HEADS UP: An Important Point on this Terry Schiavo Issue [View All]

This may be coldly analytical, but it needs to be said.

In my blog today, I made the following observation:

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Say what you will about the GOP majority and their allies in the White House, and there is much to say, but one thing cannot be denied: These folks have mastered the art of distraction and implementation. Consider the last month or so. Bush and his congressional allies jumped up and started waving their arms and shouting, “Look over here! We’re going to privatize Social Security! Look, we’re gonna do it! Here it comes! You can’t stop us!” The Democrats and their activist allies got all gamed up to fight the SS privatization push, and effectively beat the idea to death.

Here’s the thing: I believe Bush and his crew knew their SS plan was DOA weeks ago, but kept pushing it to distract their opponents from a bunch of other stuff that got rammed through as if it were on greased skids. While everyone was running around shouting about Social Security, the boys in the back room managed to pass: a) A Bankruptcy Bill that was basically a huge kiss on the lips to credit card companies; b) A Gun Manufacturers Shield Law that bars anyone from suing gun manufacturers for liability in shootings; and c) The ANWR Drilling Fiasco Act. Smooth, sly, and very effective.

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To no small degree (and some of you who are passionate about this subject will be angered by my saying this, but it needs saying), this Schiavo congress thing is these fellows waving their arms and yelling, "Hey, look over here! Look here! Get outraged here! Get mobilized here! Nyah nyah nyah! Here!"

What they accomplish from this is to distract us from the MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH larger issue of the looming fight over the so-called 'Nuclear Option' regarding the filibuster. They don't want us to game up for that fight.

Here's the thing: You can maybe score some points on the Schiavo issue, but if you take the bait, you drain energy and resources from the filibuster fight.

And I say this here and now: If we lose that filibuster fight, issues like the Schiavo one will become completely moot, because the GOP will remake the courts for the next 30 years, and any and all choice-or-life discussions from euthanasia to abortion will be done and over with and finished.

Let them flog poor Ms. Schiavo, for whom my heart honestly bleeds. No one deserves to be a pawn in this kind of despicable game. But if we get geared up for that fight and let the ship sail on the filibuster issue, a lot of very bad things will happen in rapid succession.

They are yelling, "Hey, look over here! Look here! Get outraged here! Get mobilized here! Nyah nyah nyah! Here!" for a reason.

Don't take the bait. You can maybe help one Schiavo, or you can definitely help millions of them.