Turns out
Drudge gets it right. DeLay writes a little letter to NBC about Law & Order.
Broadcasting & Cable gets a hold of it:
"Dear Mr. Zucker,
"It was with grave concern I learned this morning of the disturbing misuse of my name on last night's episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In the episode, a police officer investigating the murder of a federal judge suggested "put[ting] out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay t-shirt." This manipulation of my name and trivialization of the sensitive issue of judicial security represents a reckless disregard for the suffering initiated by recent tragedies and a great disservice to public discourse.
"I can only assume last night's slur was in response to comments I have made in the past about the need for Congress to closely monitor the federal judiciary, as prescribed in our constitutional system of checks and balances. I have explained all such comments - even those inartfully made and taken out of context - on numerous occasions, including with representatives of your network. When a responsible journalist like Brit Hume made an inquiry into such comments, he quickly understood them to be limited to Congress's oversight responsibilities and nothing more.
"American judges and law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to protect our streets, our citizens, and our way of life. To equate legitimate constitutional inquiry into the role of our courts with a threat of violence against our judges is to equate the First Amendment with terrorism.
"Our constitution created and our people have a right to an independent judiciary, but millions of Americans in recent decades have grown concerned about the expansion of judicial independence into judicial supremacy. To compare such concerns, which, again, are shared by millions of Americans, to a violent crime is a reckless trivialization of a serious public issue.
"Last night's brazen lack of judgment represents a failure of stewardship of our public airwaves and as much evidence as anyone needs for the embarrassing state of the mainstream media's credibility."
Emphasis added to highlight various forms of idiocy and hypocrisy.
NBC writes back:
NBC responded to the statement: "This episode is in keeping with the spirit and standards of the Law & Order brand.
"The script line involved an exasperated detective bedeviled by a lack of clues, making a sarcastic comment about the futility of looking for a suspect when no specific description existed.
"This isolated piece of gritty "cop talk" was neither a political comment nor an accusation. It's not unusual for L & O to mention real names in its fictional stories.
"We're confident in our viewers' ability to distinguish between the two."
It occurs to me that the same First Amendment DeLay is wailing about is the one that guarantees freedom of the press. It also occurs to me that equating speech with terrorism is one of DeLay's specialties.
I better listen to what Brit Hume has to say about this before I write any more. Sorry to hit and run, all work and no play makes the girlfriend justifiably angry...
LATE UPDATE: Smackdown from Dick Wolf...
Responding to DeLay's attack on "Law & Order," Dick Wolf, the show's executive producer and creator, made no apologies.
"Every week, approximately 100 million people see an episode of the branded 'Law & Order' series. Up until today, it was my impression that all of our viewers understood that these shows are works of fiction as is stated in each episode.
"But I do congratulate Congressman DeLay for switching the spotlight from his own problems to an episode of a TV show."
Heh.