Tom DeLay’s strategy in handling the scandals swirling around him took a new turn yesterday: The Hammer tried contrition.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) apologized yesterday for heated comments he made about possible retribution against federal judges for their handling of the Terri Schiavo case, but declined to say whether he favors impeaching those judges.
DeLay created a furor last month by saying that “the time will come” for federal judges who refused to restore the brain-damaged Florida woman’s feeding tube “to answer for their behavior,” and by criticizing what he called an “arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary.” President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other top Republican leaders did not endorse those statements and said they support an independent federal judiciary.
DeLay addressed his earlier comments during a crowded news conference at the Capitol. “I said something in an inartful way, and I shouldn’t have said it that way, and I apologize for saying it that way,” he said. “It was taken wrong. I didn’t explain it or clarify my remarks, as I’m clarifying them here. I am sorry that I said it that way, and I shouldn’t have.”
So, why should we doubt the sincerity of DeLay’s apology? Is it because he insisted immediately after his veiled threats that he meant every word of it? That’s one reason. Is it because he apologized for what he said last month, but has been offering similar attacks against the judiciary for many years? That’s another reason. Is it because he followed up on his threats with an equally offensive tirade at a gathering of fringe right-wing radicals, for which he has not apologized? That’s a third reason for skepticism.
But perhaps the biggest reason to question the earnestness of DeLay’s contrition is that he followed through on his threat the same day he apologized for making it.
Deflecting all questions about his ethical conduct and political future, Representative Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, on Wednesday stepped up his crusade against judges, announcing that he had instructed the Judiciary Committee to investigate federal court decisions in the Terri Schiavo case and to recommend possible legislation.
[…]
Mr. DeLay was not specific about what legislative changes, if any, he would like to see emerge from the Judiciary Committee’s review. But in announcing that he had asked Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., a Wisconsin Republican and the committee chairman, to examine the actions of federal judges in the Schiavo case, Mr. DeLay said the House had previously passed legislation limiting the jurisdiction of the courts and breaking up the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a bill that died in the Senate.
“We set the jurisdiction of the courts,” Mr. DeLay said. “We set up the courts. We can unset the courts.”
DeLay really doesn’t get it. He apologized for having said that he’d hold the judges responsible and force them to “answer for their behavior,” but simultaneously moved forward with a plan to hold the judges responsible and force them to answer for their behavior.
Indeed, DeLay has everything backwards. Just as most Republicans want to put the Schiavo fiasco behind them, and Senate leaders like Bill Frist have said they have no intention of revisiting judicial rulings in the matter, DeLay is actually ratcheting up the hostility by directing the House Judiciary Committee to launch an investigation. He apologized for threatening the courts last month, but by alluding to his alleged power to “unset the courts,” DeLay actually threatened them again.
The man wasn’t apologizing for anything yesterday; he was merely launching the next phase in his crusade.