Posted on 03/24/2005 11:02:42 AM PST by Destro
Posted on Wed, Mar. 23, 2005
GOP leaders unlikely to pursue new avenues to keep Schiavo alive
BY JEFF ZELENY
Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and congressional leaders said Wednesday they had exhausted their options and could find no new political avenues to prolong the life of Terri Schiavo.
"Now, we'll watch the courts make its decisions," Bush said at a news conference in Texas. "But we looked at all options from the executive branch perspective."
The president's brevity on the subject - devoting only a few moments to an issue that had overshadowed other domestic issues for days - suggested Republicans had decided to not aggressively pursue other alternatives or try to change public opinion in the case of the severely brain-damaged woman.
A CBS News poll released Wednesday showed that 82 percent of Americans believe neither Congress nor the president should have intervened. And among people who describe themselves as evangelicals, more than two-thirds of respondents said Bush and lawmakers should stay out of the case.
As criticism mounted from some strict conservatives over the decision of fellow Republicans to inject Congress into a state's rights issue, Bush defended the legislation, saying the government "ought to err on the side of life, which we have."
Still, the White House said explicitly the administration had no intention of taking the Schiavo case any further.
"There really are not other legal options available to us," said spokesman Scott McClellan.
The House Government Reform Committee canceled a hearing, which had been hastily arranged as a means to stop Schiavo's feeding tube from being removed. While Republicans planned to file another appeal when the Schiavo case reached the Supreme Court, Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said lawmakers would not become deeply involved.
For days, Republicans have dismissed suggestions that their intervention in the case was rooted in politics, particularly to mollify anti-abortion and other social conservative groups. "The legal and political issues may be complicated, but the moral ones are not," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said last weekend.
But an audiotape obtained by CNN on Wednesday, featuring a speech by DeLay to the Family Research Council, offered another view. He said the case could be used to rally conservatives.
"One thing God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo," DeLay said, "to elevate the visibility of what is going on in America."
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(Chicago Tribune correspondent John Biemer contributed to this report.)
I don't think scientific polls exist anymore. At least by the news media. They all tend to be slanted. Although, I'll say I think FOX does a better job of polling than the major networks do.
Amazing stuff, Ambrose.
Some of the very same people who heretofore LOVED
Scalia and Thomas, now prefer judicial activists.
Understood and BTTT!
Well stated.
Gee this isn't politcal, sounds like Terry didn't get the memo. This is another error the Schindlers should have not allowed.
I do.
Hysteria and falsehoods.
Nazi doesn't play here.
Sure smells that way, doesn't it?
Delay's remarks last Sunday morning (about MS) in the press conference are inexcusable.
Slanderous remarks at best.
Need help with your bags?
You betray your own ignorance with such nonsense. The FR "polls" are limited to a narrow demographic (those who frequent this website), are open to multiple votes by individuals (if they sign on with multiple screen names, a common internet practice), and are not remotely scientifically based.
That's right.
Funny how some ppl want to "pick & choose" when it comes to judges upholding the law, isn't it?
In this case, they want judges to break/ignore the law.
All he does is file w/courts.
Half the time he only says he will.
It does not matter whether it is a case of judicial activism or not.
TWO things are going on this Easter week, one more important than the other.
The one is the judicial travesty down in Florida. It's not over yet. Jeb Bush could intervene. So could President Bush. If they play Pontius Pilate, Terry will die, and they will never recover the faith and trust of the committed pro-life Christians agian.
The other, much bigger, is the wavering of the Republicans in the Senate over the nuclear option. This is the only way to get past the Democrats to install a conservative judiciary. Everyone knows that. And yet, the Republican majority, a 55-45 majority, is wavering - just as the Republican majority leader did in the Florida Senate.
Both issues crucial to life are exploding at once, this week. And the Republicans in all branches: Judicial, Executive and Legislative are failing.
The crucial issue is the nuclear option. If the Republicans go Quisling on that, they will lose the pro-life movement. Every indication is that that is precisely what they are going to do.
A pro-life party will start forming within the year.
And that will spell the end of the Republican Agenda.
Or the Republicans could pull themselves out of this jam dive now by taking bold, decisive steps.
And it's because the GOP leadership decided to waste its political capital on this fools' errand.
The crucial issue is the nuclear option. If the Republicans go Quisling on that, they will lose the pro-life movement. Every indication is that that is precisely what they are going to do.
Because the pro-life movement couldn't prioritize their tasks.
A pro-life party will start forming within the year. And that will spell the end of the Republican Agenda.
It will also spell the end of the pro-life agenda.
Fratricide!
They did their best and I for one appreciate the effort.
The feeding tube is "life support."
Without it she cannot eat or drink. That's the reason for the feeding tube.
Can't figure out what part of that some can't understand.
Well, at one time, he collected a lot of money
from folks who really "thought" highly of him.
I recall he had a radio show on Saturday mornings.
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