Christoper Hitchens, Bill Donohue Debate Terri Schiavo Case on Hardball (Unbelievable!)

Hardball with Chris Matthews ^ | 3/24/05

[freespirited]

MATTHEWS: Christopher, what do you think should have been the federal role in this case?

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: there‘s no role for anyone in this case, because there isn‘t a life, unfortunately, to save. Mrs. Schiavo is dead and has been for some time. . . . . We don‘t have bodies. We are bodies. When the brain is gone, you are gone. No physician who‘s attended her in any capacity has said that she‘s anything but totally brain-dead. She‘s not disabled. She‘s gone.

DONAHUE: She is not brain-dead. She is brain-damaged. . . .

HITCHENS: No.

DONAHUE: . . . She is brain-damaged, not brain-dead . . . if she were brain-dead, then she‘d be dead. That‘s the legal definition. The doctors have said, not me or Christopher, that she‘s brain-damaged.

HITCHENS: Well—and, by the way, I think it‘s not fair, unless you know him very well, to describe her husband as a cheating guy.

DONAHUE: No, he is a cheater.

HITCHENS: If he hasn‘t a right to life, he has a right to a life, surely. And he‘s—there‘s no reason why he should be a martyr to someone who is no longer, in any real sense of the word, alive. Meanwhile, her parents...

HITCHENS: Only the people who are asking for her life to be—her nonlife to be—are going to go to hell, presumably.

DONAHUE: Her nonlife? She‘s alive.

[freespirited]

This is one of the most unbelievable exchanges I have ever seen. I recommend hitting the link and reading the whole thing if you can take it. Hitchens is also on Scarborough tonight, this time debating Pat Buchanan. Scary.

[ModernDayCato]

Wow. Did you happen to catch Fred Barnes on Special Report with Brit Hume on Thursday? He looked like he was going to b*tch slap Juan Williams.

[CyberAnt]

You are watching the democrats self-destruct before your eyes.

If they thought they could use "religious" talk and influence the red states - these statements and their actions regarding Terri are proving who they really are: godless, merciless scum.

[Darkwolf377]

I like Hitchens, thought not his position here, but it's amazing how Chrissy suddenly likes him again, after putting him in the back closet because he was pro-Iraq War.

[Darkwolf377]

This case has made the Dem's sanitized version of "religious feeling" look so silly. They seem to embrace religious thought that already agrees with their positions--how is that "embracing" anything but your own already-held positions?

I'm not sure of the political fallout of this but yours is an interesting take.

[presently no screen name]

I felt like b*tch slapping Juan myself.

[potlatch]

You've got to read this!!

[Conservative Goddess]

This really is a classic left-right battle. Left is pro-death......and this is bringing it to the forefront for all to see. I'd pay to see Juan Williams B-slapped.

[CyberAnt]

Jesus told us that there was going to be a war between what the world view is and what HIS view is. You're witnessing it.

I'm not sure what the political fallout is going to be either .. but at least I know with a certainty which side I'm on, and what my beliefs are, and nothing any democrat can say to me will change my mind [I'm thrilled to say this is a quality which the liberals do not understand].

[Conservative Goddess]

I saw the Hitches exchange on Scarborough.....Hitchens is a condescending a$$, arrogant, "I know what's best for Terri and all the rest of you" Liberal. In a word, disgusting.

[Darkwolf377]

I don't think the liberals understand much at all. I have no idea what they are going to do to try to hold power in this country, but I suspect we will see some kind of Howard Dean-inspired party arise. I suggest their mascot be the DooDoo bird--stupid and extinct, in honor of the Dem party.

[CyberAnt]

"I suggest their mascot be the DooDoo bird--stupid and extinct, in honor of the Dem party."

ROTFLOL!! Thanks - I needed a good laugh!!

[ntnychik]

Better keep me away from Hitchens.

[PhilDragoo]

Hitchens is an unvarnished ass.

[LibFreeOrDie]

When it comes to anything at all that can be connected in any way to religion, Hitchens can be nasty. He even dissed Mother Theresa! (Offensive even for CBS TV, Hitchens "co-hosted" at her funeral with Dan Rather.)

The only time I've ever seen Hitchens get sentimental and teary-eyed was the day of the Iraqi election, on C-Span. He's supported the WOT and the Iraqi election, and written scathing stuff about BJ Clinton, so he's not all bad. But as he's always made clear, he's a materialist.

As far as debating is concerned, Bill Donohue is just not in the same league as Hitchens.

[potlatch]

Unbelievable, isn't it?

[Brimack34]

Hitchens is saying the same thing as DR. Death, I would distance myself from him. But then again hitchens is a member of the party of Death.

[pgkdan]

This case has really turned up some strange bedfellows. Imagine Phil Donahue arguing a position I agree with! I never thought that would happen. Then there's the 2000 Gore lawyer David Boies...man has this guy ever impressed me. Every time I've seen him on TV he seems genuinely grieved by what's happening to Terri, just like most of us.

FWIW...I'm still holding out for a miracle.

[Echo Talon]

that was Phil Donahue? The liberal Phil Donahue? NO WAY!

[pgkdan]

OOps...now I see that was Bill Donahue, not Phil. OK, the I guess the world hasn't actually slipped off it's axis. My Boies comments still stand though.