Jeb Bush Wimping Out in Schiavo Case?

NewsMax ^ | 10/17/03 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday that his legal team has been unable to find a basis for him to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, who is expected to starve to death as soon as this weekend after her feeding tube was removed at the direction of her husband yesterday.

"The legal office has been talking to people trying to find some strategy where my office can intervene in a different fashion that will yield a different result," Bush said Thursday. "So far we have not found that option."

Gov. Bush's comments came before Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, met with him privately to present a letter from Florida's Thomas More Law Center citing a legal basis for the state to intervene to stop what one attorney described as "the execution of Terri Schiavo."

"We're waiting to hear from Gov. Bush" on the Thomas More letter, Mr. Schindler told national talk radio host Sean Hannity Thursday afternoon. Schindler said Gov. Bush's response is "probably is our last hope."

By Friday morning, Bush's office gave no hint that he had reached a decision. Thursday night Mr. Schindler told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" that his daughter could die as early as this weekend if medical staff begin administering morphine to counter the pain of her starvation.

The Republican governor's caution over the legal technicalities of the case stands in marked contrast to the actions of Democrats, who often take a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later approach when an issue of importance hangs in the balance.

In April 2000, for instance, the Clinton administration didn't let the law interfere with its plan to return 6-year-old boat boy Elian Gonzalez to Castro's Cuba. Instead of waiting for Gonzalez's legal case to play out in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Attorney General Janet Reno executed White House plans to have the boy kidnapped from the home of his Miami relatives at machine gunpoint.

Normally Clinton-friendly legal powerhouse attorneys Alan Dershowitz and Lawrence Tribe were horrified, publicly condemning the raid as unconstitutional.

Gov. Bush reaction? He called the action "unconscionable" but showed no interest in pursuing legal sanctions against the White House.

When Republicans in Congress called for a congressional investigation into the Clinton administration's abuse of power in the Elian case, top aides to then-presidential candidate George Bush derailed the idea.

"A top Republican Party official told The Daily News that Bush campaign manager Joe Allbaugh informed Senate Republicans on Thursday that the candidate wanted the hearings scrapped because the issue is a political loser," reported the New York paper a week after the raid.

As it turned out, voter backlash over the Elian raid among Florida's Cuban-American community gave President Bush his razor thin margin of victory in the 2000 election.

[Sunshine55]

Sign this petition NOW!

[wisconsinconservative]

Bump

[BSunday]

What needs to happen is that she needs to be taken out of there and cared for. After all, she aint in jail. As far as I can tell, nothing should be stopping the parents from taking her home.

[Barney Gumble]

I think Jeb Bush could do more if he wanted to. Why is this case only being talked about on the few conservative threads? I think there is a definite distinction between removing artifical life support and removing a feeding tube to allow someone to die of starvation.

Besides being utterly awful, this is dangerous precedent to set. What about Jerry's kids? Can we stop feeding them? What about an infant with Down's Syndrome. Where's NOW?

Kudos to NewsMax to have the gutso to call Bush on it too, instead of just being a mouthpiece of the Republican party.

[.38sw]

I believe that there are guards posted (read that on another thread), and I read on another thread that there were police officers stationed there, as well. Can anyone confirm? If so, it would be pretty difficult to her parents to take her out of there.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Yes he is a whimp. No justice for Terri, no votes for JEb in 2008.

Thomas Moore Law center has an article stating he does not have the will to do this.

[Callahan]

Could somebody please post the facts/history of this situation. I have heard different stories from both sides.

[pollywog]

can you link to the article?

Thomas Moore Law center has an article stating he does not have the will to do this.

[BSunday]

What ??? That is completely OUTRAGEOUS! (Not that this whole case isn't an outrage). If the order was simply to remove the feeding tube then why forbid mouth feeding? What the heck is going on in this country??

This is not my America.

[tutstar]

To: tutstar

-- TERRISHOPE@a... wrote:
> From: TERRISHOPE@a...
> Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 12:01:25 EDT
> Subject: Just Spoke To Terri's Family...
> To: TERRISHOPE@a...
>
> Terris does NOT have a fever, she is alert and
> holding on!!! A news
> conference is being held soon. For Florida go to
> chnl 13 10 and 8 more news to follow
> as I get it.. God bless ALL of you, Lisa
>

114 posted on 10/17/2003 12:23 PM EDT by pc93 (A good site to visit is http://www.terrisfight.org . Oct. 15th 2pm death order must be stopped)

[NautiNurse]

I heard last evening on WFLA local news that there were three police officers in the room when Terri's family went in to visit. IIRC, it was the priest that accompanied Terri's mother that said it during the interview.

[wisconsinconservative]

http://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=129&PHPSESSID=cda44e7aabe09a827bc3932f826604aa

Governor Bush Has Legal Authority, But Lacks Political Will To Save Terri Schiavo's Life
Fri, Oct 17, 2003


Related Stories

ANN ARBOR, MI - According to Richard Thompson, former prosecutor of Jack Kevorkian, Florida Governor Jeb Bush has the legal authority to act in the case of Terri Schiavo, but lacks the political will to do so. Responding to the Governor’s statements that he cannot intervene in the civil case, Thompson claimed Bush is confusing the public on what is being asked of him.
“Nobody is asking the Governor to intervene in the civil case. We are asking him to initiate an independent criminal investigation based on a list of facts that suggest criminal wrongdoing,” said Thompson. “We have outlined for the Governor some of these facts, and confirmed his Constitutional authority to act. The fact that he has chosen to confuse the public by referring to the civil case, completely ignoring the request that we presented, reveals a lack of moral courage and political will. We expect the Governor to do the right thing, and so far, he has refused to do so.”

“If Governor Bush does not act quickly, I expect Terri will be killed by an overdose of morphine. She is being starved and denied fluids, and the Governor needs to act now before it’s too late,” said Thompson.

Thompson, now president of the Thomas More Law Center, delivered two emergency letters to Bush Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, asking him to initiate a criminal investigation. The letters outlined the constitutional authority of the Governor to act in the case, including a factual basis for initiating a criminal investigation. Bush has maintained he has no authority to interfere in the civil case that led to the feeding tube being removed.

[PeyersPatches]

No justice for Terri, no votes for JEb in 2008.

---

Excellent comment. I am going to fax that to the Governor in Florida right now - in LARGE letters.

[Hugin]

After all, she aint in jail. As far as I can tell, nothing should be stopping the parents from taking her home.

The problem is legally the parents are not next of kin, the "husband" is. It sucks, but that's the way it is.

[.38sw]

Thanks. I seem to remember reading that Terri's loving "husband" has refused to allow her family members to visit her without supervision. I guess the supervision mentioned consists of police offers.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I ahve been trying, but it won't link here is the web site then go to lates news.

http://www.thomasmore.org/newsroom.html

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Spread it aorund to our fellow freepers too

No justice for Terri, No votes for Jeb 2008

[Lucy Lake]

Ping.