Christian Hartsock
Million dollar Terri
By Christian Hartsock
Terri Schiavo has been suffering from fatal dehydration for the past week and liberal anti-life crusaders have been relishing in every moment of it. That is, of course, despite last-ditch efforts by President Bush and the Republican party-poopers in Congress to have Terri's feeding tubes restored.
Amid all the fuss, the left's latest rationalization for starving poor little Terri to death is this: There may have been political motives behind the Republicans' endeavor to save Terri's life!
President Bush signed a bill on March 21 that would transfer jurisdiction of the Terri Schiavo case to a U.S. district court. This commendable yet ineffective and admittedly delayed bill was supported by 156 congressional Republicans and only 47 congressional Democrats.
Liberals are now assuring us that the only reason the president and the Republicans decided to push this bill was to pander to their religious right constituents and score some sort of political victory. The New York Times accused President Bush of "intruding into the sufferings of the Schiavo family," insisting that the move was "directed not at the bulk of the populace, but at their base vote among the evangelical and fundamentalist conservatives who have been demanding greater deference since working to deliver Republican victories last year." Maureen Dowd explained that the real intention of the Bush administration in this endeavor is "to pander to religious fundamentalists who want to dictate how the government should be run."
Apparently liberals' brilliant method of invalidating President Bush's actions is invoking the possibility of ulterior motives. Whether he's liberating a Middle Eastern nation from tyranny and oppression (oil!), paying a surprise Thanksgiving visit to the troops stationed in Iraq (publicity stunt!), or assembling the most diverse cabinet in American history (pandering to minorities!), any commendable move made by President Bush or any Republican is automatically discredited on the basis that (gasp!) he may be reaping collateral benefits.
It evidently never occurred to liberals to think twice about why Michael Schiavo is so adamantly pressing to subject his wife to this much-anticipated "mercy killing." Surely it's not for the $1 million in medical malpractice suit awards which he stands to inherit after Terri's death. Let's not be too cynical.
Thus far, the central arguments proposed by the starvation-and-dehydration lobby have been: a) Terri is in a hopeless persistent vegetative state (no she's not), b) Terri's condition can never be improved (yes it can), c) Terri will never be the same (that does not make her any less human), d) the executive and legislative branches have no right to ignore judicial orders which they deem unlawful (yes they do), e) Terri would have wanted to die (there is absolutely no proof of that), and f) it should be left up to her "family" (what with two out-of-wedlock children and an engagement to a different woman, Michael Schiavo is certainly no more of "family" to Terri at this point than her parents are).
At this point, a congressional effort to place Terri under federal protection through a subpoena has been all but defied, U.S. District Court Judge James Whittemore has twice rejected the Schindler's emergency requests to have the tubes reinserted, a plea to the U.S. Supreme Court was ignored, the 11th Circuit in Atlanta has shot down the case, and Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer has rejected a request to hear new medical testimony from a doctor challenging the diagnosis that Terri is in a "persistent vegetative state."
Needless to say, the clock is ticking fast and not much time is left before the ravenous pro-death camp finally gets its way. Let's hope they're satisfied.
© Christian Hartsock
Terri Schiavo has been suffering from fatal dehydration for the past week and liberal anti-life crusaders have been relishing in every moment of it. That is, of course, despite last-ditch efforts by President Bush and the Republican party-poopers in Congress to have Terri's feeding tubes restored.
Amid all the fuss, the left's latest rationalization for starving poor little Terri to death is this: There may have been political motives behind the Republicans' endeavor to save Terri's life!
President Bush signed a bill on March 21 that would transfer jurisdiction of the Terri Schiavo case to a U.S. district court. This commendable yet ineffective and admittedly delayed bill was supported by 156 congressional Republicans and only 47 congressional Democrats.
Liberals are now assuring us that the only reason the president and the Republicans decided to push this bill was to pander to their religious right constituents and score some sort of political victory. The New York Times accused President Bush of "intruding into the sufferings of the Schiavo family," insisting that the move was "directed not at the bulk of the populace, but at their base vote among the evangelical and fundamentalist conservatives who have been demanding greater deference since working to deliver Republican victories last year." Maureen Dowd explained that the real intention of the Bush administration in this endeavor is "to pander to religious fundamentalists who want to dictate how the government should be run."
Apparently liberals' brilliant method of invalidating President Bush's actions is invoking the possibility of ulterior motives. Whether he's liberating a Middle Eastern nation from tyranny and oppression (oil!), paying a surprise Thanksgiving visit to the troops stationed in Iraq (publicity stunt!), or assembling the most diverse cabinet in American history (pandering to minorities!), any commendable move made by President Bush or any Republican is automatically discredited on the basis that (gasp!) he may be reaping collateral benefits.
It evidently never occurred to liberals to think twice about why Michael Schiavo is so adamantly pressing to subject his wife to this much-anticipated "mercy killing." Surely it's not for the $1 million in medical malpractice suit awards which he stands to inherit after Terri's death. Let's not be too cynical.
Thus far, the central arguments proposed by the starvation-and-dehydration lobby have been: a) Terri is in a hopeless persistent vegetative state (no she's not), b) Terri's condition can never be improved (yes it can), c) Terri will never be the same (that does not make her any less human), d) the executive and legislative branches have no right to ignore judicial orders which they deem unlawful (yes they do), e) Terri would have wanted to die (there is absolutely no proof of that), and f) it should be left up to her "family" (what with two out-of-wedlock children and an engagement to a different woman, Michael Schiavo is certainly no more of "family" to Terri at this point than her parents are).
At this point, a congressional effort to place Terri under federal protection through a subpoena has been all but defied, U.S. District Court Judge James Whittemore has twice rejected the Schindler's emergency requests to have the tubes reinserted, a plea to the U.S. Supreme Court was ignored, the 11th Circuit in Atlanta has shot down the case, and Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer has rejected a request to hear new medical testimony from a doctor challenging the diagnosis that Terri is in a "persistent vegetative state."
Needless to say, the clock is ticking fast and not much time is left before the ravenous pro-death camp finally gets its way. Let's hope they're satisfied.
© Christian Hartsock
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