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?
No. I am not pro-abortion nor pro-death.
If it were my personal decision, I would not remove Terri's feeding tube.
However if I had to endure the pain of seeing her in this state for 15 years I am quite sure I could think differently about it.
So I am not willing to condemn those who have made this decision.
That I admit would be difficult, but I would make a great bluff and as we see RINOs are not made of stern stuff, might work.
They are more mad at you, that at the fact an woman's getting starved to death, which by the way I've come to look as "Westernized Honor KIlling." I mean, seeing as it's all so lega and blessed by so many...
What did you DO??
Step on their last frayed nerve, or something?
I can tell you from personal experience that is not true.
Yes, and if you're insistent on arguing, find where I implied otherwise on this thread.
Sounds like it, but no. I am a very active member of the Republican Party. I've been a delegate to every convention since 1996.
I am very disappointed in the President and his brother.
They are the type that will sit out the next election...you know...to "send a message"!
Problem is that the message they will send will be to the RATS...that they can have another chance.
Come, Howlin, play fair and stop dodging. Why couldn't jJeb do what I outlined? A daring leader could've and it's a good plan that might very well have worked.
I don't believe that we can just pass a law and keep this from ever happening again (I'm a conservative, you see and I don't believe in making the world perfect.), but we can do some things that ensure that we err on the side of life. And sometimes they won't be enough to overcome an injustice.
Peach, for one, seems to think that all of the people who support Terri being given the feeding tube are appalled at anyone pulling a feeding tube. Absolutely not. In most cases, these people are either very clearly progressively dying (cancer, Aids) or are quite elderly. Terri is 41 and could live for some time. Granted, the neglect she's already suffered makes recovery in any sense highly unlikely. But when you say that you want the family decide, most pro-lifers agree -- but that Michael Schiavo in no way constitutes Terri's "family".
Ewwwww.... your post was number 666... I knew you were baaadddd!
We can define the bad guys as the husband, Greer, the lawyer, but there are 2 people who could do something about this insanity, George Bush and Jeb Bush. They will not do anything. MS,Felos,Greer are not our leaders. Bush is our leader. George Bush could take down this precidence setting case within the next hour. But he has chosen to side with Greer by his inaction. Suffer any consequence, but know he can lay his head down on a pillow at night and know he did the right thing.
I am not in a position to exert authority, Jeb is. I don't live in Florida.
JPS now you have to vote for Roe v Wade to be overturned. When will you be demanding that your Reps bring it up for a vote in the Senate ?
I wouldn't say it's an obscure reference, but it's definitely out of place.
And that you would notice that is why you are a "street" preacher, and will likely remain so.
48 hours I think, plus Greer could let lost somewhere for as long as neccessary. Hell declar him a terrorist and send him to Gitmo on a slow boat.
This is for crimes. Now you can make a very good argument that a terminally ill person is treated worse than a death row inmate, but pardons have nothing to do with anything.
The issue of helping a person get food, who has no other aids other than a wheelchair- being seen as on extraneous life support is bizarre.
I don't agree with some Docs assessment of Terri.
Terri was NOT dying. I have personally worked with people less responsive than Terri, and I do not advocate locking them up and starving them to death.
And for all of you who say that "who would want to live that way". Apparently Terri because she is still kicking. BTW- I would never "want" to love as an ugly lesiban- but I don't think we should starve one of them to death.
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