And so I was disgusted when I read the article by Walter F. Roche Jr. and Sam Howe Verhovek in the Los Angeles Times entitled, "Plug-pulling hypocrite: In 1988, Tom DeLay let his comatose father die". I'm linking to the reprint in Smirking Chimp because you might like to read the comments section beneath the article. It seems to have stimulated a lot of posting. Here's an excerpt:
And DeLay is among the strongest advocates of keeping the woman, who doctors say has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years, connected to her feeding tube. DeLay has denounced Schiavo's husband, as well as judges, for committing what he calls "an act of barbarism" in removing the tube.
In 1988, however, there was no such fiery rhetoric as the congressman quietly joined the sad family consensus to let his father die.
"There was no point to even really talking about it," Maxine DeLay, the congressman's 81-year-old widowed mother, recalled in an interview last week. "There was no way [Charles] wanted to live like that. Tom knew - we all knew - his father wouldn't have wanted to live that way.
"Doctors advised that he would "basically be a vegetable," said the congressman's aunt, JoAnne DeLay.
I'm trying to think if there's anything more vile than using a human tragedy and a family's grief for political opportunism. Especially when the politician involved has made the opposite decision in his own family that he is now advocating for political purposes. I can only add the snarky observation: IOKIYAR (It's OK if you're a Republican.)
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