Jeb Bush's political obituary

WND ^ | Mar 30 05 | Farah

[churchillbuff]

I never had any desire to run for political office, but, if I did, it would be to make a difference.

If I didn't think I could make a difference, what would be the point?

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told us last week he just didn't have the power and authority to save one innocent woman forced by court order and armed guard to starve to death in his state.

I don't believe that's true. Not for a minute do I believe it. Jeb Bush blinked. And that weakness that he showed for the whole world should represent the end of his political career.

It's unfortunate, because I believe Jeb Bush knew, deep in his convictions, it was wrong to let Terri Schiavo be murdered by a judge's order.

He even dispatched a team of state law enforcement officers to seize her hours after Judge George Greer refused to listen to his pleadings in the courtroom.

But he backed down. When local cops informed the state officers that they would enforce the judge's order, the agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement stopped.

That's not leadership. That's capitulation.

Gov. Jeb Bush shouldn't have merely dispatched officers to the scene to negotiate with the local cops, he should have led them. He should have personally persuaded those local officers that he was the highest law enforcement official in the state and he was ordering them to stand down.

He should have been a field general, not an armchair general.

He should have walked up to that hospice with overwhelming force behind him.

He should have done so with the whole world watching.

Jeb Bush has been talked about as a potential presidential candidate. But who is going to seriously consider a commander in chief who backs down at the first sign of resistance?

Bush may have been trying to take the safe route in this crisis, but it represents, in my estimation, the end of his political ambitions.

Jeb Bush was tested, and he was found lacking.

He allowed a terribly immoral action to take place in his state and did nothing but huff and puff about it.

And it wasn't the first time.

Say what you will about former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. I think she was a fascist. I think she was a criminal. I think she was possibly stark, raving mad. But she backed up her misguided convictions by sending armed federal agents swooping in to pick up little Elian Gonzalez and take him back to Cuba. It was wrong, but she wasn't afraid.

Back then, Gov. Jeb Bush sat by and watched his authority breached by Washington.

This time, he sat by and watched his authority breached by a puny, little county bureaucrat, a local politician, Judge George Greer.

Does the Florida governor have any authority?

If not, we shouldn't take the position seriously as a stepping stone to higher office. If it does, why didn't he use it when it counted?

I feel sorry for Jeb Bush today.

I think he knew right from wrong in this case but didn't have the courage of his convictions. I think he listened to all the wrong advisers. I think he will carry regrets about Terri Schiavo to his grave.

He could have been a hero. He could have been a leader.

Instead, he appears weak. Instead, he appears to vacillate.

My wife told me: "If Jeb Bush had done the right thing for Terri, I would have given up six months of my life to campaign for him. I would have done anything to help him."

I'm sure many people feel like that. Let me ask you today: Is anyone excited about the possibility of a third Bush administration?

[Dane]

There is plenty of blame to go around and some folks carry a lot more responsibility than others to intervene because they have the office and have been elected to protect the people of Fl. That is where Jeb comes into play.....he engaged the enemy but as the battle ensued, he became a coward and didn't make the right (albeit tough) decision. He's the modern day Pontius Pilate in this scenario.

Like I said on another thread, talk is cheap and you are on a spending spree.

If anything this case has raised awareness of the culture of death and I think it is better to focus energies on the culture of death and their actions, rather than go on a spending spree blaming Jeb Bush.

[normy]

Thats good!

[PsyOps]

I agree with the part about the culture of death.

On the other....people have been quiet for too long.... that is part of the reason we're in the mess we're in. So, I will continue to "go on my spree" as I've always done. Your "talk is cheap" comment is also true. What have you done?

I've contacted represenatives, voted, prayed, been active in the pro life movement and others that are none of your business!

Part of the action you infer is holding our elected leaders accountable and if they don't do their job, make sure folks know it and try to get new ones. It's part of the process.

[dennisw]

Wrong, Michael Savage is only 50% shtick and has been great this week on the Schiavo "issue"

[dennisw]

Just testing the water w/ you. If you know that M Schiavo is a fraud and liar that's all I need to know. Thanks :) I argue with you on immigration not on this.

[Saundra Duffy]

I will never forget.

[ohioWfan]

I know that this thread is a thousand posts long, but I want to ask you Diva..............how can Jeb be a "decent guy" and have deliberately refused to help save Terri's life, when he had the legal authority to do so?

Why would any "decent guy" let her die.......even a coward?

I think people need to call a spade a spade here.

Anyone who thinks Jeb, for fear, or political reasons, abdicated his authority to save Terri, believes he is EVIL.

Only someone EVIL would do what Jeb is being accused of doing here. There is no middle ground. No "decent guy" would let her die like this if there were a way to stop it.

Either Jeb has sought every legal avenue he had to do what was in his Constitutional powers to intervene and circumvent the entire U.S. judicial system (NOT just one 'swampjudge').......or he is a HORRIBLE, ROTTEN person.

He cannot be a "decent" coward, who aided and abetted a murder. It's not a rational choice.

churchillbuff wants to spread the word that Jeb is evil......that's why he posts this stuff, and encourages the insane on FR to continue their inflammatory, mindless anti-Bush rhetoric.

Is that where you really stand?

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I made it perfectly clear where I stand. I don't need to keep posting about it.Apparently my definition of evil and yours are different. You may think Jeb evil if you wish-I don't.

'Nuf said.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Interesting- I thought your post was fantasy.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

LOL backatcha nopardons. Try having a debate and not speaking in riddles for once.

[txrangerette]

Uh, ohio didn't say Jeb is evil. She pointed to the contradiction of claiming he deliberately starved her to death when he knew he could have saved her, but at the same time is a decent man. She noted that one can't really have it both ways about Jeb - they have to choose one or the other.

[beyond the sea]

Wrong, Michael Savage is only 50% shtick and has been great this week on the Schiavo "issue"

Whoa. This is all I said to the other poster --- Most of what you may dislike about him is most likely all 'schtick'.

I love Savage. I appreciate his bizarre and full life and active mind, and I appreciate his "showmanship". You're the greatest, but you gotta read carefully. ;-)

[ohioWfan]

I DON'T think Jeb is evil. I think he is a good man who didn't want to break the law; who did everything in his power to intervene; who kept Terri from death two years ago; who sought legal counsel, and had people working night and day to find a way to Constitutionally intervene in what the courts had all ruled, but was not able to do anything.

My point was that "decent" men don't deliberately let people die if they can stop it. The people on this thread crying for his blood have got to believe he is an evil man. The Bush hatred is palpable. You can't tell the "good" conservatives from the DU trolls because they hate Jeb equally.

I just don't happen to believe there is much middle ground, after you give it some thought. Jeb is a good man whose hands were tied by the law which he swore to uphold. He is not a coward, and he is not evil.

He believes in the rule of law, and he upheld it. It is the law that needs to be changed, and all this Jeb Bush lynching stuff on FR is counterproductive to solving the real problem..........that is a culture that no longer values life, and culture of death judges who have outstepped their Constitutional bounds for decades with no complaints from the American people.

We need to pray and work to make this tragedy a wake up call to the complacent. Sitting on our duffs and placing blame where it doesn't belong will accomplish nothing.............except maybe to make the people on the dark side happy.........

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Uh- Well it depends on how you read it. (That is the tricky thing about posting on the internet.)

And just because some poster, whom I don't know,(but have been very supportive of in the past) says so? Guess what I am perfectly comfortable with my opinion of Jeb.

You may wish to follow this person's rules, I-however- do not.

Deal with it.

[ohioWfan]

Thank you. Exactly what I meant.

"Decent" men don't starve innocent women to death. If that's what Jeb did, then he is evil.

I don't believe that for one minute.

[ohioWfan]

No. It doesn't depend on how you read it, if you read it carefully.

You don't know me, Diva? You don't remember your support for my son while he was in Iraq for over a year?

Now you have me puzzled.......

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Ohio- dear. I am not going to read that whole post. I have made my statements about my opinion of Jeb. You may disagree all you want and demand anything you want to.

I am still not going to change my mind about it.

That is how I feel.

Last time I checked I am entitled to my own opnion-I guess you will have to learn to accept that.

[ohioWfan]

Ah..........now I understand. You have chosen not to read what I said, but condemn it nonetheless.

I guess I didn't know you as well as I thought, Diva. I expected a well reasoned discussion from you.

Next time, though.....if you don't read what I post, please don't reply to it......OK?

As far as I understand free speech, you are free to speak, but so am I. Your freedom to say what you want has not been interfered with in any way by anything I've said, so please don't imply that it has been.

[dennisw]

but you gotta read carefully. ;-)

My mistake. We're on the samae page

[ThanhPhero]

Clinton/Edwards in 2008 It is up to the Republicans nationally not to put us in the position having an unelectable candidate. I will not vote for Jeb again. How do you think he would handle an Iraq or an Afghanistan with the UN opposing him? A Jeb administration would be dominated by his liberal and Democrat "opposition." Jeb would not be the lesser evil in such a matchup. He would likely be worse than C/E because he would be less apt to have effective congressional opposition for the deals he is "forced" to accept from the Democrats and Rinos. A spineless Republican president would probably be worse than a Democrat. Look at GHWB. He did us more damage with his disabilities act than Billious was able to do in all his eight years. Sometimes it is better to elect the perceived greater evil. He may well do us less đamage.