Posted on 03/24/2005 9:56:33 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Conservatives have been asking themselves the question for years: "Is this finally it?" "This" being whatever event in the news exemplified a current gag-making excess of the culture or the polity or the law, and "it" being the point at which the nation as a whole simply won't take it anymore. There have been many points along the way when it seemed as though society might rear up and refuse to go in the current direction.
So far, no.
The Bill Clinton impeachment wave fell well short of taking out the establishment dam. Al Gore, fortunately, did not win the 2000 election, which I thought might lead to rebellion in the land, so that "it" never got tested. And while the 9/11 attacks moved the political center to the right, they did not "change everything," as it seemed they might. More recently, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's creation of "gay marriage," while it influenced a number of state elections, still did not quite create a massive political turnaround -- rather something more like a teeth-grinding Clinton stall.
Certain "it" moments have actually occurred. The left has been trying to re-stage the destruction of public support for the Vietnam war and, twinned with it, Richard Nixon's downfall, ever since. California's Proposition 13 campaign, described in my column, "The California Circus Redux," started a round of tax rollbacks that inspired other state tax-cut initiatives and climaxed in the 1984 Tax Reform Act under Ronald Reagan. That, in turn, led to the prosperity which has latterly defined American life. My column pointed out the similarities between Proposition 13 and the Gray Davis California gubernatorial recall vote, all the ramifications of which have yet to be realized.
"Sooner or later," I concluded, "voters will rise up and cut politicians off at the knees. The results might not be pretty. Only richly deserved."
IS THE TERRI SCHIAVO CASE THE "IT" MOMENT OF NATIONAL POLITICS? Will this be the point at which country's consciousness turns, as it turned on the flights of two helicopters, one from Saigon, one from Washington, D.C., in the early 1970s? Or on the landslide brass-off the voters delivered to the political establishment decades ago in California?
It will depend on how the question gets answered, "Who killed Terri Schiavo?" Because, by the time this column appears, Terri Schiavo will have gone more than 150 hours with her feeding tube disconnected. She cannot last long.
So far, Democrats have acted as though they were most afraid the answer was going to be, "Democrats Killed Terri Schiavo." A little elementary political legerdemain could have made that one impossible. The Democratic leadership could have simply backed the bill to save Terri's life. That's what it was, after all, nothing more complicated than that.
The Democrats, stuck in Bolshevik oppositionism, couldn't do it. As a result, they still may get blamed.
Ideally, a conservative political movement would like to make the answer, "The Courts Killed Terri Schiavo." Several things argue in favor of that one. Notably, it's true. Most recently, the three-judge appeals court's panel's refusal to reconnect Terri's feeding tube should be seen for what it is: Slow-walking the case, and Terri, to death. That decision, now reaffirmed by the full Eleventh Circuit, shows the judiciary at its most remote, arrogant, and imperial, deliberately ignoring the will of Congress for a "de novo" review of the case.
The judiciary could have dodged that one, too, and simply made the case disappear. Some lower court judge long ago should have seen this case on its human merits and found a reason to set aside husband Michael Schiavo's petition. But judges, a score of them so far, have proved just as ossified as Democrats.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, the last resort, could pull some Solomon-like stroke from beneath his robes. If he doesn't somehow get Terri's feeding tube re-attached, and soon, he risks arousing a public answer like, "Anthony Kennedy Killed Terri Schiavo" or "The Supreme Court Killed Terri Schiavo."
WHAT WILL GEORGE W. BUSH DO? He will carry the message, whatever it is. If he were a Gingrich-esque ideologue, he would try to invoke The Culture of Death. If he were as ruthless a machine politico as Lyndon Johnson, with Johnson's malign gifts, he would blame the Democrats. Because he has campaigned for years against activist judges, it seems most likely he will try to do some version of that here.
One remarkable thing stands out. The U.S. Congress, ordinarily the most craven and cowardly of institutional creatures, has been moved to act -– and act fast -– to stand up to the judiciary. Conservatives would love to be able to say that judicial overreach has finally gone far enough. Finally, in this view, legislators will have been compelled to try to hammer some sense into courts grown increasingly remote from, and destructive to, the nation as a whole.
If George W. Bush can make the nation cry, "The Courts Killed Terri Schiavo," he may be able to engineer a long-overdue reassertion of the people's power over judges. But that has to be done through Congress, and Congress will likely reassert its cowardice, not its courage. It will try to hold hearings, ill-defined and exhaustively broadcast, and come up with some new "Bill of Rights," toothlessly meddlesome. Enough Republicans could defect to the desire for quiet to sign on.
If that happens, the judiciary will get away with murder. President Bush has not only to rally the nation, but to keep the heat on Congress.
Courts have been disobeying people for a long, long time. If poor Terri Schiavo rouses the people and their representatives to start disobeying the courts, then yes, this will be it, the moment of a political generation.
BRILLIANT!
April 7th.. March for Justice II
If Jeb Bush would pull a "Teddy Roosevelt" and have state police put her in protective custody (which he can do by Governors power, as in staying an execution). He would be the most admired man on earth.
Besides, even if the Gub gets held in contempt of court, his brother can issue a pardon.
This is war, after all.
Why Not? slick willy pardoned his druggie brother didn'r he?
Moral Absolutes Ping.
Well written (IMHO) - "toothlessly meddlesome", "Congress will reassert its cowardice", "the judiciary at its most remote, arrogant, and imperial"....
Why are judges tantamount to kings? What happened? How did they get that power - who gave it to them? Are the executive and legislative branches, both state and fed, now eunuchs?
Now judges can tell us that two men or two women can and must get "married", that helpless people must be killed, unborn babies must be ripped from the womb, foul murderers who committed their crimes at age 17 are "children" to be protected, practically all expression of religion other than in one's own closet is verboten, and child porn is legal if not using actual children.
This is serious depravity, and must be rolled back.
Let me know if you want (back)on/off this pinglist.
I agree. You expressed it very well.
One thing I know is that myself and none of the good radio hosts will ever let this go. It is a feeling in the gut that the battle is at a point where there is no turning back. Eliminate the enemy or die trying!
In direct response to the article, no this won't be "It," for the simple reasons that we have #1 a majority of the population that does not even know the woman is being dehydrated to death by court order, and #2, we've all been fed the "infallability of the judiciary" line from birth. Most of us don't care to know better.
It will be "It" when a judge issues an order that goes against even the common sense of the uninformed and the tepid leftists. It will happen sooner or later, but this is not "It."
I agree - Ingrahm has just had it, and Savage is royally ticked off, too. Jerry Doyle is pi$$ed. This won't blow over quickly.
Hellooooooooo Infidels!!!!! ;)
Hasn't he just lost it this week? He has left quite a few callers, broken & bloodied, in his wake this week.
I acually am pleased I called last week and got on the show - he was a lot more relaxed and introspective last week! This week he has been a terror - a good terror, to be sure!
SAVAGE!
I almost thought I heard him start to cry tonight....
In the absence of a written will it is clear that a pschotic male nurse with a death fetish and a swamp judge have conspired to starve a brain damaged woman to death for kicks.
It is also clear that the GOP as a party is responsible for her death, as the Democrats would have taken her out at gunpoint days ago if the situation were reversed.
I don't listen to much talk radio anymore but mentioned on another thread that not only some people seem testy but my pets, too. My birds have been clawing and scratching at each other this week like I've never seen in 10 years. Sensing something bad ahead?
Not surprisingly, some people I know who are on the amoral side are just the opposite, happy and go-lucky as usual. Those of us with consciences are doing all the suffering.
Dr. Savage was clearly more angry than I ever have heard him (and I am a loyal listener for several years and I have heard him get VERY angry). He was also very moved by it - I had the sense he was choking up, too.
Savage has also increasingly lost his patience with listeners this week, especially the thoughtless ones. Savage can pick apart anybody - usually it's very funny and entertaining. This week it's just foreboding.
Dr. Savage is a good guy - my fave commentator!
Savage has been in top form! Still, I worry for him.
Bad moon rising.
IMO, he's the McCarthy of talk radio!
This man is so dangerous to the left, I honestly worry about his safety.
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