# WTF Do You Mean By This DeLay? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 1, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173 "2005-04-01T03:20:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/1 "2005-04-01T03:20:36Z")
[Delay’s statement on Terri Shaivo’s passing.](http://www.majorityleader.gov/News.asp?FormMode=Detail&ID=413) > [@](#): > > Mrs. Schiavo’s death is a moral poverty and a legal tragedy. This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change. **The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today.** Today we grieve, we pray, and we hope to God this fate never befalls another. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Schindlers and with Terri Schiavo’s friends in this time of deep sorrow. _(emphasis mine)_ Note, that’s the _entire_ statement from the majority leader’s website, so I’m not quoting anything out of context. WTF does he mean by that? Is he planning on tossing out every _male_ member of the judiciary out on their ear, thus leaving the women in charge? (Not that I think that this would be a bad thing, but why pick only on the men?) Or does he have something else up his sleeve? (I’ve heard at least one news account describing members of Congress as intending to “bitch slap” the Judicial branch.) I don’t quite get that at all. I mean, the _vast majority of Americans_ feel that the President and the Congress overstepped their authority in this. Just like the courts have ruled. So why don’t you STFU, since you’re quite clearly in the _minority_ in this matter and do what the Founding Father’s intended? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/2 "2005-04-01T03:22:59Z")
I think he just meant that the people responsible for Mrs. Schavio’s death will be punished by God in the afterlife. Or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/3 "2005-04-01T03:37:42Z")
I certainly hope so, Cap. But Delay is a spiteful, angry man. Plus, he’s no longer covered from his ethics investigation. Poor guy. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/4 "2005-04-01T03:49:05Z")
If we’re lucky (we=nation) he’s on his way to a high-profile Congressional flame-out. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/5 "2005-04-01T03:50:24Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > I think he just meant that the people responsible for Mrs. Schavio’s death will be punished by God in the afterlife. Or something similar. I don’t know. I wish I could find transcripts of some of the comments DeLay and others were making in speeches today. I can’t remember the exact wording, but they were basically talking about rewriting the Constitution to put the Judiciary under the thumb of the Congress. Not much of it really made any sense, since one of the things they were talking about was making the judges of the various courts electable by the general population and stripping them of their lifetime appointments in the case of SCOTUS, when you add the fact that the _majority_ of Americans agreed with the courts in this instance, had such a system been in place _before_ this mess began, we’d _still_ be in the same situation. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/6 "2005-04-01T04:03:37Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > …and do what the Founding Father’s intended? “…if a Representative of the People shall prove to be an Insufferable Buttmunchkin, seeping Political Pustule, let his fundament be thrust with a Hand Grenade, and the pin pulled…” _Outake from Constitution, found on cutting room floor, Philadelphia, 1787_ ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/7 "2005-04-01T04:09:30Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “…if a Representative of the People shall prove to be an Insufferable Buttmunchkin, seeping Political Pustule, let his fundament be thrust with a Hand Grenade, and the pin pulled…” > > _Outake from Constitution, found on cutting room floor, Philadelphia, 1787_ No fetch the ass-holey hand grenade. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/8 "2005-04-01T04:30:56Z")
[DeLay Targets Legal System in Schiavo Case](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=6&u=/ap/20050401/ap_on_go_pr_wh/schiavo_washington) > [@](#): > > Asked about the possibility of the House’s bringing impeachment charges against judges in the Schiavo case, DeLay said, “There’s plenty of time to look into that.” > … > DeLay said he would make sure that the GOP-controlled House “will look at an arrogant and out of control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president.” > … > the GOP-controlled House can initiate impeachment proceedings on federal judges, just as they impeached President Clinton, only to have the Senate acquit him. > > “Congress for many years has shirked its responsibility to hold the judiciary accountable. No longer,” DeLay said. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/9 "2005-04-01T04:33:22Z")
Welcome to the Theocratic States of America, where all godless judges and police departments (and laws) which interfere with the will of God (as interpreted by the federal prophets and various divinely inspired governors) will be cast asunder. Possibly he wants to simply remove anyone and any institution that stands in the way of total and absolute power for his cronies and himself. He and his buddies don’t care that “the vast majority of Americans feel that the President and the Congress overstepped their authority in this. Just like the courts have ruled.” Given his own past, maybe he wants to be able to do whatever the hell he wants (pull the plug, cheat in elections, break fund raising laws), while judging everyone else to an entirely different standard. Or, his ass is in so much shit over his own crooked dealings, that he will grab at any straw to divert attention away from himself and the ethics investigations. No matter which of the above it is, I would gladly (if I could, and given what I read above as an intent to “delete” our Constitution because it displeases him) declare him a traitor and an enemy of the state the second he tried to act. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/10 "2005-04-01T04:38:32Z")
> [@](#): > > DeLay said he would make sure that the GOP-controlled House “will look at an arrogant and out of control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president.” Ring. RIng. Hello Pot? Kettle calling. So who will keep the arrogant and out of control DeLay under control? > [@](#): > > “Congress for many years has shirked its responsibility to hold the judiciary accountable. No longer,” DeLay said. The judiciary is not supposed to be accountable to Congress. It is supposed to at least in theory, be above political considerations and beholdens, which is what Congress revolves around. It would totally destroy the whole three way balance of power, putting it all in the hands of ideologues and attention whores. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/11 "2005-04-01T04:42:46Z")
> [@](#): > > DeLay said he would make sure that the GOP-controlled House “will look at an arrogant and out of control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president.” When I first heard that, it made me wonder exactly who Delay has in mind that is supposed to control the judiciary. I heard someone else (Randall Terry?) say that “simple math” tells you that our system of checks and balances didn’t work. (Two branches of our government are stronger than any one branch of our government.) ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/12 "2005-04-01T05:03:04Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > When I first heard that, it made me wonder exactly who Delay has in mind that is supposed to control the judiciary. > > I heard someone else (Randall Terry?) say that “simple math” tells you that our system of checks and balances didn’t work. (Two branches of our government are stronger than any one branch of our government.) Randall Terry is a nut case (re his supposed plans to use nonexistent future technology as justification to keep brain dead people around against their wishes). This is a case of one grasping scumbag media whore (Terry) swearing to a lie told by another grasping scumbag media whore (DeLay). ---
**Author:** ![zetafunction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/57b2e6/32.png) [@zetafunction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zetafunction)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/13 "2005-04-01T05:07:58Z")
**Tuckerfan** , not everyone interprets the word “men” as literally as you do. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/14 "2005-04-01T05:12:09Z")
> [@zetafunction](#): > > **Tuckerfan** , not everyone interprets the word “men” as literally as you do. That’s as may be, but given DeLay’s backwards view of most things, I’d say that he probably _does_ mean it literally. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/15 "2005-04-01T05:16:21Z")
A few years back Delay had this to say about impeachment of federal judges: > [@](#): > > I am not suggesting that impeachment be used for partisan purposes, but when judges exercise power not delegated to them by the Constitution, impeachment is a proper tool. What power did these current federal judges exercise that were not delegated to them by the Constitution? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/16 "2005-04-01T05:18:37Z")
That should be cleared up, right after the theos take over. DeLay probably plans on sending “all the women folk” back to the kitchen. That would be after he takes their ability to vote away. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/17 "2005-04-01T05:39:39Z")
Dear me, I hope this doesn’t spiral out of control. Failure to support mister DeLay could get folks in trouble with the PARTY: > [@](#): > > Morton Blackwell, Republican National Committee member from Virginia and a member of ACU’s board, said Republicans are being told support for Mr. DeLay is mandatory if they want future support from conservatives. > “Conservative leaders across the country are working now to make sure that any politician who hopes to have conservative support in the future had better be in the forefront as we attack those who attack Tom DeLay,” he said. [DeLay Attacks Taken Personally](http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050331-121139-4134r.htm) Go CRAZY Tom! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/18 "2005-04-01T06:17:25Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “…if a Representative of the People shall prove to be an Insufferable Buttmunchkin, seeping Political Pustule, let his fundament be thrust with a Hand Grenade, and the pin pulled…” > > _Outake from Constitution, found on cutting room floor, Philadelphia, 1787_ Yeah, those anti-federalists knew what was what. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/19 "2005-04-01T06:57:36Z")
Tom DeLay feeling moral outrage at anything or anyone is _extremely_ hypocritical. As most Dopers probably know, DeLay was a “dyed-in-the-wool” draft-dodger during the Vietnam War. The following paragraph is from the Slate. Yes, I know it has an anti-conservative point of view but Mr DeLay’s avoidance of the war is well-known. This story is from the 1988 Republican Convention. * * * He and Quayle, DeLay explained to the assembled media in New Orleans, were victims of an unusual phenomenon back in the days of the undeclared Southeast Asian war. So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself. Satisfied with the pronouncement, which dumbfounded more than a few of his listeners who had lived the sixties, DeLay marched off to the convention. * * * Instead of going into the military, he became an exterminator. The link for those who want to read more: [http://slate.msn.com/id/1002713](http://slate.msn.com/id/1002713) * * * Yeah Tom, you find life so “sacred” that you are willing to let someone else do the fighting (and possibly the dying) just as long as your fat ass is protected. I hope the ethics investigation digs up a lot of crap on that clown. He reminds me of Spiro Agnew, taking the high moral ground, standing for law and order, etc. Let’s hope like Mr Agnew, Tom Delay will resign in disgrace too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173/20 "2005-04-01T07:05:08Z")
Justice Delayed is … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-do-you-mean-by-this-delay/297173.md?page=2)