Posted on 11/02/2006 5:23:50 AM PST by 8mmMauser
Republican gubernatorial front-runner Charlie Crist says he was perfectly clear in opposing governmental intervention in the Terri Schiavo case.
He spoke out loudly.
And he was silent.
Loudly silent.
The day after limping through a tough nationally televised debate, the Republican attorney general wanted to talk about his plans to slash taxes. Instead reporters questioned him about his debate assertion that, Yes, I did speak out against Congress trying to force the reinsertion of the severely brain-damaged womans feeding tube in 2005.
Crist did not publicly express his opposition to the Schiavo intervention until April 2006, more than a year after the Pinellas womans death. But he maintained on Tuesday that he forcefully expressed his opposition from the start.
I spoke loudly, Crist said in Tallahassee. I think its important that when issues like that come up and you believe that government is the appropriate place for it that you act that out, and you walk the walk, and dont just talk the talk.
The attorney general noted that his office by not going to court and pushing the agenda on that issue, that was speaking out louder than anybody else did in Florida.
This is one of many issues from insurance reform to abortion and civil unions where Crist has been accused of ambiguity or trying please all sides.
Contrary to his comments Tuesday, during the Republican gubernatorial primary in August he stressed to the weekly newspaper of the Florida Baptist Convention that his office helped the governors office with legal work to keep Schiavo alive, even though he personally had qualms.
I dont remember that, but Ill check on it and see, Crist said when asked about that interview with the Florida Baptist Witness.
Gov. Jeb Bush came to his would-be successors defense. He spoke out to me, Bush told reporters. Crist, however, said he never directly talked to Bush.
There are few issues in the political realm so black and white as the Terri Schiavo case. People either supported the state and federal government intervening to keep her alive or they didnt.
But Crist is the second statewide candidate recently to face questions about how he acted during the Schiavo end-of-life controversies that erupted in 2003 in the Legislature and in 2005 in both the Legislature and Congress.
Democratic Attorney General candidate Walter Skip Campbell, a state senator from Broward County, has been on the defensive this week for having voted to keep Schiavo alive and later criticizing the governmental intervention. Crists involvement in the Schiavo case may be the only common ground between the Schindler family, Terri
Schiavos parents and siblings who fought to keep her alive, and her husband, Michael Schiavo, who insisted his wife did not want to be kept alive in a persistent vegetative state. Both sides have criticized Crist.
When he said in that debate that hes going to be a leader, my heart dropped. Hes not a leader, hes a follower, Michael Schiavo said Tuesday. If he really wanted to stand up he would have said, 'No, this is wrong. The government should stay out of this. ... Charlie Crist did not say a word, he was nowhere to be found. Hes a coward.
Terri Schiavos father, Bob Schindler, wrote an essay in August accusing Crist of snubbing the familys pleas for him to help their efforts. Florida Atty. Gen. Charlie Crist let my daughter die. He had it within his authority to save her life, but he turned a blind eye to her suffering, Schindler wrote.
The Florida Democratic Party issued a release saying Crist lied about his role in the Schiavo case, but at a brief campaign stop at Arco-Iris restaurant in Tampa on Tuesday, Davis would only say that Crist misrepresented his position.
I was up fighting George Bush and the entire United States Congress, both political parties, and Charlie Crist was unwilling to take a position, Davis said.
Davis, trailing in polls and campaign money, is hoping his debate performance Monday night will cut Crists advantages. No statewide viewership numbers were available Tuesday, but in the Tampa Bay area about 152,000 households tuned in a ratings jump for that time slot on WFLA and that doesnt include those who watched on MSNBC.
- Tallahassee bureau chief Steve Bousquet and staff writer Alex Leary contributed to this report. Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8241.\
Hispanic Voters More Interested in Abortion Issues Than Other Voters
8mm
>> They impeached Bill Clinton unsuccessfully
He was impeached. Period. It goes into his permanent job file.
>> They stole the election in 2000, fair and square.
Translation: the masterful Clinton team, with all the advantages of incumbency, controlling all the power of the federal government, aided by corrupt Democrat city machines, with eight years to rig it, FAILED to steal the election. One of life's surprising miracles! Every recount went to Bush.
>> They used Terry Schiavo, comatose for 15 years, as a wedge issue on life and death matters.
The Republicans and Democrats in Congress both voted overwhelmingly for life. You prefer death?
>> They botched the aftermath of Katrina.
That would be the governor of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans, both machine Democrats.
It is like escaping communism and finding solace in clintonism. Liberalism is a mindless disease.
You must live in a very small world.
Democrats across the nation are succeeding in splitting the conservative Catholic vote, which could deprive Republicans of a vital voting bloc heading into Election Day.
Democrats Splitting Catholic Vote, Expert Says
8mm
bttt
Greer didn't recuse himself. Is he saying that he privately killed her? I always thought he killed her ex officio. In that case I was willing to give Michael Schiavo, Deborah Bushnell and George Felos equal blame.
I think those were Ted Bundy's last words.
Then, at 7:06 a.m., January 24, 1989, he was strapped into the state of Florida electric chair and fried to a crisp with 2,000 volts. I wonder if Florida still has that electric chair. It certainly has some good candidates for crisping.
A vote for Terri by write-in. That's a great idea. What happens at the polling place? Do you ask for paper to write her name in?
Terri Schiavo's Legacy... Stop robbing and killing innocents for so called convenience's sake and monetary gain!
Terri had as much right to live as the next person.
Free Republic is taking a survey on voting patterns. Please check out the sidebar under the "news". I am voting mixed this time around.
Retaining these three judges is a lot like retaining water when you're already bloated from menopause.
That's only PART of a sentence, yet the World Socialists managed to squeeze in -- let's see, I count five lies! No, make it six. One lie every five words. Wow!
In other words, you cannot show us Terri's AVANCED DIRECTIVE? I thought that was a simple enough question. I didn't even call you an adjective either.
I am agreeing with you and you insist on being obtuse which only places everyone who sees the need to avoid a repeat of the schiavo mistakes in the same kook box.
You stated that "The law does allow a judge to deny food WHEN THE PERSON EXECUTES A VALID ADVANCED DIRECTIVE"
Again, I only asked where is Terri's ADVANCED DIRECTIVE? I also implied that no judge has ever ordered oral food and water to be withheld to kill someone in this country, as did Judge Greer. Now show me where you have ever agreed with me.
Excellent post, T'wit~~!!!
I agree with everything you posted. Your tagline is very appropriate as we consider the choices we continue to be given by the GOP.
Giving more control to the rats will never be the solution, but only increase our problems. Thank you for your words of wisdom.
Hi 8mm~~!!!!
As I read thru this thread, I was shocked by all the political articles you posted, which used Terri as a reason to vote for a RAT. Its almost sureal to consider that anyone would vote for a candidate on the basis of his or her support for Terri's tortureous death.
I'm thinking this strategy is being promoted by a memo written by the DNC, promoting this most ghoulish reason to caste a vote. Do they not realize there were many Demo people who also were against killing Terri? I hope the use of Terri's name will backfire on these death ghouls, bigtime.
Thanks for all the work you do on Terri's threads. Terri's pain and suffering broke my heart and I will never forget her.
Hi, Pepper, thanks for the encouraging words! We are accused by detractors on not letting go, not moving on, yet it is they who keep bringing up Terri as a litmus test.
To them, proof of membership in the far left club is to agree that killing an innocent like Terri is good, trying to save her is bad. That is what I find amazing and appalling. The far left actually defines itself by how they consider such an atrocity.
That makes things easier for us, to identify the leaders of the far left for who they really are, not for who they say they are. That to me is a great value of the legacy posited by Terri, to define our opposition. As evil people do not see the evil they do, I am confident many who followed those leaders almost blindly in the past, now open their eyes to the spectre we see too, as their leaders become blinded to their own deception.
We persevere.
8mm
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