No, not at all. I was there that day in front of the hospital. Jeb Bush got NO public support and there were more press than people at the vigil. It was humiliating. If you live here, you should have been there, but I bet you weren’t.
Bush was undermined time and again by Jim King, from Jacksonville, the pro-death GOP leader of the FL State Senate.
The very last day, Bush was in discussions with the State Police, because the local Tampa St Pete area sheriff’s department and the local police were prepared to shoot if anyone tried to enter the hospital to rescue her. He decided that going in with the state police would not only result in other deaths and injuries, but would cause a constitutional crisis in the state of Florida (because he had exhausted all the legal remedies).
So before you call people “cowards,” examine yourself. How many times have you been arrested or spat upon and kicked at pro-life vigils? I have, and almost everybody in that little band (of Catholics and Evangelicals) out there with me in front of the hospital had had that same experience. But the worst thing of all was ridicule, and the fact that there were so few of us made us completely powerless and ridiculous. Where were you, and where were all the other scornful, venom-spewing Freepers, many of them in Florida, that day?
I have done so and I am not and if you defend him you are.
I hope you feel better after spewing that crap.
Coward is as coward does.
Results are all that count.
Bush let her be murdered because he is a coward.
The indifference of the larger community to Terri’s situation struck me, as well. It was as if we were in a little bubble at the hospice, enveloped in that spiritual battle. It seems one must be in the situation to understand. It was sad and perplexing.
I was out in front of that hospice many, many times.
Along with several other FReepers.
Nobody spat at any of us while we were there, and I didn't see any arrests.
I did see several “activists” who frankly had their own agendas,muddied up the situation, and didn't care much about Terri and her plight at all.
The judge, many politicians, the media, and every loser with an agenda kept trying to make Terri Schiavo out to be a symbol of “ the right to death with dignity”.
The problem was, Terri wasn't dying, except for the times (plural) when the court ordered her to be forcibly starved and dehydrated.
And yes, Gov. Jeb Bush could have stopped her execution.
Make no mistake, Terri Schiavo was executed by the State of Florida.
Jeb Bush had plenty of public and elected official support. He also had opposition.
But he failed as a leader, and yes, I consider him a coward.
It appears this poor child was murdered by rogue government employees, as opposed to officially executed, under State sanction.
That being said, I sincerely doubt those individuals directly culpable in her murder will even be investigated, much less punished.
After all, one would have to actively prove malicious intent in a court of law...mere incompetence and dereliction of duty won't suffice.