Posted on 03/20/2005 9:19:34 PM PST by Former Military Chick
WASHINGTON, March 20 - For days, President Bush kept his public distance from the Terri Schiavo case and let his spokesman deliver mild statements suggesting that the president did not want Ms. Schiavo, who has severe brain damage, to die. But on Saturday night, when Mr. Bush made the rare decision to interrupt his Texas vacation and rush back to Washington to be in place to sign a bill that could restore Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube, the White House said that the issue had become one of "defending life," and that time was of the essence.
So, too, were White House politics, Republicans and conservative religious figures said. Although Mr. Bush was described as personally moved by the issue, his dramatic return was seen as a powerful embrace of the "culture of life" issues of religious conservatives who helped him win the White House in 2004. Those groups will be crucial to the political fortunes of the Republican Party in 2006 and 2008.
"Look, this is a symbolic move, for sure," said Richard Cizik, the vice president for government affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals. "It's his willingness to interrupt his vacation to make a statement. And not just to make a statement, because we're not playing games here, but to make a difference, too."
Nonetheless, White House officials acknowledged that the final bill could have been flown to Mr. Bush in Texas, a round trip of six or seven hours that probably would have made no difference in whether Ms. Schiavo lives. Doctors say she can survive for up to two weeks without the liquid meals that have sustained her for 15 years.
"That would have been acceptable," said Mr. Cizik, referring to Mr. Bush signing the bill at his ranch. "But this president seizes opportunities when they come his way. That's what makes him a good politician."
Others said that Mr. Bush was eager to join with religious conservatives on an issue they could agree on, particularly since he has not promoted a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion, as they would like.
"Sometimes the president, despite his rhetoric of supporting a culture of life, disappoints these communities," said John C. Green, the director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron and an expert on the voting patterns of religious groups. "I think this helps him personally, because it allows him to make good on his rhetoric, but also it helps the Republican Party more broadly, which is trying to cement its relationship with these conservative religious groups."
Mr. Bush lifted off in his Marine One helicopter from his 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford under warm, sunny skies shortly before noon on Sunday. Minutes later he landed in nearby Waco, where he boarded Air Force One wearing a suit and a tie. His manner was crisp and businesslike, and he did not smile as he usually does at onlookers and the small group of reporters who accompany him.
It was the first time this president had interrupted a vacation to return to Washington, although it was not the first time an emergency had intruded on Mr. Bush's stay at his ranch, as happened when violence between the Israelis and Palestinians escalated over Easter week in 2002.
He was also not the first president to return from a vacation to Washington to handle an emergency. Ronald Reagan returned from his California ranch for a National Security Council meeting in early September 1983 after the Russians shot down a South Korean passenger airline, and Bill Clinton left a vacation on Martha's Vineyard, where he was trying to repair his marriage post-Monica Lewinsky, to oversee the bombing of terrorist targets in the Sudan and Afghanistan in August 1998.
But most presidents have come back for foreign crises, not domestic ones.
White House officials insisted that politics played no part in the president's decision, even though Republican senators were provided with talking points, apparently by Republican aides, that characterized the Schiavo case as "a great political issue" that resonates with Christian conservatives. Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said that Mr. Bush's only motivation was to act with speed and to give Ms. Schiavo's parents, who are battling Ms. Schiavo's husband to have the feeding tube restored, another chance to save their daughter. The bill would allow the parents to take the issue to federal court for a hearing.
"Time is important," Mr. McClellan told reporters on Air Force One. "The feeding tube was removed on Friday, and I think hours do matter at this point."
Mr. McClellan said the president made the decision about 6 p.m. on Saturday to return to Washington to sign the bill, after he talked with Joe Hagin, the deputy White House chief of staff, who is staying with him at the ranch. Mr. McClellan gave no indication that Mr. Bush had talked to Karl Rove, his powerful political adviser, who is the chief White House link to conservative groups. Mr. Rove was in Austin over the weekend, Mr. McClellan said.
Mr. McClellan said that the White House estimated that the bill could pass in the early hours of Monday morning, and that the president was likely to get out of bed and sign it immediately afterward, without ceremony or television cameras, in the White House residence.
As of late Sunday, the president was planning to leave around 8 a.m. on Monday from the White House for a trip to Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico to press for his plan to overhaul Social Security. His original schedule had called for him to make the trip from Crawford.
"OK" is far above the NYT's normal standard of excellence.
No use in attacking the Democrats while they're committing suicide tonight.
I love this guy.
It seems to me that the ones politicizing this to the max (even more so than the demonrats) are the MEDIA.
Thank you President Bush!
PING
When teh New York Times dos OK, it means all the editors were out sick today.
Bump for Terri.
Per Drudge... measure was just passed, now awaiting signing by President Bush.
The minimun votes needed to put this in the Federal Courts was 146. That number was reached at 2129 hours, PST. As for the Democrats, I think most of them wanted nothing to do with this matter. For them, there was no upside to fight this, and for a lot of them, there was a huge downside risk. The majority did what was most practical, they didn't vote!
Hope the judge is awake and waiting for the faxed copy of the bill....Should be an ambulance standing by for TS too!
Thank God President Bush is our President! I wish I could thank him. I wish I could say thank you President Bush for being who you are and caring about even the least of us.
The stain still attaches to them. Everyone knows which side they were on.
Agreed. But some were smart enough to run silent and deep.
Thank You President Bush!
I haven't seen any, and am wondering if any have been taken, and if the results are being supressed.
Nam Vet
(the final bill could have been flown to Mr. Bush in Texas, a round trip of six or seven hours that probably would have made no difference in whether Ms. Schiavo lives.)
6-7 hours wouldn't make a difference! Tell that to a body dying of thirst!
I'm not ashamed to admit I cried when the House passed the bill.
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