Posted on 04/01/2005 7:42:27 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Public opinion may be shifting on the decision to disconnect Terri Schiavo's feeding tube and starve her to death, according to a new Fox Opinion Dynamics survey - with a significant percentage of Americans now saying it was "murder."
When asked about the "decision to remove" Schiavo's feeding tube, 38 percent of Americans told Opinion Dynamics that they disagreed with the decision, with 42 percent backing the move.
A full 20 percent said they were unsure.
A widely circulated ABC News poll last week asked if it was right to pull Schiavo's feeding tube, noting that she's been "on life support for 15 years" with a condition that is "irreversible."
Phrasing the question like that, 63 percent backed the decision to remove her tube, with 28 opposed.
In perhaps the most startling finding on the survey, fifty percent of African Americans told Opinion Dynamics that removing Schiavo's feeding tube was "an act of murder."
Thirty-nine percent of Republicans agreed. Even among Americans under 30, more than a third of the population [35 percent] believe that Schiavo was murdered.
Opinion Dynamics surveyed 900 registered voters on March 29-30, the day before Schiavo died.
All depends on how the question is worded.
Seriously...when the question says "Do you support torturing someone's eternal soul by trapping them in a near-dead body?" then you tend to get a lot of "NO"
They most definitely lost their nerve. And the loss of that nerve will reverberate in upcoming judicial edicts that will not be able to be challenged because of this precedent.
How are they going to passionaltely and believably fight against gay marriage, when they were so impotent when it came to defending life? What is that Scipture that says a good woman is worth more than rubies, etc? Well same goes for great Leaders.
We really need a book on this, and maybe a movie.
The news media have assiduously distorted the facts, as usual.
We also need a full and careful autopsy, given all the charges and the seeming evidence of spousal abuse. I have some hopes that the new coroner appointed by Jeb Bush in 2000 may be an honest man.
This is sooo predictable.
Just wait for the tv movie.
And when man becomes God, bad things happen.
That trend may have been just the perceived "obligatory" show of compassion for the families of the deceased. I will never trust or even "listen/watch" the msm!!
Most if not all "poor souls in hospices" are there because they have some terminal illness and there is little hope of them surviving very long. That is what a hospice is for: to care for people who are dying. The mere fact that Terri was in a hospice at all when she was not terminal is all you need to know about Michael Schiavo's intentions from the get-go.
It's all about how you phrase the question.
Is there any way you all can think of that we can make our access to the truth more easily available to the majority of the public? How can we do the job of the MSM and have people understand that the truth is the truth whether or not it comes from the internet or from the TV?
"Joe Ford, a Harvard undergraduate with severe cerebral palsy: "Like many others with disabilities, I believe that the American public, to one degree or another, holds that disabled people are better off dead. To put it in a simpler way, many Americans are bigots. A close examination of the facts of the Schiavo case reveals not a case of difficult decisions but a basic test of this country's decency."
Who Will Remember Terri?
By JAMES TARANTO
April 1, 2005; Page A10
It was inconscionable to count in the poll people who couldn't pass a basic "Terri test" to make sure those knowing the full situation were the ones being included in the survey.
More knowledge, less support for judiciary-sponsored murder.
Wasn't in medieval times that it wasn't that bad a crime to murder an unsatisfactory spouse?
I really believe that Terri knew that her hanging on so long was opening the eyes of so many people to how outrageously out of control the government is, and how unwilling our leaders are to do their job.
Terri's in a better place, where satanic forces can't keep her from a family that loves and cares for her.
The poll question should be "if you were in Terri's situation, would you want to be starved to death". It's easy to say you would not want to live that way. But choosing to be starved to death is another matter.
Yes, the news services did not report the full facts, and they worded the question in an effort to get the response that they wanted. There were many people involved in the death of Terri Schiavo, and some of them were completely ignorant of what was going on.
Most people just did not know the reputation of the man, calling himself "husband", who was trying to get Terri put to death, for he wanted her out of the way. Cohabiting with another woman and having two children with her, he had no need for Terri, and she was just in his way of getting what he wanted.
In your wonderful example, taking the time to highlight the true facts, 29% considered it murder, no non-relateds in this case. Only 54% viewed it as otherwise.
So in the comparison, 70%+ of smokers do not die of cancer related diseases, yet big government forces the 30% down our throats. And in your case, backwards, you insist on disregarding the 29% and pushing the meager 54%. I guess whatever fits best.
Rush Limbaugh played yesterday the tapes of Mr. Schindler asking Terri:
Do your ears hurt?
Do your legs hurt?
Does your stomach hurt?
Several questions like that. After each one, Terri responded with what sounded like a long, drawn-out 'O-o-o-o-o.'
After the clip, Rush said, 'that sounds like responsiveness to me.'
I had to agree. It was the first time I had heard those, and it made me sick. She was killed.
Well said. I will never understand how some on FR could defend Michael knowing that he was shacking up with another woman.
How on earth could he have had Terri's best interest at heart?
I think he went to nursing school so he could find out how to make sure she never recovered enough to tell people what he did to her.
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