way. It was taken wrong. I didn’t explain it or clarify my remarks as I’m clarifying them here. I’m sorry I said it that way, and I shouldn’t have.’