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?
Actually, I was responding to two posts at once. Inefficient, but the thread moves fast.
If you think that the law should be broken - it won't require authority. And you are free to show the way
Just don't pith all over yourself.
Well, of course, I should have been more clear.
I've known relatives who had massive strokes and could have lived on feeding tubes forever.
checkout my plan in 691, let me know what you think. no one else will.
Steyn is simply better than I am in every way conceivable at what he does. That is why I feed myself by being a dirt bag lawyer.
No problem; I'm answering pings quickly too so I can go back to relaxing :-)
Sooner or later, people in that state will revert to anarchy - not because Jeb followed the law - because he didn't.
But because cops and FDLE now are on a turf war - because Jeb did not follow the law...
And when law enforcement agencies have a turf war, gangs increase their activity - and more will die that would not have died.
It will be a mess.
There it, or everywhere it.
I am getting tired of dodges and condescending remarks.
Then you are responding to the wrong poster.
Seriously, there is only one way to get me on board:
Supreme Emperor AmishDude.
Never even consider that, have to think but a cookie cutter one size fits all is not appealing.
Sorry for the confusion.
It seems that winning the White House somehow convinced us that we were going to land on our feet every time. Wrong. Throw the left a bone, throw the right a bone and maybe neither one will tear us a richly deserved new one is the new world order as far as I can tell. We cheer when we win and stamp our feet like the idjits at DU when we lose. Something is seriously wrong in Florida, make no mistake...but I live in Oregon and we get sh#t on by the courts all the time. If Terri Schaivo is the catalyst for waking everybody up, then bless her little heart...but she may have to die to do it, and six months after it happens, I don't expect to hear a peep out of any of you.
Sure looks that way. bye.
Fewer paragraphs, please.
I had to laugh at your post. So much drama, so few details, so much suggestive imagery. It sounds vaguely like a movie I once saw...
The options that have been suggested for Jeb have a pretty good chance of resulting in bloodshed. How many lives are you willing to sacrifice to stand for life?
Uh, right.
Jeb didn't do "nothing". Quite the contrary (he did more than you) and is widely credited for keeping Terri alive after September 2003.
I'm just thinking you might have...issues, that's all.
I think you should have done it. What's wrong with you? Why aren't you willing to go to jail for the rest of your life - in order to save Terri?
Each state should get about the business of repealing its own. I am an out of the closet Federalist, and don't have much patience or interest in states rights, but on this one, the states need to cleanse themselves, or just give the judiciary an all season hunting license, if they so choose to exercise it. Many state supreme courts are using it, as you know.
My original point was regarding your propensity to believe the more an immoral act occurs the less wrong it is. Otherwise you would not refer to numbers to justify your position. It is FAULTY logic.
1. Jeb notifies the judge (I wouldn't but it's a good trap to set for the judge) of his intent to go to Hospice.
2. Judge sents cops to block FDLE
3. Jeb suspends cops (misfeasence)
4. Jeb instructs the attorneys to start an official investagation into the possible impeachment of judge.
Jeb cannot suspend the judge because the judge must be impeached (the people)
BUT Jeb can pull the rug out from under the judge by making sure he doesn't use the cops to obstruct the FLDE.
5. Place Terri in the custody of DCF - because the judge has shown he has not Terri's interest at heart and since the judge has taken upon himself the 'job' of having her interest at heart there is clear conflict.
But I sure do like your willingness to solve the problem. It much better than just lying to oneself saying Jeb did fine when he didn't!
My good deed for the day! How did I know that nobody finds you worthy of being called precious? LOL
What also "explains quite a bit" is that you are not an attorney, and won't listen to the ones that have weighed in on Jeb Bush's behalf.
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