Quid est veritas, Jeb?
Posted on 03/25/2005 8:05:47 AM PST by yatros from flatwater
STARVATION: DAY 8
Jeb Bush not likely
to ride to rescue
Florida governor indicates
he won't defy court order
Those hoping Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will step forward to save Terri Schiavo from imminent, court-ordered starvation death are likely to be disappointed, based on his comments to a group of reporters following county court Judge George Greer's ruling against the state's effort to take custody of the brain-injured woman at the center of a worldwide euthanasia controversy.
While Bush reiterated his motivation to save Schiavo, based on new evidence that she is not in a persistent vegetative state and is, to some degree, conscious of her surroundings, the governor said "it isn't possible to remove her" from the hospice.
Earlier in the week, there were hints from the Bush administration that the Department of Children and Families might use force, if necessary, to stabilize Terri Schiavo and remove her from the facility.
"The judge is so focused on carrying out whatever decision he made years ago, that I guess the additional information he just rejected out of hand, and rejected the ability of the department to go in and stabilize her," he said. "It isn't possible right now to remove her. ... Given the fact that she's being starved to death it would be difficult to move her."
Bush downplayed the earlier reports about the possibility of action by the DCF.
"We never said that unilaterally we would do something that's against the court," he said. "I've been asked to do it by a lot of people – a lot of the advice I'm getting over the Internet and over television and the like. I know that there were lots of rumors of things that aren't accurate. I have a duty to uphold the law and I have been very consistent about that. It seemed like a big story that never was confirmed because it wasn't true. If we had that ability to do it, if there wasn't an injunction, we would do it right now. We would stabilize her by giving her hydration. We couldn't put a feeding tube in. There was already a court order in place. The opportunity we had was appealing his decision."
A prominent evangelical Christian leader yesterday urged Bush to disobey the judge's order barring the Florida governor from intervening to save the life of Terri Schiavo. In a statement shortly after Judge George Greer's decision, Rev. D. James Kennedy pointed to Bush "as the only legal authority who can save the life of Terri Schiavo."
Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries, said Bush "must act and he must act immediately on her behalf."
"He must disregard the order of Judge Greer," Kennedy said. "He has both the authority and the duty to do so under the state constitution."
Greer rejected Bush's request to grant the governor protective custody. On Wednesday he barred the Department of Children & Families from taking custody. Also yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from Terri Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, for an emergency order allowing her feeding tube to be reinserted.
Bush said new information had come to light warranting intervention, including a review of Terri Schiavo's condition by neurologist Dr. William Cheshire, who claims she may have been misdiagnosed. Cheshire believes Schiavo to be in a "minimally conscious state," not a "persistent vegetative state" as Greer has determined.
"It is imperative that she be stabilized so the DCF team can fulfill their statute to review the facts surrounding the case," Bush said.
Kennedy said Bush should be commended for his efforts over the past two years – which include the state legislature's passage of "Terri's Law" – but he noted those efforts "thus far has proven fruitless." The law later was declared unconstitutional.
"Neither the state legislature nor the courts, state or federal, have been willing to act on behalf of this helpless woman who is now within hours of death," Kennedy said.
Kennedy points out the Florida Constitution states in Article I, Section 2, that "[a]ll natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law, and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life ... ." According to the Constitution, "no person shall be deprived of any right [including the right to enjoy life] because of ... physical disability."
Similar arguments were brought to Florida's capital this morning by former Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes. Keyes wrote a column published yesterday by WorldNetDaily, arguing for Bush to step in and save Schiavo amid judicial abuse of the separation of powers.
"I have talked to a whole lot of people that I respect, not just now but the first time when Terri's law was passed, to make the determination of what my powers are and they are not as expansive as people would want them to be," Bush said yesterday. "And I understand, they're acting on their heart and I fully appreciate their sentiments and the emotions that go with this, but .... I've consistently said that I can't go beyond what my powers are and I'm not going to do it. There are 90,000 abortions that take place in this state every year. That troubles me more than I can ever describe, but that doesn't mean that I have some secret powers to stop that. There are a lot of things that go on in society that trouble me and this is certainly one of them. To have someone starve to death troubles me greatly and we have done everything we can and we will continue to do so within the powers that I have."
Both are horrible results.
The latter may mean more innocents will die at the hands of the judiciary.
No, no, no Governor. Quit pulling a Clinton on the public by parsing words and phrases and tell it like it is. It's not a matter of "within the powers that I have". It has become a matter of the powers Judge Greer tells you that he will allow you to have.
Too many judicial scholars with unquestionable credentials have stated that you DO HAVE the authority to save Terri Schiavo's life but you choose to be a servant of Judge Greer instead of the law you swore to uphold.
You Sir, are a charlatan.
Because I have not been vested with executive power in the state of Florida, I do not have the authority. What authority and influence I do have, I excersice fully. If you gather up all my posts here on this subject, you'll see that.
It's a fair question.
I also live 1100 miles away. If I was there, I would be there if being there was the most I could do. I don't know what I would do if there. Would I get locked up? Probably. But I'd insist of having access to the internet while inside. Maybe I'd blog from Woodside.
I'm calling on the executive to use the full limits of his authority to save an innocent life.
I agree that he has the power.
I think he's trying to avoid bloodshed between the state policy removing her and the sheriffs who were illegally ordered by Judge Greer to resist.
It seems to me that the Gov.'s orders take precedence over a probate judge's. Also, that state police could order county sheriffs to stand down.
"state police", not "state policy".
Oh, he still has the ability to do it, injunction or no. The act would clearly be within his statutory authority as chief executive of the state. No court can legitimately restrain him from the exercise of his executive perogative to carry out his duties under the Florida Constitution and statutory law. This is a judicial usurpation pure and simple.
The question isn't: Can he? It's will he? And I think the answer will prove to be: NO.
It seemed to me incredibly STUPID for Gov. Bush to ASK?? the court for permission to take Terri. He should have known beforehand that the request would be denied. If he had wanted to do it; he just should have done it and swept up the mess afterward.
Why did he first ask? Either because he didn't want to grab and snatch, but wanted to appear like he was doing everything. (Evangelicals are known for NOT being empowered; nor are they aggressive in seeking their rights.)
The other reason is that he is stupidly listening TOO much to his LAWYERS, who all seem to defer to the COURTS as the final arbiter in deciding what the government can and cannot do.
Perhaps, their range of influence will be extended to whether or not to wage war. Do you know anyone who would support this extension of power??
However, just my reading of his facial expressions and tone of voice yesterday when he stated his hands are tied, I did denote a kind of whiny, wobbling, shaking tone of voice, a kind of 'deer in the headlights' look, misplaced grimaces and darting eyes.
Look, this is when a man really finds it in himself to stand and deliver.
Some Governors (even on the wrong side of US history) stood without flinching. Wrong side governors strike me as Wallace, Maddox, Faubus, etc. Wrong but strong, grounded, principled and unflinching. Just as were Bobby Kennedy and Katzenbach.
But I did not get any of that from Governor Bush's darting eyes and somewhat shellshocked, "akirame" (as the Japanese would say), "It's out of my hands, what can I do?" kind of demeanor.
I feel for the guy, but this may well be his moment in history and moment as a man.
Sorry, it doesn't wash. You're introducing the obfuscating element of subjectivity into an objective standard: "no one shall be denied the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...." -- See the Florida Constitution (paraphrased here). Believe it's Article 1, section 2.
Correct me?
whatever.
Did anyone else notice or sense what I noticed and sensed (as articulated in my #50 here) in seeing Gov. Bush late yesterday on the TV????
But one thing is for sure.
This seals it for the Governor, that he will not be elected.
Even the Democrats. but certainly conservatives in the primaries, would probably use that press conference video yesterday to show His Wobblyness, whining under pressure, rather than as a real man, tested by steel and standing at the abyss, reaching up deep and finding his guts inside, then damning the torpedoes, going full speed ahead.
I see it that way, too, AmericanInTokyo. Including the "akirame" part. :^(
I'd prefer to have the adulterer-husband arrested and charged with abuse and cruel and unusual punishment upon his spouse.
Well .. charging the hospital could preclude the cops shooting Terri - to keep people from taking her - so I think people better think twice about it.
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