The Schiavo Case's Intended and Unintended Consequences

If the Rev. Jesse Jackson's last-minute appearance in the hours preceding the death of Teri Schiavo rubbed you the wrong way, hold on for just a moment. The Rev. Jackson, who made it clear that he passionately believed Terri's feeding tube should be reattached, had some other things on his mind as well. The fact that he got to talk about a broader "culture of life" agenda during several interviews was a direct result of his having stood with the Schindler family.

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Regardless of its derivation, we can all agree that the "values voters" discussion -- and now the "culture of life" discussion -- has been the provenance of radical right wing Christian fundamentalists. Liberal and left points of view on values have been basically excluded from the discussion.


Along comes Rev. Jackson


In these strange times, within a 24-hour period the Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke out on behalf of Michael Jackson, commented on the passing of civil rights attorney and activist Johnnie Cochran, and accepted an invitation extended by the Schindler family to stand with them in Florida.


Appearing with the Schindler family may have surprised some, and angered others, of Rev. Jackson longtime supporters. It sure caused a stir among those supporting Michael Schiavo.

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The entire article:

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Apr05/Berkowitz0405.htm

What of the Rev. Jackson's motivation? While he certainly appeared sincere in his feeding-tube-reattachment advocacy, clearly he had something else on his mind. By standing with the Schindler family, Jackson was able to command air-time on the Fox News Channel and CNN and at least begin to lay out a vision for a more expansive definition of "culture of life" issues.

Rev. Jackson's intervention and broadening of the "culture of life" discussion may only have been a temporary intrusion. But at least for a moment, "culture of life" was no longer a wholly owned Team Bush sound bite.

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SO TRUE.

I do not.

I actually thought it was a brilliant move on his part, and consistent with his religious background, and therefore important to the wingnuttery.

He played them. It took the wingnuts completely by surprise and put one of the Dem front men (note: not an elected Dem therefore not susceptible to campaign tricks) in the spotlight.

IMHO, Jesse acted like a Dem lightening rod and took the pressure off the Dems to pick sides in the circus.

last week in this forum.

I'd easily look it up but i really dont want to make myself sick again.

But on reflection after it's now played out (and the MSM switched to "All Pope, All the time" mode) I think it's working out.

In time I think it will work to our advantage.

those were not kneejerk reactions. Some really viscious comments were posted.

So it may not all have come from within.

Knee jerk in the sense that there was so much spin happening across the board that in time cooler heads might react differently.

Jesse was the first president I ever voted for, I still respect both his religion and his politics (and I'm just a dumb white guy from the midwest) He can be a media whore (strong word, maybe "spotlight seeker" is more appropriate) sometimes, but I generally tend to agree with his positions. In the end, I'm glad he's on our side.

I still stand by the assertion that he has a knack for diffusing the religious nuts on the right using his unique pulpit/politic position.

HAHA! Screw you Rove!

I hope you're right.