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Thursday, March 31, 2005

The HAL 9000 is malfunctioning
Posted by Jill | 7:03 AM

We on the left have tended to imbue Karl Rove with quasi-magical powers because of his usually unerring political instincts. In the Schiavo case, however, Rove's "play to the base" strategy seems to have backfired. How badly this will hurt the GOP over time remains to be seen, but when conservatives are starting to blast their own party, something is definitely up. Republicans may be many things, but one thing they aren't is rebels. Republicans tend to be good soldiers, going along even with policies they don't like.

Yesterday, former Missouri Sen. John Danforth, about as impeccably-credentialed a conservative Christian Republican as you're likely to find, blasted Congress for its injection of religion into the making of Federal policy. Today, Stanley F. Birch, Jr., one of the most conservative Federal judges, steps into the fray:

in Wednesday's 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to deny a rehearing to Schiavo's parents, Birch went out of his way to castigate Bush and congressional Republicans for acting "in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for governance of a free people - our Constitution."

Birch said he couldn't countenance Congress' attempt to "rob" federal courts of the discretion they're given in the Constitution. Noting that it had become popular among "some members of society, including some members of Congress," to denounce "activist judges," or those who substitute their personal opinions for constitutional imperatives, Birch said lawmakers embarked on their own form of unconstitutional activism.


It's amusing to watch so-called judicial purists blasting what they like to call "activist judges", or more frankly, "activist liberal judges." It's clear that where Christian reactionaries are concerned, "activist judge" means "any judge who doesn't decide the way we want him to. The odious Jay Sekulow, pal to Pat Robertson and another Jewish guy who thinks allying himself with Jesus freaks is the way to survive when they start rounding up all non-Christians into camps, blasted Birch while praising a judge appointed by that spawn of Satan himself, Bill Clinton. I wonder if they think Antonin Scalia is an activist judge as well, since even HE didn't vote to hear the Schiavo case in the Supreme Court. Of course, we already know that Scalia doesn't believe that the High Court has a dog in this particular hunt, as evidenced by his writings in the Cruzan case.

It's becoming more and more difficult for me to believe that there is some kind of massive conspiracy that's been going on for over a decade among dozens of Federal judges (including conservatives), the Pinellas Park police, the staff at the facilities in which Terri Schiavo has been housed for the last fifteen years, and Michael Schiavo, to cover up some kind of abuse. Schiavo may not be a nice guy. It's pretty clear that he was the kind of controlling husband that most of us wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. It's possible that his wife was about to leave him. It's possible that having him make the decisions ISN'T what she would have wanted -- though frankly, if all he has to go on is what her family says, after all the animosity and after the circus they've allowed to go on (one in which he has tried not to participate), I can hardly blame him for taking what they say with a grain of salt. But ultimately where I come down on this is "Why on earth would he put himself through all this for any other reason other than because he really believes in what he's doing?" He's refused all financial compensation for backing away. He's not that big a Catholic, from what I understand, so divorce shouldn't be that big an issue for him, not if he's living with someone else and had children with her. I can't buy some kind of massive, nationwide coverup of abuse. No matter what path I try to go down here, I keep ending up with just two possibilities for his motiviation: Either he really believes he's doing what's right, or else this is his last opportunity to get his in-laws to butt out of his marriage once and for all.

As usual, Olbermann puts it best:

It is possible that Michael Schiavo is a battering spouse or a murderer, just as it is possible that you are a battering spouse or a murderer.

But the odds against him (or you) being a battering spouse or murderer, and a complete idiot, are very, very high.

And that is exactly what the husband of the unfortunate, and unfortunately publicized, Terri Schiavo, would have to be, to have done what he did yesterday, unless his innocence was all but certain and the mainstream medical evidence on his wife’s condition all but incontrovertibly verified.

Through his attorney, Mr. Schiavo announced that after his wife’s life ends, he will delay the planned cremation of her body, and ask the Chief Medical Examiner of Pinellas County, Florida, to conduct a full autopsy on the cause of her now impending death.

If he, as some blood relatives of his wife now suggest after a decade of suggesting otherwise, somehow abused her, or he led to the heart stoppage that put her in her present state, it is not likely to be missed by the autopsy.

If he, as his in-laws and all of his critics now suggest after nearly a decade of suggesting otherwise, had an ulterior motive in seeking to end her treatment, it is not likely to be missed by the autopsy.

And if the part of her brain that makes her her was not irreparably damaged (in fact, turned to liquid)— as examination after examination and court after court has found— it is certain not to be missed by the autopsy.

In short, Mr. Schiavo has just given his critics three opportunities to prosecute him by authorizing, in fact requesting, the autopsy. If he’s been lying, or the doctors have been wrong, or any of the hysteria stirred up by those operating both in good faith and bad in this case, is true— then he is a complete idiot.

This case should now be considered closed. Obviously it will not be. It will be perpetuated by a few good, sad people who do not want the woman they know as daughter, sister, or friend, to die. It will be perpetuated by others who cannot come to grips with the incongruity of part of her brain still acting automatically, like a stoplight in the middle of a desert. But mostly it will be perpetuated by people who do not and have not given a damn about Terri Schiavo, or her parents, or anyone but themselves and the opportunities to exploit this situation for their own personal or political beliefs.

Michael Schiavo’s insistence on an autopsy will resolve more than just how hopeless his wife’s situation really has been. It will also be an autopsy on the credibility of those who have tried to manipulate her insentient condition. For, unless Michael Schiavo is a battering spouse or murderer, and a complete idiot, his public critics will be revealed as snake-oil salesmen who have not only exploited his wife, but also thousands of Americans who— just like me, and no doubt just like you— would love nothing more than to see Terri Schiavo rise from her bed and go home, happy, healthy, and fully restored.
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