TERRI SCHIAVO BACKLASH: THE POLITICAL PRICE OF ENDORSING MURDER
From the Florida Times-Union:
Jim King has a 19-year record of solid fiscal conservatism in Tallahassee and a resume that includes the presidency of the Florida Senate.
He easily won the only three contested elections he's ever had and was most recently re-elected with 66 percent of the vote.
But King is worried about re-election in 2006, and he may have good reason. Jacksonville's most senior state senator is the only one of nine Republicans who is up for re-election after voting against a state law last month that may have saved Terri Schiavo's life.
King also is the subject of an online petition drive that asks Gov. Jeb Bush and the state Republican Party to suspend him, permanently remove him from office and bar him from representing the party -- all because of his Schiavo vote.
It is interesting that the issue of euthanasia seems to be defying traditional party lines. There are opposing social v. fiscal elements in both major parties, of course nationally the Democrats have succeeded in stifling the elements in their party that sincerely regard faith (as opposed to those who use it as a means to an end), but some still remain, much more on the local level.
The accepted two-dimensional political chart used so often is severely flawed and that's never been more apparent than now, when issues have arisen that clearly show that the normal Liberal/Conservative labels do not apply. It's easy to look for one handy title rather than finding out what a candidate stands for, and that's been a problem for some time now.
King and his fellow faithless Republicans have make their bed, and the gaunt face of Terri Schiavo haunts us and demands we make them sleep in it.
Beware. A "fiscal conservative" is liberal talk for a liberal Republican who votes for all the tax increases to pay for runaway liberal spending. In other words, a "fiscal" conservative is not conservative at all. Real conservatives resist the expansion of the state and especially resist tax increases.