DeLay: Not going gentle into that good night?

I first read about the Hammer's press conference remarks, following Terri Schiavo's death, at Think Progress yesterday afternoon, but by this morning even the editors at the Washington Post--where the coverage of the collection of ghouls, theological ambulance chasers, and political opportunists that circled around Schiavo's death bed was, in general, timidly polite--finally wondered aloud if things hadn't gotten out of hand.

For anyone who missed it, the money quote of DeLay's remarks was this:

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.

Okay, preposterous and undeserved as it would be, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume that in moment of high emotion, he got carried away. Yet isn't it oh-so-characteristic of him to get carried away in that particular direction--to twisted, pandering generalizations and vague threats? Did he just threaten a federal judge? Sen. Frank Lautenberg thinks, Yeah, looks like.

The courts (including one key judge appointed by Bush the Elder, no friend of liberal, "activist" judges--ask Clarence) repeatedly rebuffed attempts to interfere. Polls indicate that Americans opposed intervention by Congress and the president by a three-or-four to one margin. And yet DeLay and his minions, imagining themselves kings of infinite space, are digging in their heels--bless 'em--by promising that support on this sordid matter will be a "litmus test for any Republican lawmaker seeking their support."

As a purely partisan matter, I'm with those who vote for drawing this out long enough to make good and sure it's still fresh in everyone's minds as the 2006 election cycle gears up. And certainly, getting rid of DeLay--whether sooner or later--won't by itself solve the problem of Congress and the White House in the hands of extremists.

But the sober reality is that this man is operating out there without any decent human restraint, and the sooner we get his hands off the levers of power the better off we'll all be.