Posted on 05/10/2007 10:27:54 PM PDT by jdm
Forget abortion rights. The opinions Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has now expressed on the right-to-die case of Terri Schiavo make him look both unprincipled and out of touch. That's a clumsy combination.
Schiavo spent 15 years in a persistent vegetative state before she died two years ago after her feeding tube was removed. Her court case attracted international attention and spurred controversial attempts by Florida's governor and Legislature, and the president and Congress, to intervene.
For Giuliani, though, his position seems to be a work in progress. In 2005, on the day after Schiavo died, he told the New York Post: "I think the right decision would have been to keep the feeding tube in."
Last month, in a visit to Pinellas, he went further, saying congressional intervention was "appropriate to make every effort to give her a chance to stay alive."
In last week's televised debate, though, Giuliani reversed field: "The family was in dispute. That's what we have courts for."
In this Republican presidential primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may actually have taken Schiavo doubletalk to its most cynical art form, arguing that state political intervention (translation: need former Gov. Jeb Bush and his Florida supporters) was appropriate while federal (translation: who cares about Congress?) was not.
Giuliani, on the other hand, sounds too rambling to be so calculating. Here is a flavor of how the former New York mayor answered the Times last month, when asked whether he supported congressional intervention:
"I believe I did. I don't, I, it's a while ago and I think I said that I thought every effort should be made to keep her alive. I don't know that I supported the, the whole thing to the very end, but I am not sure now. ... Honestly I don't remember now the final ... I am not sure I was asked in the last couple weeks of it."
Giuliani was better prepared and more succinct in the debate. Then again, he took an opposing view. Either way, this isn't pretty.
LOL
ROTFLMBO!!
I can’t remember what my handlers said, I....I think I was for keeping her....almost all the....way.......
Some do not know when to keep their mouth shut....which is usually accompanied with being judgement challenged.
“I wanted to kill her before I wanted to save her” or is it the other way around?
Sounds mighty familiar to me.
Hahahahahahahaha! Rudy forgot which way to go and just started to spin around in a circle. Wheeeeeeeeeee!
Rudy was for abortion before he was slightly against it before he was for it again. Rudy for saving Terri before he was partially against it before he was confused.
I love watching this campaign self destruct!
His flip-flops to avoid the appearance of being a foot soilder in the culture of death army is fastly killing his presidential run.
Totally pathetic, he is a sniveling embarrassment. At least if he stood his ground in some way, he could be respected on that principle alone (in the same magnitude that a fart imparts extra mass to my underwear - but hey, it is something). First just wrong, now spineless. Disgusting. Weak. And he is supposed to be some great resolute hope to protect us from the terrists! That Rudy is still the frontrunner is beyond sad, it is a disgrace.
His numbers are dropping, and I don’t see this turning around for him. Rudy is a nice guy and was great on 9/11, but the gap between the phantom Rudy many erected in their minds eye and the real human Rudy will prove too much for him.
“I believe I did. I don’t, I, it’s a while ago and I think I said that I thought every effort should be made to keep her alive. I don’t know that I supported the, the whole thing to the very end, but I am not sure now. ... Honestly I don’t remember now the final ... I am not sure I was asked in the last couple weeks of it.”
That’s not bumbling, that’s the brain having a complete disconnect to vocal cords. That’s a keeper!
Thanks jdm!
"I believe I did. I don't, I, it's a while ago and I think I said that I thought every effort should be made to keep her alive. I don't know that I supported the, the whole thing to the very end, but I am not sure now. ... Honestly I don't remember now the final ... I am not sure I was asked in the last couple weeks of it."
Yeah but. Umm, he's really definitely pretty sure about the WOT. Maybe.
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