WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Tom DeLay said Tuesday that former and current Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg "don't get it" when they complain about conservative criticism of judges.
"All wisdom doesn't reside in ... people in black robes," DeLay said.
In recent weeks, O'Connor has said the criticism has threatened judicial independence to deal with difficult issues such as gay marriage. Ginsburg said in a speech that a Web threat against her and O'Connor was apparently prompted by Republican proposals in Congress that tell judges to stop relying on foreign laws or court decisions.
Ginsburg said such actions by Congress "fuel the irrational fringe."
"Didn't you see the comments of Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Ginsburg over the last couple of weeks?" DeLay, R-Texas, asked reporters after a speech to a group of Christian conservatives. "There's still a problem, they don't get it. There are three branches of government. All wisdom doesn't reside in ... people in black robes."
Earlier, the former House majority leader told activists he agreed with their premise that there is a "war on Christianity.
"Our faith has always been in direct conflict with the values of the world," DeLay said. "We are, after all, a society that provides abortion on demand, has killed millions of innocent children, degrades the institution of marriage, and all but treats Christianity like some second-rate superstition."
DeLay was forced to abandon his job as majority leader while facing indictment on charges that he improperly funneled corporate donations to Republican candidates for the House and amid questions about his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay speaks during a news conference regarding federal funding to help Houston law enforcement Tuesday, March 21, 2006, in Houston.
I can't even make this stuff up. O'Conner and Ginsburg don't get it? All wisdom doesn't reside in people in black robes? Our faith is in direct conflict with the value of the world, which treats Christianity like a second-rate superstition? A "War on Christianity?" How much Kool-Aid has DeLay been drinking?
What really scares me is that DeLay is screaming this extremist rhetoric towards a group of Christian conservatives. And that is what this stuff is--hate-filled rhetoric. It worries me that this hate-filled rhetoric is being drilled into some Christian right wing-nut ideologue, who will then commit a heinous crime--such as the assassinating a Supreme Court justice. We've seen pro-life extremists and ideologues assassinate doctors who have performed abortions, bombed abortion clinics, and have even placed wanted posters on pro-life websites of abortion doctors which included private details such as home addresses and phone numbers. Even now, both O'Conner and Ginsburg have received death threats--the links to these stories can be found here, here, here, and here. And it is not just DeLay that is responsible for instigating these threats. In this Editor & Publisher news story, published in January 27, 2006, conservative columnist Ann Coulter joked that, "We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee." This is absolutely uncalled for. And it is this type of rhetoric from DeLay, Coulter, Pat Robertson, and others within the Republican right wing-nut faction that reinforces their brainwashed followers to commit crimes such as the murder a federal judges' family in Chicago by a white supremacist.
We don't need this kind of crap.
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