Posted on 03/24/2005 10:10:41 PM PST by Former Military Chick
WASHINGTON, March 24 - Gov. Jeb Bush's last-minute intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo, even after the president had ended his own effort to keep her alive, may have so far failed in a legal sense, but it has cemented the religious and social conservative credentials of a man whose political pedigree is huge and whose political future remains a subject of intense speculation.
On one level, the Florida governor's emergence as the most prominent politician still fighting, despite a string of court and legislative defeats, to have a feeding tube reinserted in Ms. Schiavo was very much in keeping with someone who has repeatedly declared a deep religious faith.
Several associates noted that he had been devoutly religious longer than President Bush, and even critics said his efforts - prodding the Florida Legislature and the courts and defying much of the electorate - were rooted in a deep-seated opposition to abortion and euthanasia rather than in political positioning.
Yet inevitably, the events of recent days have fed the mystique of Mr. Bush as a reluctant inheritor of perhaps America's most famous dynasty since the Adams family two centuries ago.
He has assumed a very high profile in this polarizing case just as Republicans are contemplating the void that will be left when President Bush begins his walk off the stage in two years or so. At a time when many of the most frequently mentioned possibilities to lead the party are moderates like John McCain and Rudolph W. Giuliani, the governor now certainly has a place, if he wants it, as a prime contender in what is shaping up as a fight to represent a conservative wing that has proved increasingly dominant.
"He has strongly identified himself with the Christian conservative movement," said Matthew Corrigan, a political science professor at the University of North Florida. "If the Republican Party is looking for someone with good ties with the Christian conservative movement, he is the one who is going to have them."
Mr. Bush is barred by term limits from seeking a third term in 2006, and associates say they cannot imagine his running for a third term even if he were permitted to do so. Further, he has said he will not run for the presidency in 2008, an assertion that all but a few associates say they accept, though some Republicans think he may well run in 2012 or 2016.
"He's got no - as far as I know, and I really believe him - he's got no future political ambitions," said Cory Tilley, a longtime adviser. "And even if he did, he would be doing exactly what he is doing now. This is very clearly an issue that strikes at his core beliefs."
Susan McManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, said: "He is a very ideologically consistent person. He made no bones about that from the first day he ran for office. Those of us who watch him think this is Jeb, and how he truly believes and what he truly believes, and this may be one of those instances where he's putting politics aside."
Still, several Republicans said that while Mr. Bush might be ignoring any political calculations in a case that has etched grief on his face, it would be foolish to underestimate the political skills of someone who has managed to win two elections to lead one of the nation's most divided states. His decision to continue the Schiavo battle on his own, within hours after the White House had effectively withdrawn, followed a letter in which Bill Frist, the Senate Republican leader, urged that he make sure the Florida Legislature acted "expeditiously on Terri's behalf."
Dr. Frist is arguably the other most prominent Republican seeking to inherit the president's mantle as leader of the party's conservative wing. But Mike Murphy, a close adviser to the governor, disputes the notion of any rivalry between the two men, especially in regard to the Schiavo case.
"I don't think it's a competition at all: Jeb's the guy on the spot," Mr. Murphy said. "He's the governor of the state."
Some Democrats were skeptical, however.
"This is less about Terri Schiavo and more about shoring up the Republican base, and that's a shame," said Scott Maddox, who is departing as chairman of the Florida Democratic Party and is a potential candidate for governor. "Politics has to be in play here."
At times this week, it almost seemed as if the Bush brothers were working in tandem; the governor's decision to re-enter the case once the White House had dropped it in the face of repeated judicial rebuffs may have saved the president criticism from the right. (Paradoxically, the governor himself was pummeled Thursday by some conservative activists, who demanded that he have state authorities physically seize custody of Ms. Schiavo and reinsert the tube.)
That would not be the first time the governor has come to the aid of his brother. But it is also not the first time he has intervened in the Schiavo case. In 2003, after a court ordered the tube removed, he and the Legislature enacted a law that empowered him to order it reinserted. That measure was later overturned in another judicial decision.
"Jeb Bush is not doing this for political reasons, in my opinion," said Jim Kane, chief pollster for Florida Voter, a nonpartisan polling organization. "Jeb Bush is smart enough to know that he is not going to gain anything from this, and he's probably going to lose something."
Pressing the issue could prove particularly problematic in a state like Florida, with a heavy population of elderly voters, who analysts say are more likely to recoil at government intervention in such a case.
In any event, some of Mr. Bush's associates suggest that for all the intensity stirred by the Schiavo case now, it will ultimately fade.
"Issues have a way of coming and going," Mr. Tilley said. "This one is a very deep one. But it seems like other ones always come up, especially here in Florida."
My how times change.
great post
yep
it's either DU trolls or freepers buying into the dim/lib rhetoric that are already trying to blame the Bush's for capitol gain. Ironic. The only that have put their careers on the line to help save Terri - and they get the fingers pointed at them instead of the corrupt judiciary and the husand-in-name-only who very much want her dead. He certainly knows how to "pull the plug." He had it done to both his parents.
I dunno who I'll be voting for in 2012 but I can guarantee their last names won't be Bush or Clinton..
you nailed it
"Note how the NY Fishwrap forcasts this will quickly "Go Away". WRONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG"
BTTT
I Won't be letting this go away. This isn't a grudge, it's RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION and I plan to boycott, vote, write Op-Eds, petition, FReep and do whatever else I can do to help take back America, by GOD!
Blame Jeb all you want. He has done the best he could under the legal realities.
The problem here may be that Jeb, like many otherwise-sensible Americans, believes all this nonsense about the courts being the final authority. If he doesn't "get it" by now, he won't. Not in time to save Terri.
We have to keep making noise. If we don't, our chances go from 1 percent to zero. And if we don't, we won't inflict enough pain on the liberal Establishment for this horrible miscarriage of justice.
and every freeper who points the finger at Jeb and George, instead of the true culprits, are giving "aid and comfort" to the enemy leftists...
I'm sick of the blue-bloods. I'm Conservative.
The Clintons and Bushes have destroyed most of what Reagan stood for.
So what else is new? They hate everything.
No doubt? Jeb Bush said he doesn't have the type of power people assume he does, and he said it frustrated him.
I'm gettin' tired. : )
Thanks.
The barbaric murder of Terri Schiavo by dehydration and starvation and Jeb's hand-wringing impotence has become surprisingly controversial for a site like FR. One newbie ass-clown even told me to "go suck a clam", LMAO!!
Not so fast, I think there are some who will strongly disagree with that assessment. An 'A' for effort is not good enough, when you don't use the means at hand to succeed.
What he's saying is that he wouldn't get away with it (the courts would ultimately reverse the action and we'd be back where we are now, except Jeb Bush would probably face some charges). He has the power.
Ain't that the truth?
Did you actually read what he said?
Because they're zelots. The same ones that support the shooting of abortion doctors.
Wackos.
But deep inside, they're glad he's there. They are getting real close to the age of feeding tubes themselves. I'm sure they're not sitting around thinking "please starve me next."
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