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?
Nonsense; but thanks for playing. :-)
To the GOP's profound relief.
Oh,I guess I forgot.
You want both Bush's to be on the equal scumbag "piss on the law" level as Bill Clinton?
He is a seminar poster.
Not so much "social conservatives" but the fringe elements that vote single issue and are always threatening to sit at home on election day. Thankfully they're not a large number of people but they do make an awful amount of noise.
And took EV with her!
Most of us do, you troll.
Jeb dithered while Terri withered.
I'd rather Terri survives, and we don't have a slogan. . . whataya say, Jeb?
Praying still.
Wow. A two-fer! Some days just go perfectly...
Yes. I believe local cops would have opened fire and the state police would have returned fire. Many local cops in places like these are Barney Fifes just looking for some action. Unlike the state police, the training leaves much to be desired.
Hello. Healthy people with feeding tubes don't have them "yanked". And normally there aren't major controversies swirling around. Err on the side of life.
Jeb Bush set a precedent. It's open season on the disabled. He HAS to believe Terri is not a human being or else he would have been FORCED to save her.
Jeb Bush has Terri's blood all over his hands. And the Republican Party can kiss my support and volunteerism good bye.
Ain't life grand?
When the courts failed Terri, and Congress and the Florida Legislature failed Terri, the governor of Florida, who took an oath to defend the constitutional rights of Florida's citizens, should have taken custody of Terri, ordered the tube reinserted and let the federal courts proceed with the de novo hearing of the evidence, while Terri was still alive.
When Gov. John Peter Altgeld of Illinois came to believe that those convicted of murder in the infamous Haymarket Massacre of 1886 were innocent, that a judicial outrage had been committed, he pardoned them. "I am a dead man politically," he told Clarence Darrow.
Jeb Bush should have done the same thing, the right thing. He should have rescued Terri from the death sentence unjustly imposed upon her. If the court held him in contempt, so what? Who does not hold that Florida court in contempt?
From abortion on demand in 1973, to a right to die in Oregon, to a right to suicide in Holland, to involuntary euthanasia in the old folks homes on the old and dying continent of Europe, to America's death sentence for Terri Schiavo, the West advances steadily toward its own death.
As we find more and more justifications for ending life, we also find that not one Western nation has a native-born population that is growing. All are dying. Before century's end, the West ends, as T.S. Eliot wrote, "Not with a bang, but a whimper."
I may have a rather large "L" on my forehead (which, contrary to my detractor's beliefs, actually stands for "lamb"), but I certainly knew that Jeb is inelegible to run for Governor! Read my post again...I never said "Governor". Furthermore, If you noticed the post to which I replied...that would be post number "5"...you'll notice the context of my post was related to Jeb running for POTUS. Which again proves that reading comprehension is our friend before formaking silly comments and pressing the "post" button.
As a hermeneutics professor used to stamp into our brains..."A verse taken out of context is a pretext". Or in this case, a post taken out of context is a pretext.
FRegards
This has been a well known fact for years.
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