Posted on 02/24/2005 6:00:26 PM PST by TorahTrueJew
As an introduction, there is a local "conservative" talk show host in Philadelphia named Michael Smerconish. He calls himself conservative, but is even more liberal than Sean Hannity. He is always talking about things that bug him, and how the government ought to make laws against these common annoyances. Today, he actually said that Terry Schiavo's husband loved her and had her best interests in mind, and that he would want to die too if he were PVS like her. I was shocked, so I wrote this letter to him. It is important that we get ALL media talking the truth, especially talk radio, since if talk radio isn't supporting her, nobody will. I sent this letter to him tonight, and thought you'd all like to see it.
Dear Michael, My wife and I listen to 1210 everyday, from Smerconish to Dom, we listen to everybody. We always joke with each other about your liberal comments, oftentimes when you think some new law should be passed against something that annoys you. I have to admit to you, we jokingly call you, "Michael Jerk-onish" when you say something really pro-big government, or just throw softball questions at really liberal guests.
Today, however, your show ceased to be amusing. We always cringe when you have on that Bio-Ethicist Arthur Kaplan. Every person I ever met or heard speak called a "bio-ethicist" was anything but ethical, and Kaplan is no exception. The things I hear him say are terrifying. When you told him that you saw video of Terry Schiavo interacting, he calmy explained that it was all "reflexes", and that she was for sure unconscious. He sounded like the doctors who tell you that the movement of a baby at 9 months gestation inside the mother's womb is all reflex, and that the baby isn't really aware of what is going on. You accepted his explanation and decided that her husband must be correct in trying to kill her.
I cannot believe you could even engage in a conversation like this, much less agree with him. Terry Schiavo is a living, breathing human being. Who cares if her eyes followed the balloon because she liked it or because her "eye muscles reflexively followed the color and light"? It is an academic question that can be debated among teams of doctors trying to find ways to make her better (something no doctor has been allowed to try since he won his lawsuit). The only thing she needs to keep her alive is food. Many doctors say she can even eat by mouth, but her husband won't allow it. Babies and small children must be fed. The elderly must be fed. Many people who are in accidents and are handicapped must be fed. Relying on others to feed you is NOT life support. Last year, Oreilly interviewed a woman who was diagnosed by all the doctors as PVS. She had been operated on with no anesthesia, and was in the process of being starved to death when she finally regained the ability to talk. She has since told her story. She was aware of everything going on around her, and described the excrutiating pain of not only hearing her starvation discussed, but what it felt like to starve to death. It is a horrifying way to die. Can you imagine the outcry if we decided to execute the prisoners at Abu Ghirab by starving them to death? What if we tortured them by starving them for 3 days? Why no outcry at starving this poor woman to death?
If you are intellectually honest, and you really think that she is PVS and deserves to die, then I challenge you. Tomorrow morning, at 7:30am (when I am listening), announce that you support blowing off Terry Schiavo's head with a shotgun. If you are condemning her to death, then at least, on the doubt that she may still feel pain, let the death be painless. If you refuse to support blowing off her head with a shotgun, then why do you support starving her to death? Mass murderers are entitled to execution without pain, so why not Terry Schiavo?
Please do not politicize the issue of Terry Schiavo. It is not a right/left, prolife/prochoice, liberal/conservative issue. There is a mountain of evidence that her husband does not have her best wishes in mind. There are written statements by nurses who attended to her indicating abuse. Her husband could be afraid that should she recover, she'll tell the police about what he's done and he'll be criminally liable. The only doctors allowed to examine her closely have been pro-euthanasia doctors, hand-picked by a lawyer who has made a career (and a book) out of right-to-die cases. Her parents have offered Michael all the remaining money from the lawsuit, all the money from her estate, and complete freedom from further litigation. All they want is their daughter. Her husband is now essentially a bigamist, living a common law marriage with another woman, and it is inconceivable that he really has his wife's best interests in mind.
I was also shocked when you said that you felt that if the courts of Florida ruled in favor of her husband, that he must be correct. This logic supports both Slavery and Abortion, both of which were upheld by our country's judiciary. I suggest you read Mark Levin's "Men In Black" if you do not understand how judicial tyranny threatens our freedoms. In the case of Terry Schiavo, it threatens her life.
Terry has suffered for years being called a vegetable by the main stream media. Thanks to the internet, the blogosphere, and MOST talk radio (Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity), the message is getting out and political pressure is being brought to bear on Jeb Bush. You can do a great service to Terry by examining the case, and even if you don't have enough evidence to convince you she is alive, at least err on the side of LIFE! If she really is PVS, then she won't care that she is still alive and her family will be happy. If she isn't PVS, then you will have saved an innocent woman from death.
Sincerely, Me Suburbs of Philadelphia, PA
God bless you...and God bless, defend and protect Terri.
Moreover, he seems cowtow to the most liberal politicians and judges in Philadelphia. I suspect he is planning a political run for something soon, and wants to be "loved" by all sides.
He is also desperate to be seen as unique, and not Rush Limbaugh. He had no mercy on Rush during his drug problem. And why is he so obsessed with airline security? I just got his book at the library--it seems that he claims expertise in this area just because he has flown and dealt with security.
Sean Hannity is liberal??
Actually, he has taken up for Terry Schiavo, which I appreciate. My wife and I had been getting so annoyed by him as of late, but Michael Smerconish shows us it could be a lot worse. I could go on and on about Sean Hannity. One example--he goes on an on about how sacred a life is, and how abortion at any point is wrong. Then he says that it is okay in the case of rape or incest. How can he argue that abortion is murder unequivocably, but then say that the murder is okay if it is preceded by rape or incest?
As for Smerconish, he can be annoying but he went to heroic lengths to tell the truth about cop killer Mumia. I attended a huge dinner Smerconish put together to honor the fallen policeman and it was from Smerconish at that dinner I learned how strong the evidence was against Mumia (e.g. eyewitness who watched Mumia do the killing, fall to the curb and be arrested).
Well said!
Oh I see what you're saying. I guess he is rather hypocritical in that sense. Besides, he shouldn't assume abortion will ever "help" a rape victim. Abortion just re-victimizes her by violating her body in another horrible way.
You are criticizing him for taking an interest in airline security and against terrorism?
Just because he calls a spade a spade (Mumia a cop killer) doesn't make him a conservative. I appreciate when he takes up good causes, but he clearly does not have a conservative viewpoint on the world.
You know what, snap out of it. Sean Hannity is not even remotely liberal. His saying he would permit a rape or incest victim to have an abortion may be controversial but hardly makes him a left winger. More liberal than Sean Hannity?? Cut out the silliness.
No--it's just the way he does it. He talks about it ALL THE TIME! He interviews people about tons of things from Eagles football to Mumia to national politics to Philadelphia parking. Somehow, he always asks the person he is interviewing about whether they agree with him that we should profile Arabs. Don't get me wrong--I agree with Michael on this point and think he is right to make it. It's just that he makes it ALL THE TIME. It just seems he was desperate for a trademark issue, and picked this one. I'm just saying he's a little pathetic sometimes, and works really hard to distinguish himself from others in talk radio.
It also bugs me how he kisses up to liberal senators when they call. Also bugs me how he dumped on FreeRepublic. But the abortion thing really bothers me and undermines the entire prolife movement. But that wasn't the point of my letter, and the part about Sean being liberal wasn't even in the letter I sent to Jerk-onish.
I fully support Terry Schiavo's right to life, but this is a childish, inflammatory and nonsensical vanity.
How is that nonsensical? It makes perfect sense to me. Liberals should be forced to confront the horror of what they suggest head on. If shooting her in the had is distasteful, then how is starving her to death a "reasonable position that should be discussed". Illustrating with absurdity is sometimes the only way.
You are now complaining that he asks about profiling Arabs. You are the typical caller who talk show hosts ask "Then why are you listening to my show?" Well, why are you listening to his show all the time and why are you bothering us with articles about every aspect of that show? And your nonsense that he should support blowing Terry's head off with a shotgun is assinine.
You know what, having read your article and the other nonsense you are going on about, I'm sure the shotgun remark makes perfect sense to you.
I listen to his show to know what's going on in Philadelphia, and so I can send him letters correcting him when he suggests that we starve the disabled to death.
Bio-ethicists are those who want a national religion with themselves as the holy priests.
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