The darlings of the “Christian” Wrong, including Tom (“anything to distract the public from the Ethics Committee investigation of my campaign improprieties”) DeLay are certainly sinking deeper and deeper into the mire of the Schiavo case, aren’t they?
Shot down yet again by a Florida State court, a federal Appeals court, and the Florida legislature, the “Christian” Wrong in the persons of Jeb Bush and William Cheshire continue to flail in the wind.
The latest political pandering include filing long-shot legislation to make the state Mrs. Schiavo’s legal guardian, and a new “miracle” diagnosis made by Cheshire.
Amazingly, said diagnosis was made without benefit of an actual medical exam.
Well, a couple of good things have come out of this.
First, the mainstream press seems to have awakened – at least on this issue – from its terrified paralaysis of the last 4+ years.
And the public seems to have regained a scintilla of common sense and a dose of healthy skepticism regarding real reasons for the latest round of theocratic “politickin'” in Washington.
For example, there are more and more published reports of the overwhelming public revulsion at the Federal Government’s latest pandering to the “Christian” Wrong: anywhere from 57 to over 80% of those surveyed disagree with Congress’s involvement in this private matter.
There are also a lot of stories about the 1999 Advance Directives Act* which then-Texas Governor George Bush signed to permit hospitals to refuse end-of-life treatment.
This is the same bill* which was recently invoked in the case of the Houston infant who was disconnected from life support.
News outlets also have published numerous articles about Bush’s unnecessary, melodramatic and expensive (over $30,000/hour in operating costs) flight back to Washington on Air Force One to sign the Schiavo bill as yet more evidence that this is a political, and not a humanitarian, issue for the Republicans.
And consider this from the Washington Post:
At every opportunity, (House Majority Leader) Tom DeLay has sanctimoniously proclaimed his concern for the well-being of Terri Schiavo, saying he is only trying to ensure she has the chance ‘we all deserve,’ ” the liberal Center for American Progress said in a statement Monday, echoing complaints of Democratic lawmakers and medical ethicists. “Just last week, DeLay marshaled a budget resolution through the House of Representatives that would cut funding for Medicaid by at least $15 billion, threatening the quality of care for people like Terri Schiavo.
*The Advance Directives Act allows Texas hospitals to disconnect patients from life-sustaining systems if a doctor, in consultation with a hospital bioethics committee, concludes the patient’s condition is hopeless. (http://uspolitics.about.com/b/a/155266.htm)