DeLay Apologizes for Schiavo Case Rhetoric

AP via Yahoo ^ | April 13, 2005 | Terence Hunt

[cyncooper]

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.

~snip~

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.

~snip~

DeLay seemed at pains to soften, if slightly, his rhetoric of March 31, when Schiavo died despite an extraordinary political and legal effort to save her life.

"I believe in an independent judiciary. I repeat, of course I believe in an independent judiciary," DeLay said.

At the same time, he added, the Constitution gives Congress power to oversee the courts.

"We set up the courts. We can unset the courts. We have the power of the purse," DeLay said.

Asked whether he favors impeachment for any of the judges in the Schiavo case, he did not answer directly.

Instead, he referred reporters to an earlier request he made to the House Judiciary Committee to look into "judicial activism" and Schiavo's case in particular.

~snip~

[Peach]

Go read about PVS. Just google it. Do yourself a favor.

[cyncooper]

beware of freepers who say they wanted Terri to live but they are always arguing against it. they aren't worth the time of day.

By "arguing against it" you mean presenting facts.

We're worth more than the kook kontingent any time. If you're proud of dragging down this site to tinfoil hat central than you are beyond foolish.

[cyncooper]

than = then

[floriduh voter]

the facts will come out. will you be eating crow then? I don't even know who you are but you responded to my post. how's it feel to be on the other side?

[cyncooper]

How entertaining to see the Tancredo remarks about DeLay.

I'll bet there are headaches aplenty in certain noggins.

[lula]

You go GIRL!!!!

[floriduh voter]

it must be a fun filled saturday. everyone came out from under their rock to play. I ckd out that other place. 44 pgs, not bad at all.

[Trinity_Tx]

I wasn't even going to reply to your post #918. Nor did I report you for stalking, as several people have advised me to do.

But this latest is too much... I think your obsession with finding my "connections" is seriously unhealthy, and I want it officially noted that I am requesting you to stop it.

Scouring for "proof" of your bizarre theory, while calling everything I ever said that proves you wrong "just part of my cover-up plot" is nothing short of a personal witch-hunt.

You have consistently been flat out wrong on all counts - the Florida law, and my "position" or "contacts".

I have posted my reasons for NOT pulling her tube many times, especially elsewhere. Others here at FR do that enough for all of us. I've posted on very few threads here at all in the last month.

Where so many of you and I part ways is this very kind of conspiracy spinning and lies being spread by the Schindler supporters. I think they harmed both Terri and conservatives in general, because they are not only wrong to do, but they detract from the critical points and killed credibility with judges.

Disagree? Fine. But do not insist I supported the decisions made, or the outcome. It is wrong. You are taking even further than most, and you need to get a hold of yourself.


I made one post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1371538/posts?page=173#173 complementing Hospice WRT terminally ill.

No, again, the legislature did not need to pass that 1999 bill for anyone's tube to be removed without a written directive. Oral statements used as evidence, even for having feeding tubes removed, regardless of a patient's condition, was set as a Fl Supreme legal precedent in Browning. The legislature simply codified it.

My husband didn't "work for" Mike Bilirakis. As I said, he helped him prep for his congressional debate - 15+ years ago. I'd never heard of him until about a month ago, much less his son, Gus. His problems with Hammesfahr pre-date the 2002 trial.

Your digging up and using such a ludicrously remote link between me and the son, "gus", to support your claims of a secret conspiracy between me and Suncoast Hospice in Florida, or anywhere else, is worthy of only the most tinfoil of Schindler supporters.

How sadly ironic that debunking such wild-eyed conspiracy theories for the sake of conservatives' credibility has been my only "mission", yet I fall victim to one of you myself.

[cyncooper]

The facts come out and there are wails of "coverup!" "whitewash!" and "LIES! All dirty LIES".

Kookville.

By "the other side" I guess you mean life in the real world. It's great. I invite you to return to it.

If you persist in lying about other posters it is your own reputation and credibility that is in tatters.

Such hate from the purported "pro-lifers". Disgusting.

[floriduh voter]

I think it's not a fear of death. I'm against murder. Thou Shalt Not Kill. They killed Terri. Who's they? Oh, I"m not going there. There are too many loyal GOPers who won't acknowledge that gop judges killed Terri with the party's permission.

[cyncooper]

And here we go with the crying about the mean old posters ruining your hate parade.

Boo hoo hoo

[floriduh voter]

i haven't accused anybody of lying. mistaken yes, lying no. I helped put Jeb in office and I think you were on one of my ping lists? I'm ashamed that I did that. Florida is a mess. Jeb's eating crow already. His older brother is sticking with Delay because Dubya doesn't like the taste of crow.

[cyncooper]

beware of freepers who say they wanted Terri to live but they are always arguing against it.

This is accusing others of lying.

[floriduh voter]

hold on a minute. I just noticed someone pinged me to the smoke backroom to begin with. I can't take the stench. I don't belong back here. cough cough. bye, and I ain't crying. Jeb's cryin. boo hoo, poor Jebbie can't even save one defenseless woman. He can't be prez-e-dent now.

[Trinity_Tx]

Thanks, you two.

This truly is sad, but not surprising. It's further proof of their irrationality, as we've been warning about all along.

For the record, I have never wavered on the point that I believe it was horribly wrong to not give her recent therapy and swallowing tests, as Wolfson recommended.

IMO, The only justification for not offering anything by mouth when the tube was removed would be if the therapy and testing conclusively showed that she could not sustain herself orally.

[floriduh voter]

Thanks, I don't dwell in the smoky backroom but was pinged back here earlier. I appreciate your words of encouragement. I am both hero and villain lol. I can live with it. I want the judicial despots out of my state and thrown in the slammer!

What could be more conservative than that? (If anyone thinks that Terri's the Sixth Circuit's only victim, think again).

[floriduh voter]

And finally, I am a paralegal. This was an injustice of major proportions. Judge Greer is a pawn for Senate Prez Jim King. If you go there, you will know why Terri's dead. It has no thing to do with the religious right, left or up or down. It was about BIG MONEY.

[cyncooper]

You have always been consistant and articulate in stating your position and presenting documentation.

It is stunning and sickening to watch facts dismissed in favor of baseless raving and one's views constantly misrepresented.

It is not tolerable.

[cyncooper]

And that has what to do with denigrating other posters and dismissing facts?