Posted on 03/28/2005 10:07:26 AM PST by grassboots.org
With a united Republican Legislature amassed behind him, Gov. Jeb Bush pledged Tuesday to make his last two years in office as focused on conservative change as his first six.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush delivers his State of the State address to members of the Florida Legislature on Tuesday in Tallahassee. AP Photo/Phil Coale "This is not a time for timid tweaks to the status quo. This is the time for bold, brave ideas in Florida that will shape our future and define us as dreamers, builders and problem solvers,"...
Among Republicans, there appeared to be sentiment that Bush faces little opposition, although there will be some debate on reforms.
"With the unity that you see with both houses and the governor, you can look for great changes in the next two years," said Rep. Greg Evers, R-Baker.
Bush's agenda encompasses "some of the most controversial and complicated things we do in state government," said Rep. Stan Mayfield, R-Vero Beach. "It wouldn't surprise me at all if it takes a couple of years before everyone is comfortable with reform."
We can do both and thats what we were doing for a long time. But those who can't see that this one is over and the pro-Terri side lost have problems coping with reality.
Well, the courts got it damnably wrong.
It's not your daughter. Yes, the likelyhood of getting the tube is very slim, but your insults ("have problems coping with reality") shows your heart was never in it in the first place.
My heart is in it, and always has been. But acting childish and immature isn't going to help.
At last... something reasonable from you.
The various scenarios that could've played out however Jeb chose to act were probably all carefully considered, but the most likely is the one I outlined. An act of political courage on Jeb's part would result in a total loss for the conservative movement in Florida, and probably nationally.
You can see the divisions already forming with people insisting that somehow Jeb Bush is somehow the most at fault, with no sympathy for him.
Jeb Bush is human, just like his brother. He fought to save Terri's life longer than most of the people condemning him for not doing enough have known her name.
There is definite plenty of blame to go around, but having conservatives blaming a good man like Jeb Bush for being human is pointless and only plays into the liberal hands that orchestrated this tragedy.
So, if you're quite through, how about you write an apology to Jeb Bush and write him a letter showing the compassionate side of your conservatism, because I believe you were unfair to the man who has worked harder than all the rest of us to save Terri Schiavo. If you were truly a compassionate person, you'd be comforting the governor, not condemning him. This struggle has only emphasized the monumental task that stands before us of reshaping our courts, and reining them in. A task that would be a lot to ask of any man, and you would leave Jeb standing out in the rain by himself because he wasn't as heroic as you wanted him to be.
I'm sorry, but if I'm insulting - it is only because I'm insulted that you would be so callous, thoughtless, and cruel toward one of the better men we have in politics today.
The state is sanctioning murder and that is unConstitutional. With no living will Terri's wishes are being determined by her husband's seven years late memory of an offhand remark. They are standing on the ground that her remark means she wouldn't want nutrition or hydration. Very prescient on her part, she collapsed in 1990 and FL didn't make nutrition and hydration legally considered a life supportive measure until 1999.
When a state decides to err in favor of death in the face of grave doubts, which is also a decision to nullify her XIVth Amendment right to life, the Feds should be compelled by duty to intervene.
Your other post names a number of very big problems we face. This one concerns what the state accepts as a reasonable argument to end a life. Contested hearsay testimony of a disreputable husband. A doctor who spends 45 minutes with her, forgetting his tools in his car, over the testimony of a doctor who spent ten hours with her and 300 hours examining her medical files. The decision of a judge who has financial interests in her hospice along with the husband's lawyer. A judge who is involved with a group who advises the legislature on end of life issues while adjudicating this case and sees two laws instituted during this time that adversely affect the outcome of the case for Terri.
Well, the courts got it damnably wrong.
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I don't believe you know enough to say that with certainty. If Terry's wishes were to die if she were in the state that she is in then they got it right. If those were not her wishes then they got it wrong. I don't know the particular facts around it, but this is what the courts were judging and I trust they did the best they could. This case is a non partisan case devoid of ideology.
I don't know that your characterizations of the case are correct, although to be honest, I don't have the time to dig into every detail of the case. I don't think a living will should be required for the intentions of someone to be carried out. And I don't think you know that her remark was 'offhand'. Thats what the courts were deciding. In this case the courts sided with her husband. I'm not going to pass judgmet on him, her, or the judges involved.
You won't pass judgment on him, her or the judges? But you will pass judgment on the opinions of all of us who have followed this case closely for over two years?! You have passed the judgment that, in spite of a stink to high heaven here, this case needs no review or investigation.
No one is asking you to pass judgment on these people. We want the corruption investigated. Terri is a material witness and her body is primae facia evidence. Her body won't be such good evidence dead and won't be evidence at all after cremation.
The outcome will affect tens or hundreds of thousands in the future and a lot of those will be contested and cost you precious tax dollars.
All you have done is called people names. Put up or...
Not calling people names, but calling it as I see it.
A Couple of Questions I just emailed Jeb Bush -
If a local judge issued an order twenty minutes before a campaign appearance that your appearance was illegal, would you obey that order?
If a local judge issued an order that you must kill your own mother in the next 15 minutes from when served the order, would you obey that order?
I don't suppose you don't consider these condescending and inconsiderate considering the man has put in a very real number of work hours actually trying to save Terri's life, rather than just talking about it. He helped organize and implement Terri's Law. He did everything he believed that was within his reach to do.
But such quibbling wouldn't phase someone as super human as yourself, that you would be above such human frailties as errors, even after what can be considered a super human effort on the part of the governor.
The Governor could've not tried to prevent this outcome time after time. He could've walked away from years ago from the fight for Terri's life, but he didn't. He chose to stand there with her parents and strive for something that was politically a death sentence.
And it is people like you who are so quick to pass that death sentence on a man who has been in the thick of it for years... before I ever heard Terri Schiavo's name.
You have nerve, if very little common sense. You would betray the faith that Jeb Bush had in the common decency of the people that would accept that he tried everything he felt could.
In the end, it wasn't enough. But in the end, the efforts of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people was not enough to save her. Many of these people have struggled for years to prevent what is happening now, and you have the gall to come in and pass judgment on one of them, as if you would have done better, all on your own.
Well the truth is, you may not have been able to make a difference. The colossal change in the perception of the role of the courts in our country is many, many orders of magnitude greater than the best effort one man, or merely tens of thousands can change. It is an effort of Herculean proportions that will require several elections, and a generation of cohesiveness in the conservative coalition to achieve.
It would be nice to be able to blame just one man for not trying hard enough, but with the vast array of forces that were arrayed against Terri's life, that would be doing that one man a great injustice.
If you need someone to direct your anger at, there are a lot of judges and a philandering husband which really deserve your judgmental attentions because they were the ones who made Terri's rescue impossible.
If you need to do something with your anger, pledge your support to helping conservatives nationwide end judicial tyranny by asking Jeb these questions:
What can we do to prevent this from happening again?
Are you willing to lead us in changing the perception of judicial authority to prevent such clear violations of the spirit of the laws we hold dear as Americans?
Did any of that even occur to you?
Pat Mahoney who is a better spokesman than Randall Terry, IMHO and just encouraged Bush or Congress or the President to do more. Many attorneys agree that they can - Many disagree. You would suggest that only one side be heard on this and that because Bush has been heroic to this point (and he has) that he can retire on this issue. Again I'll stand by my comments, all of your personal and empty comments to the contrary.
You can't have it both ways and you're trying rather hard to.
Jeb's efforts so far have been to the extent of his real powers as a modern day governor of Florida.
The theoretical legal theories that would give him greater authority are there, and they are certainly valid, but they are only legal theories, and don't carry the weight of law without cohesion at all levels of the executive branch's law enforcement arm.
Don't get me wrong, I would support Jeb all the way if he decided to go for broke and unwrite the unwritten modifications to the Florida Constitution imposed by the courts, because there does remain the slim chance that law officers will follow their commander in chief on this one in large enough numbers.
But like I said before, the legal justification has to be clear, concise, and easy to understand, to transmit, and to disseminate, and as you can see just from the debate, it is none of those things for enough people to give the governor the clear authority to exercise his powers as an executive. He needs all of the law enforcement agencies to follow his orders without question.
Waving a piece of paper (the Constitution of Florida) around saying "Do as I tell you..." won't get him anywhere if the law enforcement officers consider the governor's actions illegal. Based on what I heard, that's exactly what will happen, and it would be a supreme waste of effort that would fail to save Terri, and reinvigorate the liberal left.
We don't see all that differently on what we would like to see happen. We differ mostly on the fact that I think you're being silly and naive in regards to holding legal theories on equal footing with the legal realities of our modern judicial system. Jeb Bush can't take those legal theories and turn them into law without creating exactly the kind of panicked show down of ideologies that would play into the Leftist Liberals' hands, and gain us nothing in the way of saving Terri Schiavo.
If you seriously want to support her, send supportive thoughts to the governor. More conflicting advice and back seat driving isn't going to help him make a decision. In the mean time, you can vent your frustrations here on Free Republic without being divisive and unconstructive to those who are standing on the front lines fighting for Terri's life.
The alleged knowledge of these wishes is based on hearsay evidence from a cheating husband. Any judge who buys such an argument is either totally incompetent, insane, or going to hell.
panicked show down of ideologies that would play into the Leftist Liberals' hands
I don't think Jeb Bush is as nearly concerned about the reactions of the left as you are and for that he is to be commended.
More conflicting advice and back seat driving isn't going to help him make a decision I will not abandon the right to petition our elected officials. According to your view, Jeb Bush has no decisions to make his hands are tied, so lay off on the guilt trips.
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