Posted on 03/24/2005 6:51:21 PM PST by FairOpinion
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - It's not often Gov. Jeb Bush is frustrated pursuing his goals. He was the first governor to start a statewide school voucher program. He got rid of civil service protections for tens of thousands of state workers. He pushed through billions of dollars in tax cuts. His goal of prolonging the life of Terri Schiavo is proving much harder.
"It is frustrating for people to think that I have power that I don't, and not be able to act," Bush told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I don't have embedded special powers. I wish I did in this particular case."
Bush canceled travel plans Thursday to monitor the case of Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who has gone without food and water since a judge ordered her feeding tube removed March 18.
He was in constant contact with his legal office, ordered staffers to e-mail and call him with developments and demanded state laws be scoured for a way to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube.
At his office, Bush waved an affidavit from neurologist William Cheshire that questions whether Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state. The emotion in his voice rose as he detailed how the affidavit stated Schiavo made a crying sound, grimaced and pressed her eyebrows together when a doctor said he was going to turn her over.
She "signals her anticipation of pain. Just like you would, or just like I would. Now is it perfect? Is she responding with the same eloquence that you would respond to? ... No. She's severely, profoundly disabled," Bush said.
The governor's court record is mixed. He succeeded in removing affirmative action guarantees from state hiring and university admission practices, but a law requiring doctors to notify parents if they perform an abortion on minor girls was thrown out.
Still, he's been persistent. After a court threw out a law requiring tougher sentences for three-time felons, the governor went back to the Legislature and fixed the problem. Currently, he and lawmakers are working on a plan to require parents be notified before their minor daughters get abortions.
In the Schiavo case, he's running out of legal avenues — but not hope.
"You know what I hope for first and foremost? That Mr. Schiavo would say, 'I'm going to let Terri be with her parents. I'm going to move on with my life. I've made my point,'" Bush said, referring to Schiavo's husband, Michael, who insists she would not want to be kept alive artificially. "That obviously doesn't appear to be happening."
"So secondly I pray for an openness by the people who are responsible for making these decisions so we can act and allow for her to stabilize."
He says the courts appear to have turned a deaf ear to his arguments.
"For this lockdown to occur without having the ability to have an open mind, and say, 'Well, maybe there are new facts on the table, maybe there are new technologies, maybe, just maybe, we should be cautious about this' ... is very troubling," Bush said.
In 2003, when the Legislature passed a law allowing Bush to order the feeding tube reinserted after it had been removed, critics accused him of political grandstanding as his brother, President Bush (news - web sites), sought re-election.
Justin Sayfie, Bush's former communications director, said they were wrong: "He's term-limited out. His brother is term-limited out."
"Most strategists or political operatives would say 'Don't touch this,'" said GOP political strategist Geoffrey Becker, noting polls show most people don't believe government should be involved in the case. "I firmly believe that this is his personal conviction, that he believes this is the right thing to do."
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA ARTICLE IV EXECUTIVE SECTION 1. Governor.-- (a) The supreme executive power shall be vested in a governor, who shall be commander-in-chief of all military forces of the state not in active service of the United States. The governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, commission all officers of the state and counties, and transact all necessary business with the officers of government. (d) The governor shall have power to call out the militia to preserve the public peace, execute the laws of the state, suppress insurrection, or repel invasion.
They believe they know more about Jeb Bush's powers than Jeb Bush does. If it wasn't so annoying, I'd have to laugh.
Ignore them, they enjoy your anger.
What is it about Florida?
Back off... Who you callin' a troll?????????
Who cares what Greer might have said after Terri was in safe hands.
I continue to be amazed at those who look on our own side for a scapegoat. It's sickening.
I totally agree. I believe it was Ronald Reagan who added an 11th Commandment "Thou shalt not speak ill toward a fellow Republican" or in this case conservative.
>> Predictable abusive language. I guess I hit a nerve.
No. You are just stupid. And that is the last thing Terri needs.
>> Well, tough guy, better grab another cold one while Jeb Bush works.
This tough guy doesn't like beer, and Jeb has been sleeping on the job from day one. Get a clue.
BTW, are you working for Jeb's public relations team? I cannot imagine anyone saying the things you have said unless they were getting paid to say them.
I thought so........NOTHING.
You, at your keyboard, talking like a tough guy in the safety of your dark little room.....YOU are the wimp.
And, oh yes........how about that wimpy President who is toppling tyrants and changing the world with his vision and courage. I'm sure terrorists all over the world agree with you that he's a wimpl
You're a joke, Mssr Frenchman...........nothing but a silly little joke.
Though I know you didn't intend to, you just proved my point.
I don't fault anyone who tried to save her life. She is being crucified before our eyes and has not committed any crime.
Has he done everything?
The bottom line, it appears that Terry is going to be murdered while police protect those doing the killing. And the govenor doesn't send in the state police or National Guard to save her. Who's the coward.
Also, the poster here cannot influence this situation now, except thru prayer, but the Governor certainly can.
I calling YOU a troll, troll. Signed up last week, bashing Bush this week.
Jeb has been sleeping on the job from day one. Get a clue.
Gee, I guess that's why Terri's parents were at the Governor's mansion with him when he was lobbying Congress to pass the bill Sunday night?? Idiot. Jeb Bush is a governor, not a dictator.
Mostly likely their accusing the Bush's of their own physical shortcomings.............if you know what I mean.
The Bushes don't toot their own horns. They're humble, Godly men with deep consciences.
The only way most people find out what they've done is from other people.
Don't assume falsely that because you haven't heard anything, he isn't doing anything.
i've just got this feeling in my gut that if this woman is allowed to starve to death by all the namby-pamby politicans kow-towing to the legal mullahs that this country is going to be cursed for a long time. i don't believe that things are ever going to be the same. how can we look at iran, north korea and china and tell them about human rights with a straight face ever again?? we just didn't starve a woman, we did it LEGALLY.
I don't believe we're talking to conservatives or Repbulicans on this thread. I suspect (regardless of some of their sign-up dates) that they are closeted trolls or, at best, members of the "Bush-Can't-Do-Nothin'-Right" crowd.
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