The Sad Case of Terry Schiavo

While I realize I already weighed in on this issue in yesterday's post, the actions taken by congress yesterday compel me to say a bit more on the subject.

I already made my opinion clear: Let the poor woman die! But let me defend that.

The three people who have read just about any entry on this my humble blog probably have realized that my political leanings tend to be a little bit toward the left (in the same way it can be said that the Titanic took on a little water), so it should come as no big shock to anyone that I feel the way I do about this case.

An Aside: I want to make it clear that should the unthinkable happen and I end up in a state similar to Terry Schiavo, where I am no longer able to feed myself, dress myself, bathe myself, or do anything on my own other than breathe, I not only encourage but demand that my family not keep me alive in such a state.

But getting back to the point: This case is NOT about Terry Schiavo--it is about the Republicans shamelessly pandering to their base. 11+ years of Republicans being in control of congress, and 5+ years of DUIbya (tm) sitting in the White House have left our country so fucked up that the Republicans stand a good chance of losing control of one or both houses of congress next year.

So they are appealing to the one group that can keep them in the majority--the pro-lifers. These are people who wouldn't dream of voting Republican if not for this issue. These are people like one of my co-workers, who said she wouldn't vote for John Kerry because she didn't want to see four more years of abortions happening. Of course, I guarantee that abortion will still be legal in 2008--because without it as an issue, all those "family values" voters will wake up and realize how anti-"family values" some of the legislation coming from the Republican Congress really is.

Republicans like abortion as an issue because it keeps all the "red staters" firmly on their side. It allows them to continue to press their agenda. It allows them to continue to work to destroy Social Security. It allows them to continue to work to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It allows them to continue to work to favor business at the expense of people. And as long as they have the knee-jerk votes of the pro-lifers, they will continue to do exactly what they are doing.

So again I say it: this case is NOT about Terry Schiavo. It's about the Republicans staying in power. And they are using this poor woman as a pawn in their little game.

Of course, no mention is being made in the "liberal" media about the fact that in 1999, then Texas Governor George W. Bush signed into law a bill that allowed Hospitals in Texas to remove from life support any patient whose family could no longer afford the cost of their care and who were diagnosed as likely to never recover. DUIbya (tm) cut short a campaign trip to sign this bill into Texas law. Much in the same way he cut short his vacation (yes, it's true--he actually took time off from his vacation!) to sign this new legislation in favor of keeping Terry Schiavo alive into law!

It's too bad that hypocrisy isn't fatal.