DELAY'S UNAPOLOGETIC APOLOGY

It's not very satisfying to watch the arrogant Tom DeLay eating a bit of crow and "apologize" for blaming judges for Terri Schiavo's death when he segues straight into a call for a Congressional investigation of those same judges.

''I have asked the Judiciary Committee to look at the Schiavo case and the actions of the judiciary," said DeLay, a Texas Republican. ''The legislative branch has certain responsibilities and obligations given to us by the Constitution. We set the jurisdiction of the courts. We set up the courts. We can unset the courts. We have the power of the purse. We have oversight of how we spend their money. All of these are oversight tools."

DeLay said the committee would decide whether to recommend impeachment for any of the judges involved in the Schiavo case. He said he had set no time frame for the committee's work.
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Representative John Conyers of Michigan, the chief Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Delay's request ''shows a complete lack of understanding about the principles of separation of powers. The last thing we should be doing is looking into the judiciary's actions in this case. Congress had no business to begin with weighing in [on] a private matter under state court jurisdiction. Reviewing the judiciary's actions only adds insult to the injury Congress has already caused."

I don't know how any reasonable person could call DeLay's remarks an "apology." Or how DeLay could, with a straight face, assert that he favors an "independent" judiciary, when in the next breath he insists that the Congress has the right and power to punish judges for decisions they don't like.