Posted on 03/30/2005 4:07:26 PM PST by 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?
And then you turned. Presumably because he didn't take a machine gun to the Pinellas county sheriff's department. A fair-weather supporter indeed.
Savage is an idiot. If you rely on him for showing you the way, you are being led down the proverbial primrose path by a lunatic.
It's all conditional. All bets are off. If the Republican leadership don't like it, they can lump it. It's on the table. And it's NOT negotiable.
I was addressing the moral question, not the legal question. I posted a thread earlier today of California Law which makes it legal to starve/dehydrate to death someone in Terri's condition.
There are those, such as yourself, and Howlin, which comfort your consciences with the idea that if a person wants to be starved/dehydrated to death under such conditions, that we should not disappoint them in that desire. I believe that starving/dehydrating a person to death is an immoral action. Notice, no mention of the legality.
I'm curious what other people think about the morality of starving/dehydrating to death people under these circumstances.
BUMPUS MAXIMUS
The Governor of Florida failed to excercise his God-given authority for the good of the people.
The religious right has succeeded in fracturing the Republican Party and making the moderate middle skeptical by criticizing the Party for making efforts, but failing.
Thanks a lot. That stab in the back wasn't expected but can hardly be forgotten.
I have but one nose to give for my country ...
OK.
And?
He's done more than you have.
You want Jeb Bush to violate the laws of Florida?
Lead by example.
Or does that mean that you'd have to log off the computer, quit stuffing Ho-Hos into your face, change out of your pajamas, walk out of your mama's basement, and actually DO something?
BTW, Jeb Bush publicly ruled out a 2008 presidential run months ago. Only the really stupid trolls from Democrat Underground believe he's running.
What tangible things have you done for Terri - besides bash the Bushes? Talk is cheap - if you are not willing to storm the hospice yourself and go to jail for Terri - you have no moral ground to stand on telling someone else to break the law.
Nope, suicide is illegal and immoral. No one but G-d may take innocent life.
That is preventing a bloodbath between law enforcement
Any law that proscribes starving innocent people to death is worthy of breaking, and with force.
What God given authority does the Gov of FL have that you don't have?
I just fault Jeb for being unprepared and not getting this thing done.
You are completely wrong - It is that simple - (With regard to Jeb Bush). Though how easy it is to spout off about what "you would do" (if you were in an elected office position) - takes a brave man to talk about "what they would do" now doesn't it -- But keep puffing your chest up, perhaps you are the type that needs that.
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