Tom DeLay Quote: "I blame Congress over the last 50 to 100 years..."

[Up2Late]

(I just heard Harry Shearer's Radio Show Le Show Read this Tom DeLay quote, from a recent "Washington Times" interview, a though you all might like to read what kind of lunatic we are dealing with. This is just a tiny piece of it)

Transcript of interview with Tom DeLay

"...Mr. Dinan: You've been talking about going after activist judges since at least 1997. The Schiavo case gives you a chance to do that, but you've recently said you blame Congress for not being zealous in oversight.

Mr. DeLay: Not zealous. I blame Congress over the last 50 to 100 years for not standing up and taking its responsibility given to it by the Constitution. The reason the judiciary has been able to impose a separation of church and state that's nowhere in the Constitution is that Congress didn't stop them. The reason we had judicial review is because Congress didn't stop them. The reason we had a right to privacy is because Congress didn't stop them.

Mr. Dinan: How can Congress stop them?

Mr. DeLay: There's all kinds of ways available to them.

Mr. Dinan: You tried two last year on the Defense of Marriage Act and the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Senate didn't go along with those.

Mr. DeLay: We're having to change a whole culture in this - a culture created by law schools. People really believe that these are nine gods, and that all wisdom is vested in them. This means it's a slow, long-term process. I mean, we passed six bills out of the House limiting jurisdiction. We passed an amendment last September breaking up the Ninth Circuit. These are all things that have passed the House of Representatives.

Mr. Dinan: Are you going to pursue impeaching judges?

Mr. DeLay: I'm not going to answer that. I have asked the Judiciary Committee to look at this. They're going to start holding hearings on different issues. They are more capable than me to look at this issue and take responsibility, given the, whatever, the Constitution..."

:crazy:
(much more at the link above)

[saltpoint]

1. Oh kurrrrrrrrrrrrrrryst, Tom. Shut the hell up and get the hell out.

You are stinking up the place something fierce.

Shoo!

[Sandpiper]

2. Actually Tom, it's the First Amendment that says

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...


Which Thomas Jefferson explained as creating a "wall of separation between church and state" in his letter to the Danbury Baptists.



Poor Tom, ignorant about both the constitution and U.S. history.

[Kerrytravelers]

4. These people din't care about history... they just want to create their

own fundamentalist utopia and to hell with the rest of us.

[Mary in KC]

12. Trust me - a Right-wing world is no utopia for anyone -

not even for themselves. Try living in Salt lake City. Even the faithful have nervous breakdowns.

[Kerrytravelers]

14. No thank you!

I"m happy here in blue Pasaena, blue Los Angeles County in blue California.

[ltfranklin]

15. Oh, please

Religion is only an excuse...it's power they want, absolute power. The power to impose their desires on everyone else. I bet Tom had a Chubby when he was talking about the future he craves.

Although I suppose you could cause the worship of power a religion.

[Kerrytravelers]

27. They want to create a fundy utopia so they continue to get fundy $$$$

And in a fundy utopia, they get full support for whomever they want to bomb today. They say "Jesus" and these fundy fruitcakes foam at the mouth.

Like I said, they don't care about history. The fundies don't either. THese people were made for each other.

[blogbear]

9. AMEN!

[Vickers]

3. "given the, whatever, the Constitution..." Bwahahahaha!

:spank:

What a dipshit!

"a separation of church and state that's nowhere in the Constitution"

Damn, they did away with the First Amendment? I missed that. :sarcasm:

[Kerrytravelers]

7. Vickers, Vickers, Vickers...

The First Amendment protects them FROM us... haven't you learn that yet?




:sarcasm:


;-) kt

[rodeodance]

8. and he wants to be the big GOD (with a capital G)

......We're having to change a whole culture in this - a culture created by law schools. People really believe that these are nine gods, and that all wisdom is vested in them.

[blogbear]

10. The subject of the 'separation of church and state' was addressed..

publicly by Ulyses S Grant among others..

[Zhade]

17. I said it before, I'll say it again: DeLay is FUCKING BONKERS.

DANGEROUSLY bonkers.

[Up2Late]

20. And the scary thing is, the more pressure you put on him...

...the more "BONKERS" he becomes.:hide: :evilfrown:

[Hissyspit]

5. The last 50 to 100 years??

Could we be more specific and exact about such an important issue, maybe?

Dork.

See you later, Tom. Please don't let the door hit you on the way out as you leave without DeLay.

[SnowGoose]

6. I think we've just seen the campaign slogan of DeLay's challenger

should he make it to the next election:

"given the, whatever, the Constitution..." It's the perfect soundbyte for an ad.

[Up2Late]

13. I don't know if their is an actual "sound bite" of this...

...because it was a Newspaper interview. I'd love to hear it if someone could find it.:evilgrin: ;-) hint, hint...

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. OK, so what we get with DeLay's plan is...

- A Theocracy
- No Constitution rights since laws can disregard it without Judiucial review
- No right to privacy

Oh goody, where can I sign up for that? Saudi Arabia?

[deadparrot]

16. If it wern't for them damn civil rights Commie bastards...

There wouldn't be no ethics violations on me...I'd be living clean and easy.

:puke:

[coda]

18. LOL, Tom the commie fighter!

Mr. Coombs: Where's your public support?

Mr. DeLay: Have you not seen the television in the last few days? Members are out on television, they're talking about it.

The fact is that I have certain international responsibilities given to me by my leadership position but, more importantly, by my interests. They're not writing about my trips to the Soviet Union in the 1980s to get persecuted Jews out of the Soviet Union, participating in the Refusenik Movement.

They're not writing about the trips that - I went to Central America fighting the communists and Sandinistas.




Good God, Tom fought the commies, afterall. :)

He's lucky the minorities didn't stop him from getting in that "fight", like they did when they crushed his hopes of ever joining in the Vietnam conflict.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

19. "The reason we had a right to privacy

is because Congress didn't stop (the judiciary)."

So in Bugman's mind having a right to privacy is a bad thing?

[Up2Late]

21. Kick n/t

:kick:

[Evergreen Emerald]

22. that is so scary

I am stunned that this man with his facists beliefs is so high up on our government. We are in for it.

[Up2Late]

23. You know, This is the type of talk you would expect from a KKKlan leader,

Not the U.S. House Majority Leader.

While cutting my grass, I was thinking, this is what I would expect to hear from the leader of an extreme Right-wing, separatist (or even survivalist) group, who was plotting the over-throw of the U.S. Government, What we used to call, "right-wing Wackos." This guy is REALLY Losing it!:crazy:

Has anyone sent this to any of the Democratic Leadership? Or Barbara Boxer? :shrug:

We ALL should.:patriot:

[Up2Late]

24. Kick n/t

:kick:

[markus]

25. The quote that should be underlined

"The reason we had judicial review is because Congress didn't stop them. "

Uh, Tom. Maybe you should visit with your friend Judge Moore, who at least carries around a little constitution in his pocket. Perhaps, by combining your great intellects, you could figure out why we have judicial review.

[Toots]

31. Either that one or this one

The reason we had a right to privacy is because Congress didn't stop them.

So Delay/GOP doesn't want us to have a Right to Privacy or Judicial Revue. Any Democrat that doesn't take this quote and use it against the GOP as a whole is foolish IMHO.

[radfringe]

26. first kill all the lawyers

sounds like he's advocating just that -- next is to replace the court system with a religous inquisition style model

the question that Dems won't ask: Do we want a Taliban-style government?

[Up2Late]

28. This is a copy of the e-mail I just sent to Sen. Harry Reid...

...and will be sending to the other House and Senate Leadership.

Dear Senator Reid:

Sunday, while listening to Harry Shearer's Radio Show "Le Show," he read this quote by Republican House Leader Tom DeLay, from a recent "Washington Times" interview. I found these statements VERY disturbing, and did not want these Anti-American statements to go un-noticed by the Democratic Leadership.

I am going to send a similar e-mail to the other Senate and the House Leaders, but I encourage you to forward this e-mail/article to any and and all of the other Congressional Democrats.

(From the Washington Times, April 14, 2005, Web page link below)

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050413-111439-5048r.htm

Transcript of interview with Tom DeLay

(This is one of the most alarming statements he made, their are more at the link above)

"...Mr. Dinan: You've been talking about going after activist judges since at least 1997. The Schiavo case gives you a chance to do that, but you've recently said you blame Congress for not being zealous in oversight.

Mr. DeLay: Not zealous. I blame Congress over the last 50 to 100 years for not standing up and taking its responsibility given to it by the Constitution. The reason the judiciary has been able to impose a separation of church and state that's nowhere in the Constitution is that Congress didn't stop them. The reason we had judicial review is because Congress didn't stop them. The reason we had a right to privacy is because Congress didn't stop them.

Mr. Dinan: How can Congress stop them?

Mr. DeLay: There's all kinds of ways available to them.

Mr. Dinan: You tried two last year on the Defense of Marriage Act and the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Senate didn't go along with those.

Mr. DeLay: We're having to change a whole culture in this - a culture created by law schools. People really believe that these are nine gods, and that all wisdom is vested in them. This means it's a slow, long-term process. I mean, we passed six bills out of the House limiting jurisdiction. We passed an amendment last September breaking up the Ninth Circuit. These are all things that have passed the House of Representatives.

Mr. Dinan: Are you going to pursue impeaching judges?

Mr. DeLay: I'm not going to answer that. I have asked the Judiciary Committee to look at this. They're going to start holding hearings on different issues. They are more capable than me to look at this issue and take responsibility, given the, whatever, the Constitution..."
(end of quote)

I hope this is helpful to you. I have been very impressed with the good job you have been doing, since you took over as Minority Leader.

Keep up the good work,

(name deleted)

[kitkat65]

29. American Taliban!

AYE-LI-LI-LI-LI-LI-LI-LI! Let's all ululate and say AMEN!

Yup, more sarcasm.

[calimary]

30. Dear God, can we PLEASE GET RID OF THIS BASTARD!?!?!??!

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE?????

Sorry to yell and scream, but this schmuck just brings out the beast in me.

[LdyGuique]

32. Everytime the Constitution gets invoked, and I go and read it,

I'm always surprised by both its sparseness and the fact that it was a whole different world during the 1780s than it is now. I'm also usually surprised to see several things that appear to be unconstitutional. I know that if we were going to rewrite the constitution today, it would be a substantially different document and would spell more things out clearly and would include definitions.

It did stipulate the following about "militias" in Article 1, Section 8 defining the responsibilities of Congress:

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repeal Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

and then, in the 2nd Amendment:

Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Taken as a whole, it would appear that deploying National Guard overseas is unconstitutional. The militia is the "citizens" army that is supposed to be kept local.

As for the Supreme Court, it uses language that is hardly clear about judicial oversight and the ability to declare a law unconstitutional, nor does it give an explicit "lifetime appointment" as the language states only "shall hold their Offices during good Behavior."

Article. III.
Section 1.

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Section 2.

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;–to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public ministers and Consuls;–to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;–to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;–to Controversies between two or more States;–between a State and Citizens of another State;–between Citizens of different States;–between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

However, DeLay is somewhat correct -- Congress has not done the oversight and exercised its legal rights as much as it should have:

1) It is Congress' right to declare war -- which it has not done since WWII.

2) It has failed to block the use of Exectutive Orders by the President, ever since the beginning -- there is NO provision in the Constitution for Executive Orders.

3) It has failed to keep the Militia local to do the job outlined by the Constitution.