The Public Death of Terri Schiavo
 

April 4 2005
Counterbias.com
Scott C. Smith


Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who has been in a persistent vegetative state since 1990, following an chemical imbalance that caused her heart to stop, resulting in brain damage, died on March 21, 2005.

What should have been a private family matter was instead perverted by Republican opportunists into a prop to use in a culture war against liberals.

Rep. Tom DeLay and Sen. Bill Frist turned Schiavo’s case into a national debate the week of March 14, as they worked on a bill that would allow Bob and Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo’s parents, to appeal her case to a federal court. Schiavo’s husband, Michael, has long maintained that his wife would not have wanted to be left in a condition where she would be kept alive medically. The case had been in the Florida court system for years, and Michael Schiavo’s request to have Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube removed was granted on March 18, 2005. What followed was a Republican-led media circus, ostensibly a show of support for the rights of a disabled woman, but in reality more a political maneuver to advance the right-to-life platforms of Republicans and the religious right.

Bob and Mary Schindler’s grief was made public, while the conservative pundits and politicians did what they could to use the case as a way to divide America, pitting supporters of the Schindlers against supporters of Michael Schiavo.

The brunt of criticism was aimed at Michael Schiavo, questioning his motives in the case; others accused Michael Schiavo of abusing his wife, and some even suggested he was the reason why Terri Schiavo ended up in a persistent vegetative state.

In an extraordinary display of disregard for the system of checks and balances of the United States Constitution, Republicans in Congress decided they would overrule what Florida courts had decided and step in so they could decide Terri Schiavo’s fate. In doing so, they undoubtedly created a false sense of hope for Bob and Mary Schindler.

While on vacation at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, George W. Bush flew in to Washington D.C. for a symbolic gesture of signing the bill to allow Terri Schiavo’s parents to appeal their case to federal courts – the first time he had ever taken time from a Crawford vacation for Beltway business. Terri's parents were led to believe that Bush and members of Congress would save the life of their daughter.

How strange that a political group which prides itself on its platform of ethics was so quick to abandon those principles to make a political point, whether it was interfering with the legislative process of a state (Republicans say they favor a limited federal government role when it comes to state governments) or attempting to have federal courts and judges effectively legislate from the bench, a practice Republicans have held in disdain when it was “liberal” judges legislating “from the bench” in states like Massachusetts and California in ruling that allowed for gay and lesbian couples to marry.

In this situation the arrogant Republicans decided to discard the rule of law and force through legislation that really only applied to one person: Terri Schiavo.

Conservative pundits were quick to seize on Schiavo’s death and use it to attack liberals. Across the blogosphere, conservatives have been accusing liberals of “waiting” for Schiavo’s death so they can, apparently, celebrate it. 

Of course, Rush Limbaugh had to weigh in on the death, and of course had to blame liberals. This from Rush Limbaugh’s radio show broadcast of March 31, 2005, with Limbaugh saying that the American left had “gotten their wish” in having Terri Schiavo “put to death” by court order:

“We know that there was an enthusiasm for this woman to die -- and we know why. There are several reasons. Among them, the left in this country is just frightened to death of the Christian right, and they blame the Christian right for all their electoral losses since 1994 and they want to stick it to the Christian right. Anything the Christian right can lose on, the left will be happy about, even if it takes the death of Terri Schiavo to upset the Christian right and cause the Christian right to experience a so-called loss on an issue. We also had a number of people protesting down there that were in fact anti-Bush, members of the Communist Youth League or some such thing, and they're out there eagerly hoping that Bush loses this because he was on the side of Terri Schiavo living.”

Sean Hannity also spoke out on his radio program. I will give him some credit for not blaming Schiavo’s death on liberals, as he expressed his anger with the state and federal courts (and, surprisingly, at Republicans) for their handling of Schiavo’s case. (Not that he didn’t use his radio broadcast to question Michael Schiavo’s motives.)

In the coming days, we’re undoubtedly going to hear from conservatives who never knew Terri Schiavo speak on her behalf, conservatives who have never met Michael Schiavo question his motives and dedication, and we’ll see more attacks against liberals as if it were liberals, rather than Republicans, who decided to make Terri Schiavo’s private life public. Anything to divide Americans – it’s what the Republican Party is really all about.

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