DeLay blasts "Law and Order"

"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 beg your most humble pardon. I certainly did not mean to imply that the hat belonged to anyone the likes of Tom DeLay. Although I did see a photo of him at the Crawford Ranch back a few weeks ago when Bush was trying to give him some cover time. They were both wearing black Short Rimmed Stetsons, the kind they hand out to the dudes so they won't look like floor lamps with over-sized shades as they mince their way through the mud and it's pretty hard to get enough South wind under one of those to get it blown off. Cowboys they are not.

As for the friends of yours who wear cowboy hats, the first thing I learned when I got to Texas was that you only took your hat off if you were dead, or the man you just shot was, but then only momentarily in either case.

I met a man once who proudly told me he had five kinds of **** on his boots: horseshit, cowshit, dogshit, bullshit and a turd from the man who tried to knock his hat off.

Joe(God, I do love talking cowboy)Nation

Otherwise, i'm opposed to hats on principle . . .