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?
If Jeb Bush couldn't stand up to George Greer -- and Greer's rebellious order for local cops to resist a state agency and state law enforcement -- then how could he ever stand up to North Korea, Syria, China, Iran, Cuba, etc etc?? I was once a supporter of Jeb for Prez in 08- when he was still helping Terri. But after he let a swamp judge roll him, I realize he's not a man to be in the White House, with the responsibility of defending America against real threats (not swamp probate clerks).
I don't feel sorry for Jello spine... I mean Jeb Bush. He chose to do nothing and will pay the price for it in the polls.
His career is over...he just doesn't know it yet.
As usual, Joseph Farah is right on target. Poor Jeb, but even more, poor Terri!
The unappeasables are not very grateful for that Jeb has done.
Can't you see Jeb a dozen years from now
giving a speech trying to defend what he did not do in March 2005? I wonder if GHWB will start speaking out too defending his son. Another irony: Jerry Falwell, who had "endorsed" Jeb for President in 2008 (even though he was not in the running), was stricken at the same time of Terri's pending death.
So I guess we know where his priorities really are.
You mean people who think that disabled people shouldn't be starved to death?
I think the key word here is 'enforcement'; would you have him dictate arbitrarily?
The 11th Circuit Court told Janet Reno and Bill Clinton that could not seize Elián González. They told the court that they would seize him and went in the middle of the night and got a search warrant from a low level federal magistrate who was not informed of the case. They violated the orders of a Florida Court and the Federal Court of Appeals.
What happened to Bill and Janet? NOTHING. They stated that the 11th Circuit had no jurisdiction and that the Florida Court had no jurisdiction.
There was no outcry from the left-wing fascist press and they supported sending this young boy back to a Communist prison in CUBA.
When we who are for freedom want the executive to enforce the law of humanity where is the left-wing fascist press: On the same side they were with Elian, the side of the devil and the democrats.
Jeb Bush's refusal to stand up to the demented Judge Greer has been a great disappointment to me. I wouldn't want Jeb in any office.
I wouldn't write him off. Bush should have forcefully intervened, but by the year 2016 that will all have been forgotten (after eight years of Brownback).
Do it for Terri ...
He'll never be President.
That is preventing a bloodbath between law enforcement. Terri should live. What Judge Greer and his local yokel police did was repugnant. That being said, I don't fault Jeb for not forcing state law enforcement to use physical force against local law enforcement. Jeb should get credit for the efforts that he did make. I only wish he had personally walked into the hospice with food and water to feed Terri and dared the police to arrest him. It would have been nonviolent and quite possibly changed the outcome.
I'm appalled that U.S. Marshals were not sent to take Terri into protective custody per congressional subpoenas. They had the legal right to do so and the local police would have deferred.
I have to admit that I'm sick about it too. I liked Jeb alot. But he made a big mistake this time. Terri needs a hero & the crying shame is that there isn't a single one out there. I had this fantasy in my head of both of the Bush's personally going to Terri's room & making sure she was rescued from that place, saving her life.
Big disappointment.......
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