DeLay Grieves, Prays... and Threatens

Okay, I was wrong about Tom DeLay letting the Schiavo controversy fade away. He has issued a statement:

"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."

"The men responsible...?" What is he thinking?

With whom, exactly, are these people angry? Who, exactly, is Tom DeLay threatening?

The conservatives have been screaming about the liberal "culture of death." What, exactly, did liberals fail to do to save Terri Schiavo's life? What did liberals do to end her life? Do conservatives really see villains everywhere they look? Have they become so accustomed to playing the role of the victim that everything, even death itself, has to be somebody's fault?

The entire American judicial system, all the way to the Supreme Court and back, ratified Terri Schiavo's right to die. The entire judicial system rejected the interference of the United States Congress. Schiavo was not, as Rush Limbaugh insists, denied due process of law. Completely to the contrary, her case was as thoroughly adjudicated as any in American law even before congress got involved. The only way to reconnect her feeding tube would have been for public officials to break the law. Perhaps the moral thing would have been for Jeb Bush or his brother to have done so. I don't think so, but only God knows. Is that who they blame? Talk about misdirected aggression!

Along with his threats, by the way, DeLay expresses the hope that "this fate never befalls another." Does he know what he is saying? What fate is he talking about? Is DeLay committing to never allow the removal of life support from another person in a persistent vegetative state? If so, this will be an interesting political season.