Posted on 03/28/2005 10:10:13 AM PST by El_Doctor
Sunday, March 27, 2005 9:36 p.m. EST
Lieberman Backs Life for Schiavo
Former Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman says if it were up to him, he'd reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube in order to keep her alive.
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"You would have kept the tube in?" asked NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert.
Lieberman, a Demcoratic U.S. senator from Connecticut who ran as his party’s vice presidential nominee in 2000, replied, "I would have kept the tube in."
The exchange began when Russert mentioned Lieberman's Republican House colleague, Rep. Christopher Shays.
Shays said he believed the GOP would suffer "repercussions" from voting last week to try to get the brain-damaged Florida woman's feeding tube replaced.
"This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy. ... There are going to be repercussions from this vote [on Schiavo's constitutional rights]," Shays said. "There are a number of people who feel that the government is getting involved in their personal lives in a way that scares them."
Russert asked Lieberman if he "agreed" with that statement.
"I don't," Lieberman said. And though he said Shays' statement was "a very credible and respectable opinion, the fact is that, though I know a lot of people's attitude toward the Schiavo case and other matters is affected by their faith and their sense of what religion tells them about morality, ultimately as members of Congress, as judges, as members of the Florida state Legislature, this is a matter of law. And the law exists to express our values.
"I have been saying this in speeches to students about why getting involved in government is so important. I always say the law is where we define the beginning of life and the end of life, and that's exactly what was going on here," Lieberman continued.
"And I think as a matter of law, if you go - particularly to the 14th Amendment, [you] can't be denied due process, have your life or liberty taken without due process of law, that though the Congress' involvement here was awkward, unconventional, it was justified to give this woman, more than her parents or husband, the opportunity for one more chance before her life was terminated by an act which was sanctioned by a court, by the state."
Lieberman added, "These are very difficult decisions, but - of course, if you ask me what I would do if I was the Florida Legislature or any state legislature, I'd say that if somebody doesn't have a living will and the next of kin disagree on whether the person should be kept alive or that is whether food and water should be taken away and her life ended - that really the benefit of the doubt ought to be given to life."
In conclusion, Lieberman said, "The family member who wants to sustain her life ought to have that right because the judge really doesn't know, though he heard the facts, one judge, what Terri Schiavo wanted. He made a best guess based on the evidence before him. That's not enough when you're talking about aggressively removing food and water to end someone's life."
"You would have kept the tube in?" asked NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert.
Lieberman replied, "I would have kept the tube in."
"Every Congressman and Every Senator has immunity."
Thanks for speaking up. It's a little late, though.
What really blows my mind is Gov. Bush says he can't do anything more; yet people like Hitlery and Bill Clinton, like Felos, Judge Greer and the husband are moving earth to get exactly what they want.
What is wrong with this picture?
Thanks for speaking up. It's a little late, though.
What really blows my mind is Gov. Bush says he can't do anything more; yet people like Hitlery and Bill Clinton, like Felos, Judge Greer and the husband are moving earth to get exactly what they want.
What is wrong with this picture?
In other words, people who believe in God should not have rights.
I agree 100%. If the Dems had had any sense in 2004, we'd all be saying "President Leiberman" right now.
I propose a trade....Joe for Jeb
I propose a trade....Joe for Jeb
"Lieberman is grandstanding -- now, when Terri reached the point of no return. "
That was my opinion upon reading this as well.
They were like: "oh, conservatives want her to live? I guess that means we don't."
Some lib's have been able to break out of the leftist "trance" long enough to see the truth, but unfortunatly most are not. The MSM has been worse than usual on this issue.
Joe needs to come over from the dark side and join the good guys. One good jump deserves another (ie, Jeffords).
Yes, but only about 50%. On Bill Bennett's radio show this morning, I heard that Lieberman also voted FOR partial-birth abortion.
And though Lieberman talks the talk, who knows what he'd do in the line of fire....
I know what you mean. It does seem as though the the MSM and the libs are skewering the Bush brothers and the Republicans on this, pointing out at once how much of the public does not support what they have done to intervene and at the same time how the conservative base thinks they have not done enough. Add in the "questionable" Republican talking points, and it's a real "celebration" for parts of the left. I do think that some of the glee one sees is just because the MSM is making this out to be a political defeat for the Republicans. As disgusting as it sounds, ANY bill Tom Delay had submitted would be attacked by some on the left, just because it's him. (I tried to think of an outrageously laudable example that would be ripe for attack, but the actual facts - trying to protect a brain damaged woman from being starved to death without a sufficient inquiry - is bad enough.
I do think there's more to it though. Somehow, in some way, I think the left sees this case as some kind of "atttack" on the "abortion on demand up until birth" position. and the hatred for conservative Christians is unbelievably strong also. ANY event which weakens, embarrasses or frustrates them is seen as a victory for state-sponsored sodomy, "moral relativism," etc.
Just my opinion.
God help us all.
That the main problem I have. The fems own the guy.
Lieberman seems to be the only sane person left in the Democratic Party. It would be too much to hope that he is their 2008 presidential candidate instead of another one chosen out of spite for the American public.
And this, in a nutshell, is why Lieberman will never be a Democratic presidential candidate.
Right.
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