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?
BTW, the energy and sustain of your posts on this matter, imo,. tell that your heart is on the right side in this. (If that is not actually so, if it is only a foil then that energy itself will act upon your heart to make it so. Whatver Miss T eats becomes Miss T and all that.)
Who?
Yep. One of the reasons that I said I think Jeb will be haunted by this is because I actually think the guy gives a damn.
Again, the same can't be said for those who actively starved Schiavo. Seems to me that there are a lot of folks in this thread who would gleefully blame the Bushes for everything, or call Hilary a Nazi. Sort of off topic and not particularly constructive stuff, but I guess I understand the passions that drive us all to this.
I suppose that I'd like to think Terri's life - consequently, her death - has a higher purpose. To that end, maybe it has been, and should continue to be, bringing people of like mind and similar values together. If we believe in life we should be more courteous and respectful towards one another,...and work for life in the future.
It seems to be the chosen way. Take for example abortion. It, too, has been removed from the realm of gov't control, and left to be a personal decision. You are also pro-abortion too?
But Terri was not dying- until the government started to starve her 11 or 12 days ago.
This may be a fine point to you- but there is a huge difference between a right to kill issue and a right to die issue.
You will not be ignored or forgotten.
Actually, the legislature is the supreme branch. But the Judiciary has certain powers. If they didn't, then all cases would be decided by bureaucrats.
Who has the power to pardon? That is where the buck stops.
"Devil"? "Culture of death"?
This IS and HAS BEEN quite legal for years.
Where have you people been all this time?
"The unappeasables are not very grateful for that Jeb has done."
Yeah, and OJ Simpson only had one bad night in his entire life and no one wants to forget that either.
expatguy,
Yes.
Americans are worthy of Freedom.
Not because of today's people.
But because my God has given us Free Will to exercise and that is done with the joys and responsibilities of Freedom.
If I did not believe so, I would not have bothered replying to AmishDude.
He's the type who would undercut the nation for his joy and entertainment.
He and his ilk have always been around.
Our founding fathers had issues they coudln't take on, for fear of not being able to get this country going. They made good decisions - they made bad ones.
That's human.
But they didn't pretend their bad decisions were good decisions.
Back to Freedom.
There will come a day when we do not have it.
But that time is a whole other story.
It can be read in Revelation.
This is a walk in the park compared to what will come.
But we must still stand for what is right and just - for the children and innocents - for the glory of God.
If thousands of people are STARVED and DEHYDRATED to death daily, a fact I have not been unaware of, there is a larger moral dilemma than many people previously thought.
That holds that the religious right has an influence.
Jeb doesn't have the power to keep people he throws in jail lawlessly for more than an hour or two. The next thing that happens is that he is removed from office. I know this is an emotional issue, but my best suggestion, is to try to think some of this through a bit more. Just a suggestion.
Make that the Shindlers have been done favor, their nightmare fighting a stacked deck in the courts and a son in law that I would wish on no one is almost over.
I've heard this argument, but it conflicts with the "they can't feel pain" argument, and the "they are not self-aware" argument.
No. Those who advocate that George W. and Jeb Bush break the law are the fringers.
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