On March 31, the day of Terri Schiavo’s death, Tom DeLay released 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.

On Wednesday, in a letter obtained by Raw Story, DeLay responded to criticism by Sen. Frank Lautenberg that his threatening remarks – especially in the context of recent violence against federal judges – were inappropriate and possibly illegal. DeLay regrets nothing:

Nothing in my statement was threatening, irresponsible, dangerous, inappropriate, intimidating, or reckless…No sincere interpretation of my statement could lead a reader to any other conclusion.

Oh really? Here was Vice President Cheney’s “sincere interpretation” of DeLay’s remarks, as reported by the New York Post:

Cheney said he backed efforts to help save Terri Schiavo’s life, but strongly disagreed with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who wants retribution against judges who blocked restoration of her feeding tube.

“I don’t think that’s appropriate . . . There’s a reason why judges get lifetime appointments.”

Since the launch of dropthehammer.org on Wednesday, RJR Reynolds has been receiving thousands of emails from people around the country demanding that they stop supporting Tom DeLay’s unethical behavior through contributions to his legal defense fund. RJR doesn’t want to listen. We’ve been told by our Internet provider that they’ve blocked all email from the dropthehammer.org server.

Don’t let them get away with it. Email RJR directly at the addresses below:

internet@rjrt.com
TalkToRJR@rjrt.com
paynet1@rjrt.com

Thanks to Atrios helping us out with this effort.

Sample text for the email after the jump. Read more

What’s a better indicator of how far out of line conservatives have become in their quest to overtake America’s judiciary?

The fact that a U.S. Supreme Court justice is warning against attacks on judges:

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said harsh political rhetoric could spur violence against the nation’s judges, offering a veiled response last night to some national figures who in the past week have blasted the courts for failing to intervene in the case of a severely brain-damaged Florida woman. [...]

“It didn’t occur to me that there would be as many threats, and I do receive them,” O’Connor said. “I don’t think the harsh rhetoric helps. I think it energizes people who are a little off base to take actions that maybe they wouldn’t otherwise take.“

…or that Rush Limbaugh of all people is saying recent conservative efforts may actually be frightening the American people:

…[I]f indeed there is — and I hope there’s not, and I don’t suspect it yet — but if there is a tendency on the part of Frist or some others to cave on the use of the nuclear option, and again this is purely hypothetical, but I think it might be because of the reaction to the judiciary following the Schiavo case and the circumstances. They might think it’s too hot out there, water’s gotten too hot, temperature is too hot, and now start appearing to ramrod presidential nominees through the confirmation process… blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, would be seen as an attempt to literally take over the judiciary, and they’ll be very sensitive to that kind of a charge.

Today, the Wall Street Journal highlights what may become a huge story on the reasons behind the recent resignation of Thomas Coughlin, a man who helped start Wal-Mart and who many thought might become CEO. An internal probe launched by a whistleblower suggests that Coughlin had subordinates create fake invoices to have Wal-Mart reimburse him for personal expenses. The story doesn’t end there though:

The tale involves another mystery: the “union project.” Mr. Coughlin told several Wal-Mart employees that the money was actually being used for antiunion activities, including paying union staffers to tell him of pro-union workers in stores…. The fake invoices… were simply a roundabout way of compensating him for out-of-pocket expenses in his antiunion campaign.

If the money was in fact used for antiunion efforts, Coughlin (and potentially executives still at Wal-Mart) would be in violation of the federal Taft-Hartley act. The WSJ reports:

Led by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, labor organizers have tried for years to unionize Wal-Mart’s U.S. workers, who currently number 1.3 million, but they have met with fierce and well-organized opposition.

Last week, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott “admonished his employees in a companywide broadcast,” saying that they absolutely must come forward if a supervisor or friend or anyone is engaging in illegal activity. Just to set a good example, the following day, company brass fired James Bowen, the employee who alerted them to Coughlin’s dealings.

Today’s Miami Herald notes rookie Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) has made a bit of a habit out of hiding behind his staff when asked to take responsibility for unpopular actions. Indeed, Martinez has shown he is never afraid, no matter how grievous his mistakes, to pass the buck to a subordinate. Here are the greatest hits:

9/22/04: After a Martinez campaign ad referred to opponent Bill McCollum as being a tool of ”the radical homosexual lobby” (a phrase which also popped up in Martinez’s last-minute direct-mail fliers), Martinez tells the press:

‘We made mistakes…A couple of young turks in my campaign went further than they should have.

9/28/04: The Martinez campaign sends out a news release calling the federal agents who seized Elian Gonzalez “armed thugs.” Martinez once again blames his staff. From Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff:

MARTINEZ: No, no. I never said that. And it was something that was put out by someone in the office and immediately withdrawn, as we saw what had happened.

WOODRUFF: So it wasn’t your words.

MARTINEZ: Absolutely not my words and never would be my words.

WOODRUFF: How did this happen?

MARTINEZ: Well, it’s someone who was writing for the campaign. And it’s inappropriate that they should use those words. Those are inappropriate words. I would never have used them.

4/7/05: It is discovered that a controversial memo calling Terri Schiavo a “great political issue” for conservatives originated in Martinez’s office. Martinez personally handed the memo to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), explaining it contained “talking points.” Besides firing subordinate Brian Darling, Martinez releases this statement:

It is with profound disappointment and regret that I learned today that a senior member of my staff was unilaterally responsible for this document…Until this afternoon, I had never seen it and had no idea a copy of it had ever been in my possession.

Astoundingly, the White House is still trying to claim that carving personal accounts out of Social Security will not cost money. Yesterday, Chuck Blahous, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, took questions on the White House website. Here is what Ira from Kirkland asked:

Mr. Blahous, why do we need an expensive new federal program when there are existing options for investing in securities?

Here was Blahous’s response, on behalf of the White House:

Ira, the President has not proposed a new federal program, nor to increase the costs of existing Social Security…The personal accounts that the President has proposed would be fiscally responsible because they would be used to fund retirement benefit obligations that would exist under the current system.

Most everyone knows by now that the private accounts the President is proposing would cost around $2 trillion dollars. Karl Rove himself has said these accounts are non-negotiable. Yet, the White House seems intent on continuing to mislead the American people.