Hypocrisy 101: Tom DeLay's involvement in the Terri Schiavo case

[struggle4progress]

Tom DeLay's involvement in the Terri Schiavo case was tied to politics, not principle.

<snip> But despite all this bombastic rhetoric, it appears DeLay's involvement in the case was tied to politics, not principle. According to a search of LexisNexis, the first article mentioning both DeLay and Schiavo appeared on March 11th. The first documents mentioning Schiavo on DeLay's Web site were published March 18th. <snip>

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Times revealed that DeLay personally endured an end-of-life crisis similar to the Schiavo case. In 1988, DeLay's 65-year-old father Charles was seriously injured during a freak tram accident at the family's home in Canyon Lake, Texas. His injuries left the DeLay patriarch suspended in a coma and doctors advising "that he would 'basically be a vegetable,'" according to the congressman's aunt, JoAnne DeLay. After several weeks, as Charles Delay's organs began to fail, his family confronted the dreaded choice so many other Americans have faced: to make heroic efforts or to let the end come. And, in a decision that belies his bellicose rhetoric of recent weeks, Tom DeLay joined the family consensus to let his father die.

As the last straw of hypocrisy, the Times detailed how DeLay's family later filed suit against two companies responsible for a machine part that the family said had caused the accident. The case was resolved in 1993 with a payment from the companies of about $250,000, compensation for the dead father's "physical pain and suffering" and the mother's grief and loss of companionship, among other things.

"Three years later," the Times noted, "DeLay cosponsored a bill specifically designed to override state laws on product liability such as the one cited in his family's lawsuit." Despite the benefits for his family, DeLay has taken a leading role promoting tort reform. He condemns trial lawyers who "get fat off the pain" of plaintiffs with "frivolous, parasitic lawsuits" that raise insurance premiums and "kill jobs."

http://www.memphisflyer.com/content.asp?ArticleID=20&ID=7128

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

1. Will his self-righteous hypocrisy NEVER end?

I had heard that he pulled his father of the ventilator but I had not heard that he turned around and filed suit against the companies for the accident. He is really an unbelievable hypocrite.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: