Posted on 07/31/2005 3:38:47 AM PDT by amdgmary
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.
Crist said he was "proud" of both judges.
"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."
Crist's comments have resonated far beyond the Biltmore.
"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."
How very Mengela of the Kennedy clan.
No tax mailer down this way and I can't call the Pinellas HQ because they'll hang up on me. LOL The Pinellas GOP is like that a favorite pair of pants that don't fit like they used to and finally, they rip beyond repair.
I love your comical interludes. We need to keep our spirits up while we are fighting euthanazi's around the globe. Drop by any time.
I think Crist won't be elected Governor at this point. He has made himself look really bad by not doing enough for Terri.
Charlie Crist might better go back under the rock where he was hiding at the time of Terri Schiavo’s death or stuff a sock in his mouth. Pandering to George Greer and James Whittemore may curry favor for Crist among the lawyers and judges, but it’s casting a even larger black aura around Florida’s Republican party.
Charlie Crist is quickly becoming a GOP albatross. 8-1-05
FV SAYS: TEJ knows more about the Florida RNC then they know about themselves! There are too many favors and too many RINOS and they don't particularly care about women in general nor do they have any desire to protect disabled Floridians.
I watched a documentary about a Well Fargo inside robbery. One of the robbers said that "money really smells" and that when he took the million dollars, he couldn't get the smell to go away. Money sure does smell, especially if it's from Jim King's district or from Pinellas County. What else besides what they did to Terri are they doing behind our backs, Crist and Jim King?
The only way we can get the smell to go away is to vote for politicians who stood with Terri and understood the big picture as well. TOM GALLAGHER (R) for Governor of Florida.
Florida, is going to be The Starvation State until somebody with courage makes things right here.
Borden was a pioneer hacker, too.
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Well, i hope someone better than Bush gets into office there to put a stop to this madness!
"Wow, I was going to support Crist for governor. I am really going o have to rethink this."
Please rethink it, and make sure you vote in the GOP primaries so you will have a decent choice in the general election.
And a powerful editorial it is! It tells enough truth about Crist to wreck his career and send him home to his swamp.
Sounds like the initiation rite for Florida trial lawyers and judges.
Groan.
:-)
Sad but true. And now Senator Frist is spitting in our faces by endorsing embryonic stem cell research. Republicans MAKE ME SICK!! I re-registered Decline To State.
Dr. Frist makes change in a political prescription
From St. Pete Times, John Roberts on the Commerce Clause and how it would affect us.
Also from St. Pete Times,
From Conservative Voice
Red Nova speculates what if, on Terri
I would print it out and go to kinkos to fax but our printer is not working.
This is SUCH ugly stuff...would ask the folks at the Empire Journal to do the same.
I like having fun, but then, ridiculing foolishness is useful for waking people up now and then. The euthanzis keep coming back to a CT they misread and a "flat" EEG that may mean no more than that the patient was asleep. EEGs are subject to many errors, so need to be used with far more caution. You don't make sweeping predictions or life-and-death diagnoses based on a single EEG.
Thanks for the links!
BUMP to #86
Very welcome...
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