Saturday, December 04, 2010

Where Are The Would Be Saviors of Terri Schiavo Now? [Anthony McCarthy]

Remember 2005? Remember the Republicans who were in control of the entire federal government and the government of Florida propping up the animated corpse of Terri Schiavo as a political prop? And that was with the full help of the "pro life" industry, right wing Hollywood and the cable news cycle.

Remember how Bill Frist, the Republican leader of the Senate used his credentials as a doctor to whip up the right wing election stunt by saying that based on his brief video taped "examination" Terri Schiavo wasn't in a persistent vegetative state (after the autopsy he couldn't deny that she was and tried to backtrack). And there was also the House of Representatives under the control of Tom Delay's puppet Denny Hastert which kept up the political theater surrounding the case for months and months, Tom Delay threatening the Judges who kept ruling that her husband had legal authority to determine when to stop the measures that were keeping her body alive when her life had stopped shortly after she collapsed.

Probabaly most remarkable of all is that George W. Bush flew back to Washington, INTERRUPTING HIS VACATION, to sign one of the bills the Republican congress passed. It's not his signing a clearly unconstitutional bill in the matter, it's that he'd interrupt his vacation to do it.

The full history of the political use of a brain dead woman's body by the Republicans and their media would take up thousands of words. No cost was to be spared in the unhinged attempt to keep their political prop animate, not in maintainence, not in treatment. Including the use of her by Jeb Bush, who was governor of Florida, where, you will remember, the political use of Terri Schiavo and the massive slander against her husband began.

Where are they now that Arizona under the leadership of Republican Governor Jan Brewer is killing off poor, uninsured people by denying them transplants to cut the State budget? Transplants that are paid for by every other state?

Where is the "pro-life" industry, where are the Bush family? Where are the Hollywood has-beens, the Cabloid clowns who repeated the Republican talking points, playing doctor on TV? Where's the multi-millionaire who wanted to adopt Terri Schiavo? Where's Tom Delay who crassly compared himself to Terri Schiavo and has said that his involvement in that circus was one of his "proudest moments in congress"? I mean other than awaiting sentencing for political corruption. I've looked and have found little evidence of protest by Catholic Bishops or Cardinals, though you'd think this would have already gotten massive criticism by them. They seem to regularly stick their noses into people's personal business when they don't welcome it, you'd think that people pleading for their lives might welcome their support.

These cases, placed side by side, demonstrate, conclusively the complete hypocrisy of the Republican Party, their media echo chamber, the second tier celebrities and the rest of the "pro-life" industry who are shown up as a fraud. Where's Sarah Palin of the nonexistent federal "death panels", now that there is one up and killing in Arizona?