GOP memo says issue offers political rewards (Schiavo issue)

Republican leaders believe their attention to the Terri Schiavo issue could pay dividends with Christian conservatives whose support they covet in the 2006 midterm elections, according to a GOP memo intended to be seen only by senators.

The one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators by party leaders, called the debate over Schiavo legislation "a great political issue" that would appeal to the party's base, or core, supporters. The memo singled out Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who is up for re-election next year.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002213728_memo20.html

if it's a dupe, please post a link. I looked in several places, and didn't see another article posted about this story.

It's partly restoring my confidence in reporting! But who's the mole here? How did this get into the press? You can be sure the Pugs didn't want that!

....how very.....republican.

how this will play well with the Christian base. When I had to make this decision for both my mother and my brother I was surrounded by fundies, a few distant relatives and clergy (not mine0. Each and every one of them felt that removing life support and giving them over to God was the only thing to do. Having been an ICU nurse I did what I knew was the correct thing based on science and realistic expectations and the advice of the trusted doctors. So, how will this appeal to the base? These people were the base. Have they changed that much in 2 years?

1) It has been going on for a very long time, so preserving her status is preserving the status quo.
2) It is not simply a question of unplugging some machines and then the body dies quickly. (Heaven forfend that we should ever do the humane thing and ease people's passage -- and end their hopeless suffering -- where it is called for and where they are known to wish exactly this thing.)
3) Her exact condition is open to dispute (legitimately or not), if only by those whose tremendous desire to read something into her condition is clouding their judgment -- or by those who wish to make use of the issue.
4) It is a good wedge to drive in and it opens up the door to further restrictions on the "right" to die (which is really the only "natural right" that mankind has ever had) -- and other related issues (or those that are made to appear so). This issue also has appeal to those people who think that suffering (other people's, generally) in this life is a good thing or that life is entirely in God's hands -- which, in practise, means precisely what they want it to.
5) The emotion surrounding this issue and its divisive nature tend to make the neocons' (rather less disciplined) opposition fall on each other instead of on the neocons. Of course, there are all those moles (here, there and everywhere) to help things along.
6) The issue is open to legitimate differences of opinion. But it is something of a slippery slope. The woman's wishes are apparently clear -- and these wishes also apparently apply to the circumstances involved (or so I understand that various courts have decided). And if she can be kept alive in this case contrary to her wishes, then what ground can be held for any of us -- when it suits someone else's purposes to do otherwise -- for reasons foul or fair?

This issue has probably been carefully focus-grouped -- and otherwise tested and market-sharpened. And the neocons are going to beat us with it until it loses its market appeal... and this could be a long time.

I see little good coming of this.

Oh well.

for turning this into a political circus :nuke:

March 20, 2005

Video - Meet the Press: Republicans use Schiavo for political gain - 3/20

Video in Real Media format (3 minutes)

:shrug:

No losers here. Appeal to the fundie base, stand up for morals, pro- life, save a poor girl from the evil liberal legal system. Political grandstanding of the best kind. And if she actually dies, who cares, it was always about the political payoff. In fact, after she dies, they can use the issue imperpetuity. Shiavo, a martyr for the GOP. Oh yeah, and Delay gets to duck his ethics controversy while preaching GOP ethics. Ironic, no?

Oh, almost forgot. The real losers, Shiavo, her parents and husband.

They are part of the pro-life movement themselves, and appealed to them to help them, as well as appealed to Jeb Bush personally. Had it not been for them, this case would not be national.

So it's a win for them. They wanted public attention. And they have kept her alive far longer than she would've been, were it not for the repetitive appeals and notoriety of the case. Bully for them.

I don't doubt that they love their daughter, though. But I saw the husband on Larry King, and he seemed sincere, as well. They just don't see eye to eye on this, her parents being pro-lifers and all.

It's so sad. (Reminds me...I need to do a living will.)

The parents are the motivating force in this circus. Victims of their own making. What they need is closure, but they are too emotionally wound up in the pro-life movement harboring unrealistic ideas about Terri's condition to understand.

I work in health care and I see families like this all the time. They typically present a face of hope and unyielding support for continued care often ignoring medical facts. Most suppress considerable anguish as their hopes fail to be realized. In this, the parents are victims, postponing the inevitable.

However, I must say that I have more sympathy for the husband and Terri than for the parents. A sad and frustrating situation.