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~

[jackibutterfly]

http://hometown.aol.com/GordonWWatts/myhomepage/ConversationWithTerri.wmv

[jackibutterfly]

"It is difficult for me to understand how those who claim to be Christians have such a fear of death."

I don't think it's actually the death we fear, it's the WAY we die that is feared, kind of like starvation & hydration?

[yellowdoghunter]

You know, I hear people talk about going through similiar things with their wife, father, etc....but none of them say that they starved them to death for weeks. I wonder if they did and that is what they are implying but don't want to come right out and say it? Why not, if it is such a dignified way to die?

[spectre]

How would I want to die if I were like Terri? Alot quicker than she did. I would hope no one restricted my morphine drip, so my heart would stop and I wouldn't linger. I'd pray my loved ones would see to that.

See ya all later, sw

[yellowdoghunter]

So basically, you want a shot to kill you. You better tell them to go for something better than morphine if you want it to be quick. Morphine may be good but it is not a guaranteed death. Too bad that if they had to murder Terri that they didn't just use a shot.

But then again, why would someone need morphine? Starvation is peaceful and painless.

[jwalsh07]

It is "beyond you" because you are accepting a distortion of what happened here combined with a misunderstanding of what the law is regarding such matters.

You are thouroughly incorrect. My understanding of the law ia st least the equal of yours. The proper way to debate is to take issue with something I stated and prove it is wrong on the facts. Procaliming that I misunderstand the law or I am distorting an issue is simply that, a proclamation devoid of any basis in reason.

It will always be beyond those who believe this was a murder committed by a gigantic conspiracy.

Now you're lying. And I'll explain why I used the word lie. There is no basis in any of my posts referencing a "gigantic conspiracy". Why are you lying?

However those who actually care about the law and know there was NO conspiracy gigantic or otherwise but just the ordinary court work done in the same way every day throughout the world find nothing here "beyond them." Except perhaps the actions of the Schindlers.

Your entire post is nothing but lies, ad hominem and hubris. Totally unimpressed.

[Fledermaus]

Go? Go where? From here? Why? This site is dedicated to conservative principles and not the Republican Party.

But being a newbie you wouldn't understand that.

[jackibutterfly]

And what if you were alert like Terri, but just couldn't speak or move on your own. Still would want to die quickly?

And don't tell me Terri wasn't alert - check out this video:

http://hometown.aol.com/GordonWWatts/myhomepage/ConversationWithTerri.wmv

[jackibutterfly]

http://hometown.aol.com/GordonWWatts/myhomepage/ConversationWithTerri.wmv

[jackibutterfly]

She's not only alert, SHE REMEMBERS!!!!

[joesbucks]

Death in our culture is something we find difficult to deal with. Even a "painless and dignified" death is difficult to discuss. And while you use the word starvation, what of removing someone from a resprirator. Will you use the term asphyxiation or suffocation?

You must remember, before there was tube feeding and artificial respiration, which was not all that long ago, the people in Terri's condition basically starved to death. And those on ventilators suffocated. I've always wondered why some are spared suffocation and starvation while others after medical break through are allowed to exist. Although, it's not a pleasant existance.

I've heard from many in the pro-life movement that we treat dogs better. Well in fact we do. We take a dog in Terri's state and put it down. But we as humans would rather they starve or suffocate.

[spectre]

"So basically, you want a shot to kill you. You better tell them to go for something better than morphine if you want it to be quick."

Matter of fact, yes, I do. I've had morphine before...it's a glorious drug. I was so euphoric I didn't care if they cut me off at the waist. Truly.

sw

[billbears]

What could be more glorious than to experience the wonders of heaven which put to shame even the most extravagent pleasures of the material world?

Bump to that. I have never understood the arguments provided myself. As a Christian, I know where I'm going. I don't want family sitting around a bed watching me and I would never put them through that. You are not a heartless lover of death. But rather you loved your wife strongly enough to understand. My condolences to you and your family

[jackibutterfly]

I'll pick this post up again when I get home if you're all still here - I'm leaving work now.

[Cboldt]

That is beyond doubt but impeachment cannot be for ideological or what the Founders called "political" grounds. It must remain solely for those guilty of falling away from "good behavior." Lord knows how that is defined now days.

From the founding of the United States, efforts to impeach judges have at times been based on political, rather than legal, standards. The case of Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Chase is a prime example of the danger of political battles affecting the impeachment process.

http://www.constitutionproject.org/ci/newsroom_guide/29.htm <-- Link

The article describes the impeachment proceedings of 12 federal judges (all of the judicial impeachments, I believe. Good arguments have been made on both sides, i.e., that impeachment should not be political, and that impeachment is meant to be political.

[Torie]

Well the guy went to the University of Chicago and loves music and bridge, is a financial analyst and is a Federalist Society member. So he has much to recommend him indeed. Granted, a weak spot is diplomacy and well, precise use of language, and awareness of possible ignorance and the unknown. Lift folks up where one can, not tear them down, is my motto. He also doesn't know how just armed and dangerous you truly are.

Justshut etc., making an effort to treat folks with respect, or at least with civility, both the smart and the savvy, and the dumb and the relatively ignorant, tends to pay great dividends, most of which accrue to oneself. Just a thought.

[jwalsh07]

I remain unimpressed.

[lula]

There is no killing here merely the cessation of an artificial prolonging of life. A life which, if left to God, would have ended long ago. Men kept Terri hanging on in limbo not God. There was no God in that debacle.

If terminally ill people stop eating are they committing suicide? Are they sinning? I'll let God decide those questions not a mob of the misguided.

Since you cannot distinguish between actively terminating lives and allowing nature to take its course with hopeless causes it is clear that you cannot understand what has happened here. P.T. Barnum's dictum remains on point.

Society will have to make hard choices when social resources are involved and that is what is paying to prolong these patients' suffering. Like it or not there is NO alternative.

I posted this before and I will post it again since you're the one with season tickets to Barnum's.

I don't buy your "RESOURCES" BS either. For those that think Terri should have been "ALLOWED" to die. BULL****!!!

We might as well close all the hospitals, send all the Doctors and Nurses home because patients wouldn't want to "Live" that way. While we are at it all pharmaceutical companies need to shut down because we need to let "Nature" take its course. I guess defibrillators can be used to jump-start your SUV's.

Patients who cannot feed themselves, can't walk, can't breathe without assistance may as well play in a busy highway because they are somehow less than human. Lets not waste money on health insurance either. I could go on and on, but I won't.

How stupid can you be? We're not talking about a 90 year old whose body and organs are failing and can't metabolize nutrients. We're talking here about a person who was an inconvenience to her legal guardian HINO. He starved her because she wouldn't die. He sought legally suspicious means to accomplish this. While her loving family fought tooth and nail against a corrupt system, while the whole world watched.

There are millions of less than "perfect" people who function and are productive, if even just to reflect GOD's grace. My nephew has Downs Syndrome, you would have him dumped in the emesis basin at birth.

Those of us who have been praying night and day know the value of life. Those who don't see the travesty of what occurred don't merit a response.

This was not GOD's will, but mans. Very evil self serving bunch of pathetic excuses for humans at that.

You just don't get it, and you never will.

That is all I will say to you.

[Peach]

You may think it was okay for Sean Hannity and other conservatives to have Dr. H on their television shows without doing a lick of homework, but most of us found it embarrassing.

If you don't think the left has been laughing at the Class A lies that have been spouted about this matter, you are sadly mistaken.

And far from proving your point about Trinity, you have reinforced her point that she doesn't have a position in this matter. Since you've dug through month's worth of her posts and have been unable to prove your point, I will have to assume you don't mind being branded a Class A liar.