Blumenthal: A confederacy of shamans (Schiavo)

[kskiska]

The Republicans have cynical motives for trying to stop Terri Schiavo being taken off life support


The politics of piety were transparently masked by Republicans attempting to make capital over the fate of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman who has been locked in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years and whose feeding tube was ordered to be removed by a Florida state judge at the request of her husband.

At last, the case that had been considered by 19 judges in seven courts and appealed to the supreme court three times, which refused to hear it, seemed resolved. But Republican congressional leaders and President George Bush seized upon the court ruling as the moment for "a great political issue", as a memo circulated among Senate Republicans put it. The Democrats, it declared, would find it "tough" and the conservative "pro-life base will be excited". The president, who had hesitated for three days before making a statement on the tsunami in December, rushed from his Texas ranch back to the White House to sign the legislation.

(snip)

His brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, has campaigned for years on the Schiavo holy crusade and has hired a prominent religious rightwing leader as the lawyer to represent the state in the case. In their legal battle the agonised Schiavo parents have made themselves financial dependents of two conservative groups, one anti-abortion, the other whose stated mission is to "confront and challenge the radical legal agenda advocating homosexual behaviour".

The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, is a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. For him, the Schiavo case is the beginning of the struggle for Bush's succession. A heart surgeon before his entry into politics, the nameplate on the front door to his Capitol Hill office reads "William H Frist, MD", and he signs correspondence "Bill Frist, MD".

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1444587,00.html

[Snap]

1. "Bill Frist, Jackass"

[pfitz59]

3. "Frist" family of Medicare Fraud!

Are Schaivo's bills covered by Medicare? Is this Frist Family connected somehow? I bet there's a money trail to follow.....

[Frances]

2. In 2000, Bush's supporters kept screaming The Rule of Law

to justify stealing the election in Florida, but now they are "enthroning by edict theology above the law."

It's all about power and greed.

[enough]

4. This may be the most compassionate description of the parents

that I have read

snip>

In their legal battle the agonised Schiavo parents have made themselves financial dependents of two conservative groups, one anti-abortion, the other whose stated mission is to "confront and challenge the radical legal agenda advocating homosexual behaviour".

snip>


A great article by Blumenthal. Thanks for posting this.