More compassionate Conservatism?

I'm sorry, but is there a contest going on that I don't know about? It certainly seems so. For the past ten days, Conservative leaders and venerable icons are apparently trying their hardest to win this year's Most Ignorant Comment trophy, and the submissions are getting better each day.

So with all due respect to the idiotic statements we've recently heard from the President, Mr. Chertoff, Mr. Brown, Mr. Hastert, and our previous front-runner Barbara Bush, I offer this new entry, courtesy of today's Houston Chronicle:

This morning, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's visit to the Reliant Park... offered him a glimpse of what it's like to be living in shelter.

While on the tour of a shelter with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.

The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"

Need I say more?