This was perfectly legal in Nazi Germany. Would you have advocated adherence to "the law" if you lived there and then instead of here and now?
Posted on 03/24/2005 6:51:21 PM PST by FairOpinion
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - It's not often Gov. Jeb Bush is frustrated pursuing his goals. He was the first governor to start a statewide school voucher program. He got rid of civil service protections for tens of thousands of state workers. He pushed through billions of dollars in tax cuts. His goal of prolonging the life of Terri Schiavo is proving much harder.
"It is frustrating for people to think that I have power that I don't, and not be able to act," Bush told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I don't have embedded special powers. I wish I did in this particular case."
Bush canceled travel plans Thursday to monitor the case of Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who has gone without food and water since a judge ordered her feeding tube removed March 18.
He was in constant contact with his legal office, ordered staffers to e-mail and call him with developments and demanded state laws be scoured for a way to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube.
At his office, Bush waved an affidavit from neurologist William Cheshire that questions whether Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state. The emotion in his voice rose as he detailed how the affidavit stated Schiavo made a crying sound, grimaced and pressed her eyebrows together when a doctor said he was going to turn her over.
She "signals her anticipation of pain. Just like you would, or just like I would. Now is it perfect? Is she responding with the same eloquence that you would respond to? ... No. She's severely, profoundly disabled," Bush said.
The governor's court record is mixed. He succeeded in removing affirmative action guarantees from state hiring and university admission practices, but a law requiring doctors to notify parents if they perform an abortion on minor girls was thrown out.
Still, he's been persistent. After a court threw out a law requiring tougher sentences for three-time felons, the governor went back to the Legislature and fixed the problem. Currently, he and lawmakers are working on a plan to require parents be notified before their minor daughters get abortions.
In the Schiavo case, he's running out of legal avenues — but not hope.
"You know what I hope for first and foremost? That Mr. Schiavo would say, 'I'm going to let Terri be with her parents. I'm going to move on with my life. I've made my point,'" Bush said, referring to Schiavo's husband, Michael, who insists she would not want to be kept alive artificially. "That obviously doesn't appear to be happening."
"So secondly I pray for an openness by the people who are responsible for making these decisions so we can act and allow for her to stabilize."
He says the courts appear to have turned a deaf ear to his arguments.
"For this lockdown to occur without having the ability to have an open mind, and say, 'Well, maybe there are new facts on the table, maybe there are new technologies, maybe, just maybe, we should be cautious about this' ... is very troubling," Bush said.
In 2003, when the Legislature passed a law allowing Bush to order the feeding tube reinserted after it had been removed, critics accused him of political grandstanding as his brother, President Bush (news - web sites), sought re-election.
Justin Sayfie, Bush's former communications director, said they were wrong: "He's term-limited out. His brother is term-limited out."
"Most strategists or political operatives would say 'Don't touch this,'" said GOP political strategist Geoffrey Becker, noting polls show most people don't believe government should be involved in the case. "I firmly believe that this is his personal conviction, that he believes this is the right thing to do."
The reason is that so many people say that Gov. Bush should have done more and he didn't do enough, and this article shows that he is going above and beyond, leaving no stone unturned to save Terri.
With so many posts, if I posted it to another thread, a lot of people would miss it, and I think Gov. Bush deserves that people know how hard he is trying to save Terri.
I share his frustration.
I want to know why the courts are free to ignore the authority of the legislature, the U.S. Congress & the executive branch, while the governor for some reason feel obligated to kowtow to the courts.
Some people just don't feel normal if they aren't bitching. Jeb is doing all he can, bottom line.
Can't he send in police or National Guards to save her? This is a ligfe in danger because of judicial activism! She will die if he does nothing!
i don't have any issue with either president bush or governor bush on this. they've done more than others in their place would have done.
but i find the death of this woman disgusting.
i cannot believe that our country is so mean-spirited (to use a democrat term).
I only hope that regarless of how the Schiavo issue is resolved. that the governor will take it upon himself to force some changes in his state's corrections and law enforcement departments. Maybe he can prevent some future child molester from being paroled, or if paroled then at least keep track of the molester's whereabouts. That might keep some future 9 year old girl from being abducted, assaulted for a day or two, and then buried a few hundred yards from her own bedroom.
Excellent point.
I've often wondered that too.
Bush is like the Schindlers....there is nothing going to come through the courts and time is growing shorter. He must ACT and not rely on a court.He can if he will
Greer should be held in contempt of Congress and is violating the law by not holding a de novo review of the case
Today, even the brilliant Judge Bork stated flatly that both President Bush and Governor Bush were out of options -- very sad, but very true.
No, if Terri dies it's because Michael Schiavo and the judges want her to die. Jeb is doing EVERYTHING within the law to save her.
"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. "
They watched a woman "starve to death"...legally
I wish I'd kept a ping list for this one.
Well, well, well...ping.
I'll admit I've been emotional and yelled at a few people because I cannot understand how ANYONE would advocate death. I can understand lashing out in frustration at not being able to stop an innocent's woman Death by decree of the Judiciary.
But Jeb Bush and the President are not the enemies. Terri's family has stated they have no doubt he'd help if he could. perhaps they need to consider why they are on the opposite side of the most affected members.
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