Posted on 04/14/2005 7:37:13 AM PDT by SJackson
While Terri Schiavo was still breathing, most media polls assured us that at least 60 percent of Americans felt her feeding tube should be removed according to her wishes, as declared by her husband, Michael.
One of the most widely circulated telephone polls was the ABC News poll. Its interviewers told those who picked up the phone: "Schiavo suffered brain damage and has been on life support for 16 years. Doctors say she has no consciousness, and her condition is irreversible."
Although Terri was brain-damaged, she was not on a respirator or any other machinery. She was breathing naturally and was fed three times a day through a feeding tube. This was not "life support," as most of us interpret that term.
Furthermore, a considerable number of neurologists claimed that she was conscious and responsive in ways that were more than just reflexes. They and a number of radiologists also noted that her condition was not irreversible and might be improved through new and advanced methods of therapy (which her husband had denied her for years).
Other pollsters flatly said in their calls that Terri was in a persistent vegetative state (PVS), but that, too, was denied by dissenting neurologists whose affidavits are also part of the court record. The definition of PVS in Florida Statute 765.101 is: "The absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior of any kind, and an inability to communicate or interact purposefully" with other people.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Good article. As we have seen in the press this week, this is an issue that is not going to go away.
I still get ill thinking how that poor defenseless woman was killed by a heartless husband and an activist court & media.
The public attention span has been clocked at about 45 days. By mid-May this issue will indeed have "gone away" for most people (who are operating very little above the PVS level).
Last night even Chrissy Matthews blurted out that he "LOVED" the "Schiavo story."
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I can't watch Matthews. I do listen to Russert once in a while, but Matthews seems too biased to me.
I hope you didn't miss the dress down by Zell Miller.
Btw, MSNBC was preparing to show TWO special programs, hosted by Chris Matthews, spotlighting the issues raised by Terri's case.
Those programs were scheduled for the weekend right after Terri's death. Of course they were pre-empted because of the death of the Pope.
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I did, I'm sorry to say. I'll check out the specials. Thanks!
The production for those shows was, however, advanced enough that DirectTV satellite info showed those titles for MSNBC weekend programming.
Poster #4 has a point about the public's attention span. However, we have hardly heard the end this issue.
I think Matthews with his effusively professed "LOVE" of the story will try to bring it up again.
A good start for Matthews would be to invite Nat Hentoff on his program to discuss it.
| Member Opinion | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 84.7% |  |
4,374 |
| No | 9.2% | |
474 |
| Pass | 3.6% | |
186 |
| Undecided | 2.5% | |
129 |
| 100.0% | 5,163 | ||
Bump for Terri's memory. NEVER FORGET!!!!!!!!
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Definitely a show I would watch.
I think Matthews with his effusively professed "LOVE" of the story will try to bring it up again.
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At the very least, it's an unfortunate choice of words.
I hope that people will always include the Governor and the President when listing those who killed Terri. No matter what Judge Greer did, the ultimate responsibility to enforce the 14th Amendment lies with the governors and the president.
Of course, if they had saved Terri's life, the question would immediately arise: If you saved Terri through executive action, why don't you use the same power to enforce the 14th-Amendment right to life that is being violated daily in abortion clinics.
There is no answer to that question. That's why the governor and the president violated their oaths, and allowed Terri to be murdered.
I'm no fan of either Bush. But I think it's only fair to point out: if they had ridden in with the cavalry, it would have saved Terri's life and brought joy to her supporters, BUT the "right to die" crowd (and I will never again read that phrase without a shudder) would have gained the moral high ground. Public outcry against such arrogant "interference" would have been loud and long, and many more future Terris might be doomed. Terri's fate was to be a martyr, it seems. I didn't want to believe it and prayed for it not to be true. But a martyr she is. It may have taken watching an innocent person die to pull us all back from the edge.
Absolutely not. I place the blame where it belongs.
Terri ping! If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know by FReepmail!
The ONLY reason Matthews is interested in pumping the Terri Schiavo case is he believes he can riddle the Republicans with deadly buckshot for having tried to act on her behalf. Matthews is a partisan hack of the first order ... and nothing is more important to him than aiding and abetting the democrap party, not even his immortal soul, which he's probably decided he can argue into Heaven some where/when. He is a disgusting flack, transparent in the main.
You are merely asserting that the Governor and the President had no duty to save Terri's life. I would like to see what your premises are.
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