In a Polarizing Case, Jeb Bush Cements His Political Stature

The New York Times ^ | March 25, 2005 | ADAM NAGOURNEY

[Former Military Chick]

WASHINGTON, March 24 - Gov. Jeb Bush's last-minute intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo, even after the president had ended his own effort to keep her alive, may have so far failed in a legal sense, but it has cemented the religious and social conservative credentials of a man whose political pedigree is huge and whose political future remains a subject of intense speculation.

On one level, the Florida governor's emergence as the most prominent politician still fighting, despite a string of court and legislative defeats, to have a feeding tube reinserted in Ms. Schiavo was very much in keeping with someone who has repeatedly declared a deep religious faith.

Several associates noted that he had been devoutly religious longer than President Bush, and even critics said his efforts - prodding the Florida Legislature and the courts and defying much of the electorate - were rooted in a deep-seated opposition to abortion and euthanasia rather than in political positioning.

Yet inevitably, the events of recent days have fed the mystique of Mr. Bush as a reluctant inheritor of perhaps America's most famous dynasty since the Adams family two centuries ago.

He has assumed a very high profile in this polarizing case just as Republicans are contemplating the void that will be left when President Bush begins his walk off the stage in two years or so. At a time when many of the most frequently mentioned possibilities to lead the party are moderates like John McCain and Rudolph W. Giuliani, the governor now certainly has a place, if he wants it, as a prime contender in what is shaping up as a fight to represent a conservative wing that has proved increasingly dominant.

"He has strongly identified himself with the Christian conservative movement," said Matthew Corrigan, a political science professor at the University of North Florida. "If the Republican Party is looking for someone with good ties with the Christian conservative movement, he is the one who is going to have them."

Mr. Bush is barred by term limits from seeking a third term in 2006, and associates say they cannot imagine his running for a third term even if he were permitted to do so. Further, he has said he will not run for the presidency in 2008, an assertion that all but a few associates say they accept, though some Republicans think he may well run in 2012 or 2016.

"He's got no - as far as I know, and I really believe him - he's got no future political ambitions," said Cory Tilley, a longtime adviser. "And even if he did, he would be doing exactly what he is doing now. This is very clearly an issue that strikes at his core beliefs."

Susan McManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, said: "He is a very ideologically consistent person. He made no bones about that from the first day he ran for office. Those of us who watch him think this is Jeb, and how he truly believes and what he truly believes, and this may be one of those instances where he's putting politics aside."

Still, several Republicans said that while Mr. Bush might be ignoring any political calculations in a case that has etched grief on his face, it would be foolish to underestimate the political skills of someone who has managed to win two elections to lead one of the nation's most divided states. His decision to continue the Schiavo battle on his own, within hours after the White House had effectively withdrawn, followed a letter in which Bill Frist, the Senate Republican leader, urged that he make sure the Florida Legislature acted "expeditiously on Terri's behalf."

Dr. Frist is arguably the other most prominent Republican seeking to inherit the president's mantle as leader of the party's conservative wing. But Mike Murphy, a close adviser to the governor, disputes the notion of any rivalry between the two men, especially in regard to the Schiavo case.

"I don't think it's a competition at all: Jeb's the guy on the spot," Mr. Murphy said. "He's the governor of the state."

Some Democrats were skeptical, however.

"This is less about Terri Schiavo and more about shoring up the Republican base, and that's a shame," said Scott Maddox, who is departing as chairman of the Florida Democratic Party and is a potential candidate for governor. "Politics has to be in play here."

At times this week, it almost seemed as if the Bush brothers were working in tandem; the governor's decision to re-enter the case once the White House had dropped it in the face of repeated judicial rebuffs may have saved the president criticism from the right. (Paradoxically, the governor himself was pummeled Thursday by some conservative activists, who demanded that he have state authorities physically seize custody of Ms. Schiavo and reinsert the tube.)

That would not be the first time the governor has come to the aid of his brother. But it is also not the first time he has intervened in the Schiavo case. In 2003, after a court ordered the tube removed, he and the Legislature enacted a law that empowered him to order it reinserted. That measure was later overturned in another judicial decision.

"Jeb Bush is not doing this for political reasons, in my opinion," said Jim Kane, chief pollster for Florida Voter, a nonpartisan polling organization. "Jeb Bush is smart enough to know that he is not going to gain anything from this, and he's probably going to lose something."

Pressing the issue could prove particularly problematic in a state like Florida, with a heavy population of elderly voters, who analysts say are more likely to recoil at government intervention in such a case.

In any event, some of Mr. Bush's associates suggest that for all the intensity stirred by the Schiavo case now, it will ultimately fade.

"Issues have a way of coming and going," Mr. Tilley said. "This one is a very deep one. But it seems like other ones always come up, especially here in Florida."

[Nick Danger]

I am extremely frustrated by the complete lack of spine our elected representatives have when it comes to their masters in the unelected, accountable-to-nobody, judicial branch.

We all are. But we need a reason to smack them around that everyone will understand.

This may be it. Everyone would prefer not to create some "Constitutional crisis" — even at the state level — if they can. Whittemore will probably rule by morning. I think there is a reasonable chance he will grant the injunction. I personally think that Jeb Bush will send in the DCF either way. But if he has an order from a federal judge to do it, a big mess is avoided. It's a frustrating call to wait even another few hours, since Terri might die any time now.

The perfect "thread the needle" outcome is that Whittemore says no, Jeb goes in anyway, Greer orders him arrested for this or that, and a big mess ensues. Meanwhile the docs get a PET scan of Terri and determine that she is not PVS, has brain activity, and is aware of what's going on around her.

The public will understand that. They will also understand that the entire judicial system, right up to the Supreme Court, voted to kill somebody without making sure of what they were doing. Terri lives, Jeb's a hero, the courts are discredited, and all these smirking donkeys we see on the TV are exposed as the Merchants of Death that they are.

Now pray for that outcome. Our nation's future may depend on it. This may be happening by Design.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I think he's a good man, too. It really bothers me to see him treated this way, after all he's done.

[thoughtomator]

This doesn't "go away", because if Terri dies there will certainly be new candidates for euthanasia for the death industry to work on.

[faithincowboys]

didn't Reagan sign the Amnesty of '86?

You seem incapable of waging an honest audit of the Reagan and Bush II years.

[Rome2000]

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.

[maine-iac7]

I'm sick of the blue-bloods. I'm Conservative. The Clintons and Bushes have destroyed most of what Reagan stood for.

surely you're not calling clinton, the low-life hillbilly that gives hillbillys a bad name - a "blue blood?"

but seriously, if you aren't a lefty, why don't you take your anger out on those that are the true enemy - the dem/socialists that have loaded the courts with these bloodless activist judges? And help Pres. Bush get his judges in -

[Jrabbit]

I think people, me included, just had no idea how powerful Greer is. We got a hint when he spit on the congressional subpoenas and then the realization sunk in when he ordered Jeb to stay away from the hospice. I was shocked, to be honest. I had no idea.

[AntiGuv]

No, I am well aware that Reagan signed the '86 Amnesty and also of the kinds of Congresses Reagan had to work with versus the kind Bush has to work with.

I also recall something Reagan didn't sign into law: the 22 spending bills he vetoed in his first three years.

[faithincowboys]

What are you doing?

It's funny. If Jeb is a coward, we all are.

Michael Savage, the most conspicuous demagogue on Terri Schiavo, hasn't left the Bay Area to organize an act of civil disobedience in front of the hospice. It's easy to talk sh*t, going out and putting yourself on the line is another story.

[faithincowboys]

There was still a whole lot of spending going on. The defecits were bigger than. Bush is far from perfect, but you are spewing crazy talk.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

If Jeb had actually done something effective, legal or not, do you think the NYT would be praising him?

No way.

[maine-iac7]

There's no doubt Jeb & W have the power to do what's being demanded of them here

not legally.

The judge has already put the police all around the hospice and ordered them not to let any state police in ---what do you want Jeb to do, ride in on a horse and get shot down.

ridiculous? Not any more than people who think it's all Jeb and "W"s fault -

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

Mainly because people expect Gov. Jeb to go rogue and surplant all three branches of the Florida government. The words "brave, but not stupid" enter into my mind. The minute he starts thinking that he can swing the law any whichway he wants is the day he might as well join the democratic party. God bless Jeb for trying every legal method possible, I undestand why he won't try the illegal ones.

Michael Schiavo on the other hand should be the freeped for the rest of his miserable life. he should not be able to sleep ever again. I think every time he turns around, he should see one of us with a sign saying: "MURDERER!"

or we could just tar and feather the scum sucking backard!

[faithincowboys]

Is there no nurse in that hospice willing to reinsert the tube??

[Lancey Howard]

Thanks for that great post! - - I think I'm calming down now.
(Which is good because I suspect I've been making enemies of a lot of good freepers.)

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Civil disobedience by conservatives is called "grandstanding".

[AntiGuv]

I'm aware that deficits spiked during Reagan's term, but much of the increase was from entitlement spending that was locked in decades before he even got there; the remainder was for national defense. By contrast, not only has non-military discretionary spending under Bush expanded at a rate rivalled only by Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, but he's majorly expanded entitlement spending during his presidency.

[jwpjr]

re: one of Jeb's most hearty supporters on this board

Well put. I find myself in the same boat. I have supported and admired him for the whole time he's been in office and I really don't want to believe that we've found our hero's clay feet.

[jwpjr]

re: one of Jeb's most hearty supporters on this board

Well put. I find myself in the same boat. I have supported and admired him for the whole time he's been in office and I really don't want to believe that we've found our hero's clay feet.

[AntiGuv]

PS. It's also worth noting that I am not the one who originally contrasted Bush & Reagan. Someone else did that. I spoke of the Bushes in an absolute sense, not a relative sense. Well, except for my reference to the leading 2008 contenders.