Fear of Clowns

I believe three of the four bloggers on my "A List" are making an error in understanding, Josh Marshall doesn't really get it, Atrios is doesn't seem to get it and Oliver Willis doesn't see it either. After reading comments from m a n y  o t h e r  b l o g g e r s, I've not found one that sees DeLay was using religious hell-fire language in his widely criticized remarks,

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 part I and many others have made bold has been widely taken to indicate a threat made by and to be carried out by DeLay. That's not how it sounds to the religious right - it goes with the next sentence - the religious things Delay does think will happen today as opposed to what is left to a day of God's choosing. To Old Testament Bible thumpers also keen on Revelation, the bold part speaks of the LORD's raining down of burning sulphur, visitation of sins upon seven generations, and lake of fire style vengeance. It's already well established that the religious right feels we should have a theocratic government secondary to the will and providence of God.

Check out what one protester, Richard Jacobson, said upon learning of Schiavo's death,

"She is a martyr -- for Christ and for our nation and for the world," Jacobson said. "Through God, he will do a miracle and raise her up."

No, that's not a misquote - the guy was really saying he thought she would be raised from the dead - he told another reporter,

"God will raise her from the dead, and all the world will see it."

That is the type of person DeLay was addressing in the press release. Given the hot water he's in, it's understandable that he would be eager to appeal to the Highest Authority. But Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has gone as far as suggesting DeLay's comments may be criminal. Ted Kennedy seems to have the only level-headed response I've seen (via Americablog). Kennedy has asked Delay to explain what he meant to be sure he wasn't threatening violence and that a DeLay spokesman has issued a statemnent,

"I'm not sure what Mr. DeLay meant when he said 'the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior,'" the Massachusetts Democrat [Sen. Kennedy] said in a written statement. "But at a time when emotions are running high, Mr. DeLay needs to make clear that he is not advocating violence against anyone.

Dan Allen, DeLay's spokesman, said the majority leader was merely referring to potential future action in Congress. He said one possibility was for the committee that issued a subpoena designed to assure nourishment for the brain-damaged woman to investigate why its order had been ignored by the courts.

Let Delay claim heaven is going to open the floodgates of divine retribution all he wants, let Delay look foolish and open up investigations to try to take the focus off of his own corruption. I feel sorta safe in that I don't think it's going to rain poison dart frogs any time soon - not on me nor the judiciary. And Delay opening up an investigation into someone else is downright comical. People ought to focus on the real Delay corruption and shrug off his apocalyptic language as typical.

The Moderate Voice has some thoughtful comments on Delay's press release (via UnCoRRELATED),

UPDATE: General JC Christian gets it.

// posted by Erik @ 4/01/2005 05:44:00 PM
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