Jeb Bush's political obituary

WND ^ | Mar 30 05 | Farah

[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?

[Peach]

Because the two families couldn't agree.

It's extremely rare. I think Frist said that they see problems like this end up in courts 4-5 times a year.

And those families weren't lightening rods for conspiracy theories, which have been deliberately spread by the Schindler family.

For instance, Terri's sister has been on the evening shout shows several times now saying that the family just wants to know what REALLY happened to Terri the night she collapsed because they KNOW she didn't have a heart attack.

Well, duh. No one said she had a heart attack. She suffered from cardiac arrest. An entirely different thing.

And then the sister goes on to talk mysteriously about how Terri showed up in the hospital with a broken leg. Completely discredited by the hospital staff and radiologists report.

Then they have talked about how maybe MS tried to strangle Terri the night she collapsed.

The problem with that is that the family and doctors around Terri the night she collapsed didn't notice any marks or bruising.

And the doctors who were sued by MS would have certainly said in their defense "Wait a minute. We didn't do anything wrong by not diagnosing her low potassium and bulimia. MS tried to kill her." But they didn't use that defense.

And even more strange, why did the Schindlers wait years to make those claims? I don't know about you, but if I think my family member was strangled, I don't wait years to mention it to anyone.

[Torie]

Since Greer is subject to impeachment, Jeb can't suspend him.

[Peach]

If you don't like the laws, work to change them.

Hospices and hospitals will keep you alive indefinitely if that's what you want. It isn't what most people want so they do the best they can under the circumstances.

[freecopper01]

Okay!

Your missive got a good laugh!

And she probably would HAVE done a better job!

[Dog Gone]

Fine. What about the order that she cannot be fed by mouth?

She's failed three out of three swallowing tests. I wish the court had requested a more recent one.

On the other hand, I don't have any doubt that Michael could have crammed a bowl of outmeal down her mouth and ended this years ago.

[OKIEDOC]

Maybe Jeb could have acted as Governor did when Texas got to big for their britches.

Back in the 30's Texas decided to make people using the main bridge between Oklahoma and Texas pay tolls.

Governor Alfalfa (Wild) Bill Murray of Oklahoma sent the Oklahoma National Guard down to take over the bridge.

They set up machine guns and challenged the state of Texas to charge a toll.

Texas backed off.

My Question is, where are the Alfalfa Bill Murray's of today.

However, I am still a Bush brothers supporter.

The other side does not offer us much choice.

Here is the article from Texas Online Books:

RED RIVER BRIDGE CONTROVERSY. The Red River Bridge controversy between Texas and Oklahoma (sometimes called the Red River War) occurred in July 1931 over the opening of a newly completed free bridge, built jointly by the two states, across the Red River between Denison, Texas, and Durant, Oklahoma. On July 3, 1931, the Red River Bridge Company, a private firm operating an old toll bridge that paralleled the free span, filed a petition in the United States district court in Houston asking for an injunction preventing the Texas Highway Commission from opening the bridge. The company claimed that the commission had agreed in July 1930 to purchase the toll bridge for $60,000 and to pay the company for its unexpired contract an additional $10,000 for each month of a specified fourteen-month period in which the free bridge might be opened, and that the commission had not fulfilled this obligation. A temporary injunction was issued on July 10, 1931, and Texas governor Ross S. Sterlingqv ordered barricades erected across the Texas approaches to the new bridge. However, on July 16 Governor William (Alfalfa Bill) Murrayqv of Oklahoma opened the bridge by executive order, claiming that Oklahoma's "half" of the bridge ran lengthwise north and south across the Red River, that Oklahoma held title to both sides of the river from the Louisiana Purchase treaty of 1803, and that the state of Oklahoma was not named in the injunction. Oklahoma highway crews crossed the bridge and demolished the barricades. Governor Sterling responded by ordering a detachment of three Texas Rangers,qv accompanied by Adjutant General William Warren Sterling,qv to rebuild the barricades and protect Texas Highway Department employees charged with enforcing the injunction. The rangers arrived on the night of July 16. On July 17 Murray ordered Oklahoma highway crews to tear up the northern approaches to the still-operating toll bridge, and traffic over the river came to a halt. On July 20 and 21 mass meetings demanding the opening of the free bridge were held in Sherman and Denison, and resolutions to this effect were forwarded to Austin. On July 23 the Texas legislature, which was meeting in a special session, passed a bill granting the Red River Bridge Company permission to sue the state in order to recover the sum claimed in the injunction. The bridge company then joined the state in requesting the court to dissolve the injunction, which it did on July 25. On that day the free bridge was opened to traffic and the rangers were withdrawn.

Meanwhile, a federal district court in Muskogee, Oklahoma, acting on a petition from the toll-bridge company, had on July 24 enjoined Governor Murray from blocking the northern approaches to the toll bridge. Murray, acting several hours before the injunction was actually issued, declared martial law in a narrow strip of territory along the northern approaches to both bridges and then argued that this act placed him, as commander of the Oklahoma National Guard, above the federal court's jurisdiction. An Oklahoma guard unit was ordered to the bridge, and Murray, armed with an antique revolver, made a personal appearance in the "war zone," as the newspapers labeled it. No attempt was made to enforce the Oklahoma injunction, but on July 24, with the free bridge open, Murray directed the guardsmen to permit anyone who so desired to cross the toll bridge. On July 27 Murray announced that he had learned of an attempt to close the free bridge permanently, and he extended the martial-law zone to the Oklahoma boundary marker on the south bank of the Red River. Oklahoma guardsmen were stationed at both ends of the free bridge, and Texas papers spoke of an "invasion." Finally, on August 6, 1931, the Texas injunction was permanently dissolved, the Oklahoma guardsmen were withdrawn to enforce martial law in the Oklahoma oilfields, and the bridge controversy was laid to rest. The bridge was dynamited on December 6, 1995, to make room for a new one.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Keith L. Bryant, Jr., Alfalfa Bill Murray (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968). Dallas Morning News, July 17-25, 1931, March 22, 1953, December 8, 1995. William H. Murray, Memoirs of Governor Murray and True History of Oklahoma (3 vols., Boston: Meador, 1945). Sherman Daily Democrat, July 2-August 6, 1931. William Warren Sterling, Trails and Trials of a Texas Ranger (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968).

[Peach]

Not just terminally ill people.

Massive stroke victims who have no chance of recovery. After everything has been tried, families make those decisions, along with the doctors. Not Congress.

PVS victims. Massive cardiac arrest victims. I'm not a list but it's a MUCH longer list than just terminally ill people. MUCH larger list.

[LisaMalia]

A lot of this unfair to Jeb Bush, he did more than most to help Terri Schaivo and went out on a limb to do it.

Amen. God Bless Terri and her family, and I just wish folks would put the blame where it lies, and not use this for a Bush bashing political agenda.

My prayers are with Terri tonight, who is fighting so hard to live. Her (ex) husband and the courts have denied her that right.

[TheForceOfOne]

JonDavid
This account has been banned or suspended.


Bye Bye troll!

[Torie]

What did Amish Dude do to move up to such a luminous celestial status? What do I need to do. :)

[John Lenin]

This IS and HAS BEEN quite legal for years.

Slowly the culture of life has won out, the RATS are on the wrong side of this issue. Reality sucks, don't it ?

[Cboldt]

deport was the one asking the question ... not sure you caught that in the post. I'm curious too, but you and I already concluded our exchange.

Peach:On the floor of the House (two Sundays ago when they had their emergency session), several Congressmen, at least one of whom is a doctor, said that every day thousands of people have feeding tubes and other life saving equipment disconnected. Previous to that, I had been using the number hundreds. Several freepers have said that it happens in hospitals and nursing homes and hospices every single day.
USA Today had an article that I asked someone to post but no one ever did (we subscribe to the magazine) that said that feeding tubes were removed every day of the week all year long in this country with no fanfare after families and their doctors consulted and decided there was no hope.

[deport]

Since Greer is subject to impeachment, Jeb can't suspend him.

---

Look out now you'll get a pretty post trying to 'splain it to you..... lol

How you been?

[latina4dubya]

He never did. He's one of FR's more skilled trolls.M

regarding churchillbuff, yes--i know... i remember him/her from during the debates last summer... quite disingenuous...

[TomasUSMC]

an argument for totalitarianism

---

A government that is Refusing to allow a human being to be fed by their own mother - NOW THAT IS TOTALITARIANISM.

[bvw]

Rather that he not be haunted, but to act. There's no English King to lock him up in some tower to then view a spider -- regrets may now be final and not recoverable.

[birbear]

Hmmm....

Do we really want to live in a country where rules and laws don't matter, and elected officials can just overstep their bounds and force their morality on a single family?

It's a no-win for Jeb. He either upholds the law as it currently is, and let's a woman starves to death. Or he trashes the legislature and judicial branches of the government and inserts his own will on a person.

Which one is the political expedient thing to do?

[Texas Songwriter]

I am afraid you might be right about Hillary. She doesn't have to beat them, she just has to survive. This inaction will cost the GOP 2 to 3 percentage in highly activist conservatives. The republican base is being deactivated by all of this. That is all it will take to push the democrat over the top. Right now there are 2 to 3 percent who will vote preeminently on life issues. At this time there is no difference betweeen the Republican leadership and the Democrat leadership. Look at what they do, not what they say and it crystalizes in that pivotal few percentage points that make the difference.

[Peach]

Then forward it to Deport if you would. I was in the middle of trying to pull links and respond to several pings and answered you quickly so I could go and relax with my husband :-)

[Torie]

Just fine. In fact very fine. As to the matter at hand, I don't let short term vicissitudes get me down. And I think much good will come from the Schiavo matter. I'm an optimist.