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."
Yep.
So Hillary will be good, she's not part of a dynasty or anything....
Lemme know when you work your way down to post #44. LOL
Are you implying you know something we don't?
Or are you merely saying he'll make a quick recovery from this debacle?
Please let us know. It's not nice to keep secrets.
I've been one of Jeb's most hearty supporters on this board -- and I may be one of the last hold-outs here to have believed (translate: deluded myself) that he would act.
I'd sure like to think something positive about him again.
I think that's true. But I thought he had a little bit of power. What power does he have, exactly?
Who cares? The liberal wacko extremists wouldn't vote for him anyway. What has Jeb lost?
Yeah, sure.
Bush has tried mightily to restore Reaganism to the White House. The idea that he is indistinguishable from his father is bunk. I guarantee you that the next Republican POTUS nominee will be far more liberal than either Jeb or George.
yes - and when he saved her last time and got the tube reinserted after 6 days - people crucified him for interfering...thing is about the Bush Brothers , they do things for right and moral reasons, not political - and believe in and uphold the law of the land.
that's why "W" is determined to get honest judges appointed - want to point fingers - point them at the libs who have put these activist judges in power over us - and help "W" get his judges in...or you damn well better be sure to have a notarized document about what you do and don't want, should you get ill...
and cross every t and dot every i..
and give copies, not to a lawyer or a doctor, or one family member - but multiple copies to family members
Jeb Bush says he doesn't have the power to do what people are demanding, so I must conclude that you're a) calling him a liar, and b) know more about his role than he and his own legal team do.
You're a wackjob.
Go have a stiff drink and watch a violent movie.
So what is Bush's big sin. We'd be lucky if Reagn would go as far for Terri as the Bush bros have.
Believe me, it's just your kind of thinking that will get Hillary elected.
Because they're zelots.
The same ones that support the shooting of abortion doctors.
Wackos.
Agreed. He needs the legislature to move, and THEY let Terri down. They were the cowards.
my disgust has also just about reached it's limit - at people who continue to point their fingers at Jeb and George Bush - if your reasoning is really that far out there - take your checkbook and go to the leftists - you may be more at home
I'm betting far more conservative myself. All the leading candidates I can think of are. It's somewhat tough for a Republican to get any more liberal than GWB, no matter how much the delusional leftists have demonized him as a right-wing extremist. Leaving aside taxes and national defense, there isn't much for a conservative to get excited about (though granted that's a lot). He mentions God a whole lot too, and that satisfies a good number.
Does that work for you?
Well, that's an issue for 2008, not 2012, and Jeb says he won't run in 2008, so my kind of thinking won't threaten getting Hillary elected, especially since I include wives when I talk about dynasties - even wives with hyphenated names.
"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.
He has proven over and over that he cares about this as much as anyone, and yet, he is the scapegoat people on FreeRepublic have chosen.
Makes me sick, honestly.
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