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BobG
Science Advisor
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Probably because of the transparency of the Republican effort. The issue wasn't Schiavo and, almost surprisingly, few Americans seemed to believe it was. Either that or the Republicans just chose a bad case as their rally flag.Rev Prez said:Why would they offer de novo hearings to murderers but not an innocent like Terri Schiavo? I have but one simple explanation. Political considerations trump any insincere concern for Terri's life, and to that end the Democrats have made a terrible miscalculation. They assumed that the White House and Congressional Republicans would take a hit over intervening in Schiavo's case. They http://www.pollingreport.com/congjob.htm . The smarter ones were swift enough to stay silent.
Americans believed by a nearly sixty point margin that George Bush's Supreme Court nominees would make abortion http://www.pollingreport.com/Court.htm , but they put him back in office with an even larger conservative margin in the Senate. Exactly what made the Democrats think that a showdown on "end of life" issues would break their way?
Rev Prez
The issue was judicial activism. The Republicans hoped the emotional issues in the Schiavo case would cast judges in a bad light. It would make the upcoming round of judicial nominations a little easier if Bush were solving a problem instead of just nominating the judges he felt were best (nothing wrong with the latter, but it doesn't carry as much moral weight when Democrats object).
The problem with the Schiavo case is that:
a) Most Americans have some faith in the judicial system. Some may want more conservative judges and some may want more liberal judges, but very few think the judicial system is corrupt or incompetent.
b) The Schiavo case, itself, wasn't that great of a case for the Republicans. She'd been in vegetative state for fifteen years. Most people felt removing the feeding tube was the sensible choice, even if they felt sympathy for the parents' personal agony.
c) The Republicans targeted exactly the type of judge they'd probably like to include in their next round of nominations. He was a conservative, evangelical judge who refused to let his personal beliefs interfere with his job performance. There's a real risk that more people would identify with Judge Greer's courage than the Republican politicians if the spotlight shone a little brighter on the judge.
d) The bill shot itself in the foot. It couldn't remove the Schiavo case from the judicial system, since that would be unconstitutional. It wound up being "Judges are out of control, so we're going to take it from them and send it to some, uh, different judges." Uh, huh?
e) Schiavo-parent supporters shot the Republicans in the foot. Were they really advocating that Jeb Bush break the law and stage a military coup against the judicial system? And were they really trying to infer that Bush was a coward for not breaking the law?
f) The memo pretty much confirmed what most folks guessed. This was a political maneuver by Republican politicians that had little real knowledge of the details of issue they were pushing.
I found the entire drama a little embarrassing. Fortunately, the prime players were Republicans that I don't particularly care for (George Bush, Frist, and DeLay). I almost felt sorry for Jeb Bush, because I did get the impression he was truly acting on principal and wound up getting burned for it.
I don't think the impact goes beyond short term embarrassment, though. Long term, I think they'll even gain from this. The details will be forgotten. Those that viewed the Republican effort with cynicism will practically forget the entire story, while the few that do agree with the Republican effort will only remember that the Republicans stood up for life.
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