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?
Glad she is OK.
I am outta here,keep the hounds at bay! 8^)
You still didn't answer the question.......bada da da boomp!
Bill Clinton and Janet Reno pulled off that raid for the purpose of kidnapping a small child and sending him to a Communist hell hole.
We were hoping Jeb Bush would have the courage to SAVE A VULNERABLE DYING DISABLED HUMAN BEING from death by starvation/dehydration. There's an itsi bitsi difference here, pal.
You misunderstand my comment. The Religious Right is criticizing the GOP for failing. Does that help?
I'm curious why it has taken so long for this to become a major issue. This very same story has happened hundreds of times a day, and for some reason the Terri story has finally crystalized the sides.
I wonder why that is.
Felos and Greer agree with you! Mike Schiavo too!
Any thinking person knows, in order for things to change in our country, (so we don't have another killing of an innocent person such as Terri), it's to be done in the voting booth.
I urge you to put your energy where your mouth is. Be hands on, and work to get these liberal judges out of office with your voice and your vote.
What was he suppossed to do ? Order the guard to go in and gun down some nurses, like at Waco ? Get hold of yourself woman, he did the right thing and the judge issue is bigger than ever now.
Have another Ho-Ho, mama's boy.
Life is indeed a "one issue" matter. This is first and foremost what good government is about. You know that.
Regardless of party affiliation, this is the one thing we need to work toward together. It requires not only noise but also force. You also know that.
Nuances between branches of goiverment are worthless if one or the other does not hold life itself as worthy of protection under the law.
The Internet.
just shows to go ya .. no good deed goes unpunished !!
I've asked on a few of these threads exactly what the complainees would do, how they would do it, and under what authority they would do it ... sparse answers, to put it mildly. In the meanwhile this would all have been over, with Terri dead two years ago, had it not been for Jeb. But I guess that doesn't count.
However-Jeb has made a fatal error for his career and he should have seen it coming. I still like him as a person- I just don't think he has passed the GW test. He is a good man- but not a great leader. Someone else will be then. IT is what it is.
No, because there's no other hope for Terri left, I'm hoping to shame Bush (either of them) into doing their duty and rescuing her.
That's our Pat...stuck in 1886.
I sent the RNC $100 during the Bush/Kerry race and believe me, it was a sacrifice because we're not wealthy. I felt that strongly. Jeb Bush turned his back on Terri because he's a coward. I don't really want to fight with you. It's heart-breaking what is happening to Terri right now and Jeb Bush could have saved her. Go ahead, flame away. Whatever.
Some have never been pleased. The perpetual malcontents, the libertarians, the Patsies, the black helicopter crowd -- they all have one beef or another and all blame the failures of the world on "both parties."
This is a specific issue about a specific case, for me. It's about Terri and Michael Schiavo and Felos and Greer and the formerly-Hemlock Society. This is not about larger issues because we simply cannot operate that way. The fact is, I believe that when Michael shacked up, he abandonded his rights over Terri's care. If the Schindlers were given care and wanted to pull the plug, fine. If they wanted to keep her alive and were willing to take responsibility for that decision, fine. If Terri had had a living will with specifics, then neither of them gets to decide.
I believe President Bush had it 100% right: We err on the side of life. And this case is full of erring. The best decision is to keep her alive if there is this conflict and the crackhead judge insists on keeping Michael involved in this.
But causing a potentially fatal confrontation at the hospice defeats the entire purpose of fighting for life in the first place.
Start your macros.
Free Republic Poll re: Jeb Bush
If you eliminate the wimps who think that Jeb was right to back down from the county probate judge and just let Terri die slowly and barbarically, over half of the rest (those who believe Jeb SHOULD HAVE stepped in and saved Terri Schiavo's life regardless of the scumbag judge) have lost respect for Jeb Bush.
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