TALLAHASSEE - It was one of the shortest speeches of Charlie Crist's career, but as a campaign for governor unfolds, it may prove to be one of the most memorable.

Two weeks ago, the Republican attorney general and candidate for governor gave a late-night speech to a roomful of lawyers in Miami where he referred to the judges in the Terri Schiavo case as "heroes."

Crist insists he wasn't endorsing court rulings that prevented the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube from being reconnected, but critics view it differently. And by appearing to break his silence in the Schiavo case, Crist has sharpened the contrast between himself and Republican rival Tom Gallagher, who has said he favored government action to "prevent Terri's starvation."

At the dinner in Miami, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer and U.S. District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa were honored as jurists of the year by the Florida chapter of ABOTA, the American Board of Trial Advocates. The group champions judicial independence and its members are lawyers who represent both plaintiffs and defendants.

Greer is the judge who ordered Schiavo's feeding tube removed, rejecting a subpoena from Congress and pleas from Gov. Jeb Bush, and Whittemore also denied emergency requests to reinsert the tube in the weeks before Schiavo died March 31. Both men's decisions were later upheld by higher courts, and both were praised and vilified by opposing sides of the emotionally charged end-of-life case.

"You are heroes to all of us, and your defense of the judiciary and what is right is beyond admirable," Crist was quoted in the Daily Business Review, a Miami newspaper that provided the only news account of the July 15 event at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

In an interview, Crist did not dispute the quotations. Nor did he offer a view of whether he agreed with their decisions. Rather, he said, he praised them for fulfilling their constitutional duty to provide checks and balances against the other two branches of government.

"I try to say nice things about judges. I'm sure I was complimentary," said Crist, who as the state's chief legal officer often speaks at bar-related events. "I didn't talk about any specific case. ... It's important that those checks and balances exist. Our system of government needs to have that."

"Judge Greer is a poster child for everything that's wrong with the judiciary," said Gary Cass, executive director of the Center for Reclaiming America, a grass roots Christian political group in Fort Lauderdale that lists "sanctity of life" as one of its priorities and plans to form a political action committee.

"For Charlie Crist to hold that up as an example of good judicial practice concerns me," Cass said. "I think it was a mistake for Charlie to say that. I don't know how anybody can be happy about a woman being deprived food and water."

Rep. Dennis Baxley, the Republican from Ocala who sponsored legislation last spring to force the tube to be reconnected, said Crist's speech was revealing.

"I think it is one of those very important moments for us to know where he (Crist) stands," Baxley said. "I truly believe there's a lot of people out there who were sensitive to this case who are going to find those comments, and that association, very instructive. I'm understanding where people line up on this."

Baxley said that while Crist was "conspicuously absent" from the Schiavo debate in the Legislature, Gallagher sent Baxley a personal letter of support last spring. While activists in the Schiavo debate take aim at Crist, his Republican rival Gallagher is not.

"Tom's made his position very clear in the past. There's really no comment we're going to make on that," said David Johnson, a Gallagher adviser.

Polls show a majority of Americans agreed with the judges' decisions to order the removal of Schiavo's tube, as her husband, Michael, said she wanted. By a greater margin, polls show people were opposed to Congress' intervention in the case.

But to those who view the long-running Schiavo saga as a test case of support for the sanctity of life - like abortion - Greer and Whittemore are "judicial activists" who starved a woman to death.

Many of those people can vote in the Republican primary for governor in September 2006. Crist's stand on the Schiavo case could prove to be an asset if he wins the GOP nomination and faces a Democrat. But one Republican strategist said the damage has been done.

"Schiavo killed the Republicans. They've lost the women's vote," said Matt Towery, an ex-Republican legislator who now runs an Atlanta media and polling firm. "It's one of those turning points that you just can't get away from."

Here's a letter to an editor from someone who started her own Terri coalition. I am in agreement with Janice's words.

August 29, 2005

An Innocent American Was Publicly Executed

Janice Sanford

Apparently, like Congress, where Democrats and Republicans alike have spent more time fulminating over and interfering in the issue of when to let poor Schiavo die than on the matter of providing another $82 billion in funding for the ongoing slaughter of innocents in Iraq, the corporate media feel that the sad plight of one lone woman on a feeding tube is more important than the lives of 150,000 U.S. servicemen and 30 million Arabs and Kurds. Dave Lindorff: Saving Schiavo; Killing the News

The United States Constitution was put in place to protect "individual rights". Why is that so hard for some people to understand?

Theresa Marie Schindler was born a free American but died a victim of federal and state laws. When the Terri Schiavo case was brought before the public eye and Americans (and people from all over the world) rushed to her aid we were mocked by those in the pro-death movement, and asked why we didn't rise up to help all the other victims who were denied medical care; They accused anyone trying to help Terri of inter-fearing with her right to die, even though Terri had no written directive.

First, I didn't realize that some in the medical field had 'changed the rule' on who gets to say when the patient gets to die; Up until the Schiavo case, I thought when a person was sick, or suffering from an injury, that the doctor came in with every intention of saving that person's life. I did not know that we (Americans) could no longer depend on those skilled in saving human live to save a human life for that life's sake.

I have heard those in the right to die movement belittle Terri's blood-family, the Schindlers, because they loved Terri and wanted to save her life, even if it meant having a leg and/or other body parts removed.

I, personally know of no parent who would not do anything in their power to savethe life of "their child"?

Having a brother -in- law who had to have his leg cut off at the knee, because of 'sugar'; and knowing he had his leg removed so he could prolong his life in this world for his wife and young daughter, I was shocked at the way the Schindlers were cold-heartedly attacked (verbally) over and over by the pro-death crowd, while they were being forced to endue having to watch a part of their life(and Terri was a part of her mother and father's life) legally killed, because she was to helpless to defend her rights as an American living on American soil......

For anyone who don't understand why the media was more focused on Terri Schiavo then those,Americans and non-Americans, dying as a result of the war in Iraq: Americans and non-Americans die in times of war.

Iraq is not the first war that has taken the life of someone's husband, father, son. And as long as there exist those who would take away "one human being's" rights to life and liberty, there shall be Americans ready to fight, and die, if need be.

One has only to look back on history to see the truth of my words:

The Colonial Wars (1620-1774) - War of Independence (1775-1783) - The War of 1812 The First World War (1917-1918) - The Second World War (1941-1945) - The Korean War - The Vietnam War - Grenada - Beirut - Panama- Gulf War - Somalia (Clinton's War)- Yugoslavia - War on Terrorism - Iraq War

I remember that during the Viet Nam War young American men were drafted to fight in that war.... They unlike those who are fighting in Iraq didn't get to choose to serve in the US armed forces.........

War is horrible, because the innocent are killed, and the American soldiers,who are fighting for the high idea "that all men are created equal" with the right to live free, sacrifice so much for all of us.

The men and Women in our armed forces are fighting,willing to die, and dying, for the rights of non-Americans to live free.To be free.

The public execution (Killing) of Terri Schiavo made a mockery of the American way of life that has led millions over the years to leave the land of their birth to seek the American dream that the majority of all Americans were born in to.....

Our soldiers are dying that people, they shall never know, might enjoy the same kind of freedoms that Americans share.

As an American I think it only right that we (Americans living on American soil) defend the most helpless of Americans from those who would strip them of their individual rights to life and/or liberty.

Reminder:"poor Schiavo "that "one lone woman on a feeding tube" was an American.

FV SAYS: Toll Free Number to Your US Senator & US Congressman is on my web page and also the Comment Line # for President Bush. (see tag line).

It does not work so well if there is printing on both sides and the back side is, oh, a map of the Detroit metropolitan area.

True. After spending so much time in Davis (but I didn't live there!), I don't think I want to look at an even MORE liberal city. Especially when I'm trying to figure out the difference between Arizona and New Mexico.

I don't know about zen map reading, but the experimental college at UC Davis does offer a plethora of moonbat classes, like "Earth Rhythms", "Social Dance" or "Magic for Effective Rapport" (although French and Italian are probably not moonbat classes).

From the Davis experimental college catalog:
~Contrary to popular opinion, the reason we don’t accept plastic money isn’t to inconvenience people!
~The EC does not feel comfortable, at this time, supporting the credit card companies by giving them buisness.
~We want to meet you! When you come in to register, it gives us all a chance to hang out, and see and learn new things in our beautiful library.
~Plastic never, ever goes away! Petroleum products are a non-renewable reasource which isn't readily biodegratable.

(Note: misspellings and grammatical errors are in original.)

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover083005.htm

Michael Schiavo to be presented as hero at Minnesota ethics conference Cover Story

Michael Schiavo to be presented as hero at Minnesota ethics conference

By Judi McLeod
Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Toronto--Even in death Terri Schindler Schiavo gets no peace from her estranged husband and guardian on earth, Michael Schiavo.

With his Guardian of the Year Award from the Florida State Guardianship Association on his mantle, Schiavo has been sent an invitation to attend a euthanasia conference at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minnesota.

Minnesota is Dr. Ronald Cranford country. Cranford was a professor of neurology at the University of Minnesota when he examined Terri Schiavo in 2002.

The upcoming conference is touted with the unlikely title, "33 Years of Clinical Ethics in Minnesota: Ron Cranford’s Stories of Heroes and Courage."

In the politically correct tinged world of modern medicine, no-food, no-water, white-coated doctors propelled by right-to-die activism are the comic book-style heroes.

Cranford, who calls himself, "Dr. Humane Death", is a member of the board of directors of the Euthanasia Society of America and has ties to the organization formerly known as the Hemlock Society, another pro-euthanasia group.

Now that they’ve cashed in on the vegetative state industry, the right to die activists are moving on to the new territory of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

…"Before long, this country will have several million patients with Alzheimer’s dementia," Cranford wrote in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "The challenges and costs of maintaining vegetative state patients will pale in comparison to the problems presented by Alzheimer’s disease."

Alleged to have participated in states like California without benefit of a legal license, Cranford openly applauds European values that embrace euthanasia. Countries like Belgium, where experts believe that 10 percent of all deaths now result from euthanasia with drugs administered by doctors to hasten death.

Along with Florida circuit judge George Greer and right to die attorney George Felos, Cranford is one of the three amigos who, in effect hastened the death of Terri Schiavo.

"The case of Terri Schiavo is presented as one of the landmark euthanasia cases in the last 30 years." (LifeNews.com).

The resurfaced, award winning, conference headed Michael Schiavo has recently announced he is considering filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against doctors who treated Terri for a bleeding esophagus in late 2003–despite his efforts to have a local judge stop the treatment so Terri would die.

Now working on a possible book with a journalist, how long will it be before Michael Schiavo offers himself as a candidate for public office?

Sent to us by Cheryl Ford

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