Whine Connoisseur

Tom DeLay and Bill Frist deserve each other--Cat Killer and the Bug Man:

"One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the visibility of what is going on in America," Mr. DeLay told a conference organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. A recording of the event was provided by the advocacy organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

"This is exactly the issue that is going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others," Mr. DeLay said.

Mr. DeLay complained that "the other side" had figured out how "to defeat the conservative movement," by waging personal attacks, linking with iberal organizations and persuading the national news media to report the story. He charged that "the whole syndicate" was "a huge nationwide concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in."

The day before, Senator Frist, the Tennessee Republican whose past includes a career as a heart-lung transplant surgeon and whose future might include a run for president, addressed the same group by telephone. Even though the Senate's daylong budget debate kept him at the Capitol, he told the group that he had already talked to a neurologist who had examined Ms. Schiavo. Dr. Frist said he had serious questions about her diagnosis.

"I promise you that I will not leave tonight or tomorrow until we do everything we can and ultimately save the life by preventing the starvation of Terri Schiavo," he said, according to the recording.

Maybe someone can suggest the right cheese to go with their whine. DeLay is sooooo put upon--I mean, geez, if the Majority Leader can't violate ethics rules with impunity, then what is this country coming to? As for Frist--well, if he's able to offer such stunningly accurate medical diagnoses outside the area of his speciality, based solely on secondhand information, you've gotta wonder why he so avidly strangled kittens while earning his degree. Surely he could have foregone this youthful indiscretion--unless he really liked doing it.