Last week, Sen. John Cornyn caused a stir when he provided justifications for violence against judges on the Senate floor. Since then, he has refused to apologize and stuck to a talking point which places the blame squarely on his critics.

Cornyn on Senate Floor, 4/5/05:

I regret it that my remarks have been taken out of context to create a wrong impression about my position, and possibly be construed to contribute to the problem rather than to a solution.

Cornyn to the Houston Chronicle, 4/7/05:

The lesson I learned is that Washington is a very tough political environment and if people can take what you say out of context and use it against you, they will.

Cornyn on Fox News Sunday, 4/10/05:

I regret that my statement — part of a 30-minute speech, as you know — was taken out of context and misinterpreted to suggest some connection with these recent states of violence.

Even Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday isn’t buying it:

Well, I don’t understand how it was misinterpreted or taken out of context. I mean, again, we could put it up. Judges are making political decisions unaccountable. And it builds up to the point where some people engage in violence. Sounds like it was precisely in context.

Wallace’s interpretation is backed up by the video of Cornyn’s remarks.

This morning, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) put some serious daylight between himself and Majority Leader Tom DeLay. From ABC’s This Week:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think that this is just attacks on him [Tom DeLay] or attacks on the conservative movement, or are there serious issues here that he has to address?

SANTORUM: …If those things were not out there, obviously they wouldn’t be raising them. And so there are issues that he has to deal with personally…I think he has to come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it and let the people then judge for themselves.

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has the video.