Posted on 11/02/2006 5:23:50 AM PST by 8mmMauser
Republican gubernatorial front-runner Charlie Crist says he was perfectly clear in opposing governmental intervention in the Terri Schiavo case.
He spoke out loudly.
And he was silent.
Loudly silent.
The day after limping through a tough nationally televised debate, the Republican attorney general wanted to talk about his plans to slash taxes. Instead reporters questioned him about his debate assertion that, “Yes, I did’’ speak out against Congress trying to force the reinsertion of the severely brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube in 2005.
Crist did not publicly express his opposition to the Schiavo intervention until April 2006, more than a year after the Pinellas woman’s death. But he maintained on Tuesday that he forcefully expressed his opposition from the start.
“I spoke loudly,” Crist said in Tallahassee. “I think it’s important that when issues like that come up and you believe that government is the appropriate place for it that you act that out, and you walk the walk, and don’t just talk the talk.’’
The attorney general noted that his office “by not going to court and pushing the agenda on that issue, that was speaking out louder than anybody else did in Florida.”
This is one of many issues — from insurance reform to abortion and civil unions — where Crist has been accused of ambiguity or trying please all sides.
Contrary to his comments Tuesday, during the Republican gubernatorial primary in August he stressed to the weekly newspaper of the Florida Baptist Convention that his office helped the governor’s office with legal work to keep Schiavo alive, even though he personally had qualms.
“I don’t remember that, but I’ll check on it and see,” Crist said when asked about that interview with the Florida Baptist Witness.
Gov. Jeb Bush came to his would-be successor’s defense. “He spoke out to me,” Bush told reporters. Crist, however, said he never directly talked to Bush.
There are few issues in the political realm so black and white as the Terri Schiavo case. People either supported the state and federal government intervening to keep her alive or they didn’t.
But Crist is the second statewide candidate recently to face questions about how he acted during the Schiavo end-of-life controversies that erupted in 2003 in the Legislature and in 2005 in both the Legislature and Congress.
Democratic Attorney General candidate Walter “Skip” Campbell, a state senator from Broward County, has been on the defensive this week for having voted to keep Schiavo alive and later criticizing the governmental intervention. Crist’s involvement in the Schiavo case may be the only common ground between the Schindler family, Terri
Schiavo’s parents and siblings who fought to keep her alive, and her husband, Michael Schiavo, who insisted his wife did not want to be kept alive in a persistent vegetative state. Both sides have criticized Crist.
“When he said in that debate that he’s going to be a leader, my heart dropped. He’s not a leader, he’s a follower,’’ Michael Schiavo said Tuesday. “If he really wanted to stand up he would have said, 'No, this is wrong. The government should stay out of this.’ ... Charlie Crist did not say a word, he was nowhere to be found. He’s a coward.’’
Terri Schiavo’s father, Bob Schindler, wrote an essay in August accusing Crist of snubbing the family’s pleas for him to help their efforts. “Florida Atty. Gen. Charlie Crist let my daughter die. He had it within his authority to save her life, but he turned a blind eye to her suffering,’’ Schindler wrote.
The Florida Democratic Party issued a release saying Crist “lied” about his role in the Schiavo case, but at a brief campaign stop at Arco-Iris restaurant in Tampa on Tuesday, Davis would only say that Crist “misrepresented his position.”
“I was up fighting George Bush and the entire United States Congress, both political parties, and Charlie Crist was unwilling to take a position,” Davis said.
Davis, trailing in polls and campaign money, is hoping his debate performance Monday night will cut Crist’s advantages. No statewide viewership numbers were available Tuesday, but in the Tampa Bay area about 152,000 households tuned in — a ratings jump for that time slot on WFLA — and that doesn’t include those who watched on MSNBC.
- Tallahassee bureau chief Steve Bousquet and staff writer Alex Leary contributed to this report. Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8241.\
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In the latest campaign blitz by Senate candidate Bob Casey Junior, he criticizes Senator Rick Santorum as the "only Senator who intruded at the bed side of Terri Schiavo." Very poor taste.
So the record is clear, Senator Santorum supported a bill that called for a fresh trial on the evidence for Terri. The bill passed in the House with 203 votes for and 58 votes against and in the Senate by a unanimous or nearly unanimous "voice vote." Thus, I suppose Casey could have said that most of Congress "intruded" but this is no more sincere than saying that Santorum alone did.
Congress has the authority under the Constitution to determine the jurisdiction of the federal courts. In Terri's case, Congress gave the federal courts jurisdiction to hear the evidence in the case (including new evidence) de novo, i.e., based on the complete factual record. It also instructed the court to hold such a trial.
In contradiction of the clear intent of Congress, the district court in Florida refused to hold a new hearing, because after reviewing the Schindler's legal brief, the judge concluded that the Schindlers did not establish "a substantial likelihood of success on the merits." Congress, however, did not limit the court's jurisdiction to a facial review of legal arguments in a brief that Terri's lawyers had only one day to pull together. Instead, Congress declared that the court "shall" determine any claim in a new hearing de novo. This did not happen. Terri died.
Congress did not exceed its constitutional authority. The bill did not dictate the outcome of a fresh trial on the evidence. A new trial would have allowed time for both sides to probe the open questions about Terri's cognitive state, her wishes about her care, and her potential to recover. In the trial, the scales of justice could have tipped to either side. Congress simply recognized the need to err on the side of prudence, to err on the side of life. Congress was right, and it was morally justified. So was Rick Santorum.
I suppose Casey could argue that Rick Santorum "intruded" by being interviewed in Florida along with others who spoke in favor of Terri, including Jesse Jackson. Was Santorum wrong? Was Jackson wrong? No way. If this situation had taken place in Pennsylvania, I would hope that every Senator and every leader from every state would have taken the same stand that Santorum and so many others did for Terri in Florida.
Since Bob Casey Jr. holds himself out as a right-to-life Democrat, his criticism of Santorum's effort to be a voice for the defenseless Terri is peculiar. To me, it begs the question whether Casey, if elected, would allow his stated beliefs and values to take a back seat to the radical left agenda that has hijacked the Democratic Party or whether he has the independence to oppose his party when it is wrong.
This election day, vote family and vote values. If you are here in Pennsylvania, I hope you will cast your vote for Rick Santorum.
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They try to downplay it, but the spirit of Terri still haunts them.
Says independent political analyst Charles Cook: ``Seventy percent of this election is about Iraq, and the rest is a mish- mash of the deficit, stem-cell research, immigration and Terri Schiavo,'' referring to the brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband's efforts to remove her from life support led congressional Republicans to get involved.
Pivotal Vote May Weaken Bush, Push Democrats on Plans (Update1)
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Do you think the dispute over Terry Schiavo was handled appropriately?
Bilirakis: Yes. Believes government should err on the side of life.
Busansky: No. Views it as a clear example of an inexcusable government intrusion into what should be a very personal family matter.
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What is our world coming to if it turns out the values of killing innocents like Terri are really what the majority want?
Wayne Allyn Root is a household name in Las Vegas. He is a Las Vegas sports prognosticator and oddsmaker. He has his own star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars- joining Wayne Newton, Siegfried & Roy, Liberace, Rich Little and Sammy Davis Jr. Root hosts television shows like “Wayne Allyn Root’s WinningEDGE” aired on Discovery Channel transponder on Saturday mornings and “King of Vegas” on Spike TV. But the true love of his life is politics.
Snip...
Root calls it one of the greatest lost opportunities in modern political history. Root believes that issues such as Terri Schiavo, stem cell research funding, the banning of online gaming, and the dramatic expansion of government and spending under Bush have been just as damaging to the GOP as the war in Iraq or the Mark Foley scandal.
U.S. Mid-Term Elections - Wayne Allyn Root Released odds on Election Day
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Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor; but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days. Proverbs 28: 15, 16
With the election coming, I ask those of you who wish to to join me in prayer for the election.
Prayer Thread for the Election
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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life attorney says he thinks next week's hearing on a Congressional partial-birth abortion ban will lead to a vote that will ultimately hinge on Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy voted with the minority in upholding a Nebraska ban in a previous case but the pro-abortion justice's vote is never certain.
His vote may also be less certain with the court's previous deciding vote in close cases -- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- now retired.
Pro-Life Attorney: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Hinges on Kennedy Vote
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Some of you may make your protest vote to teach the Republicans a lesson. Some of you may say that your party left you and it doesn't matter what party is in power. Before that protest vote, however, consider these guys...
BEFORE YOU CAST A VOTE TO "PUNISH THE REPUBLICANS" FOR NOT BEING CONSERVATIVE ENOUGH
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In a stunning and historic trip under the utmost secrecy, a delegation of families of fallen U.S. troops have traveled to Iraq to counter critics of the war effort, just days before the Nov. 7 midterm elections.
The delegation of “Gold Star Families” agreed to provide the Sacramento Union with an exclusive account of their trip to Iraq based on the assurance that news of their mission would not be published until they had safely left Amman, Jordan.
So secret is their trip that even members of the Bush Administration were kept in the dark about their planned activities.
Local Gold Star Families Take Secret Trip to Iraq [FReepers Included]
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Just barely..lol
Yes, and does it not reflect that we are children of God, fueled by His good? We were seeking the good, even though we let a lie get through our defenses.
C. S. Lewis was brilliant portraying the way evil bends good. Creation was good, so there is no such thing as pure evil, only the warping of good by a sinful will. The second book of his "space" trilogy, Perelandra, takes on the whole question directly -- it is about the temptation of Eve. You hear the Tempter bend words and thoughts to deceive Eve, to tell her she will grow in God's eyes if she disobeys him. In case you haven't read it, I won't spoil the ending :-)
The other two books of the trilogy are Out of the Silent Planet, book one, and That Hideous Strength, book three -- a fictionalized version of Lewis' Abolition of Man lectures. Recommended!
I checked out that thread and I love our guys in the military but I just can't vote for Christ.
I remember emailing Christ many times asking him to help Terri. Never a stand or an answer. By doing nothing he helped stop a beating heart. He won't get my vote.
Terri's rights were completely ignored! The only people given any semblance of a voice for her rights were the Schindlers and they were ignored in favor of a supposed conversation that Terri's abusive and adulterous husband brought up years after the fact.
That was one of the weaknesses in their "compassion" pitch -- they tortured the patient to death.
"State" issue? That quaint notion was overturned by the 14th Amendment in 1868. This Amendment was in large measure a correction of the Supreme Court's Dred Scott ruling. It authorizes Congress to step in when the rights of an individual like Dred Scott or Terri Schiavo are being trampled by state government. Here are the key provisions:
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
>> ``If we can't win this one, we ought to start a new party,'' says Jim Blanchard, a Democrat who served in the House and as governor of Michigan, and is now a lobbyist.
Wottheheck. If you DO win this one, that's all the more reason to start a new party.
Well, this narrows it down to bad attorneys for Terri or bad Justices on the Supreme Court. We know the attorneys for Terri were at a disadvantage because of money. We also know that the Justices on the Supreme Court have speaking engagements to meet and can not be bothered.
Gary Amos, in his memorable essay, said every judge involved in the Terri Schiavo case, including all nine sitting justices on the Supreme Court, should be impeached by Congress under constitutional definitions of misbehavior. I posted links to both his essay and peripheral comments; must have been in our last Terri thread. Let me see what I can find in a hurry...
Not the shortest essay, but rich in detail and worth every moment you put into it.
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