More Bush hypocrisy
OK, maybe its me but how can you believe Bush’s obvious grandstanding flight back to Washington to sign the (more) obviously unconstitutional bill to reinsert Terry Shaivo’s feeding tube is genuine when he’s right in the middle of fighting a war to cap medical malpractice awards and cut medicare? If Bush’s plan was in effect when Terry got into this situation (and yes it does seem suspicious to me too - only because I haven’t investigated it), she’d be dead already because there wouldn’t have been enough money awarded to keep her alive this long. And your thoughts?
Comment posted on 3-22-2005
It’s political grandstanding. It’s making the religious right feel like they got something for their vote, and to keep them on-board with anything else he wants to do. It’s Rove-ism at it’s finest. It’s stuff my side can’t even dream of doing.
Good stuff there. Smart stuff.
Comment posted on 3-23-2005
Yes, but the point was that its so obviously hypocritical when he’s
fighting to reduce the very cash that has kept this person alive so long.
I’m just wondering how its not so obvious to everyone else, or is it?
Comment posted on 3-23-2005
I don’t know enough to be sure that Terry would have already had her feeding tube removed. Is that really true and for sure?
I don’t think people think of tort reform and cutting medicare as the same issue really. It is ironic, but kind of removed.
Comment posted on 3-23-2005
There are two things on the table here - he’s blaming the trial lawyers for
the rise in health care costs when its pretty clear that the real costs are in
providing long term care. Dealing with the *real* problem might mean
a debate about nationalizing healthcare which is pretty clearly *not* in
his agenda. The other issue is medicare. If you don’t get a big
settlement, you better hope you can count on medicare to take care of
you - and Bush’s plan here is to slash it as much as possible. He hates
all "entitlements" and doesn’t understand why it might be America’s best
intrest to maintain some "safety nets" like these. As far as Terry goes - I
don’t know but it seems likely that if they didn’t have the windfall of a
settlement to pay for the feeding tube all this time, it would have been
on medicare’s tab. Take away those two sources of cash and who
would have been paying for her care? I know it sounds callous, but it
seems that Bush is taking a pretty obvious hypocritcal stance on this
issue is all.
Comment posted on 3-24-2005
Yes, that hypocrisy sticks out quite clearly. It contrasts well with his refusal to sign a stay on the excecution of that Texas woman who had ‘found God’ while in prison. Her story was quite moving too, but Bush just shrugged and said he was bound by the laws and had her executed right on time.
Comment posted on 3-26-2005
I see the hypocrisy as well, but see more than just that. I think that the
Schaivo case is really centered around the executive and legislative
branches of the government, which are controlled by the right, once
again going to war with the judicial branch.
A friend of mine has a good post on his blog regarding this:
terry_schiavo_t.html" class="external">curiousstranger.org
Comment posted on 3-27-2005
Thanks to CuriousStranger for pointing to ClayCalhoun’s site which
makes quite clear the ulterior motives behind all the high-sounding
rhetoric. I read Clay’s post on the subject and was tempted to respond
but realized I would only be seen as a troll. It seems to me that they
already pretty much own the Supreme Court (which is how GW got to
be president in 2000), its just the courts around the country that have
democrats presiding they don’t like.
On the topic of Terry: This is one of the saddest and most macbre
spectacles I have seen in the news in a long time. That people are
actually fighting to keep a brain dead woman alive through artificial
means for 15 years so they can pat themselves on the back for their
humanity and godliness. Its shocking and positively ghastly.
For millenia, before there was written word, during the time Jesus
walked the earth and after the bible was written and for hundreds of
years after the Constitution of this country was written - humans in such
a state would not have survived long. It is only modern technology that
has created this moral dilemma (for some). Whether Terry would have
wanted to have her brain-dead body kept alive indefinitely so family
members could visit it and maintain some kind of hope that she will
recover is debatable.
…and if the argument is that all life is prescious and should be saved at
any cost, how can we justify thousands dead in a war?
Comment posted on 3-28-2005
Right on.
Considering there is actual genocide happening right now in Sudan,
which I hardly hear anything about, the coverage of the Shiavo case
makes a serious case for me axing broadcast media all together. Fox is the
worst, broadcasting Hannity live from outside the hospice, but they’re all
onboard. I still want to keep an eye on the mainstream, but maybe I can
just check in once in a while to see what the current passion is.
Err on the side of life…. hypocrisy indeed.
Comment posted on 3-31-2005
I *almost* got into a heated argument over this today at work after
someone started arguing that all life should be preserved at any cost. I
was going to get mad and decided instead to start singing (I don’t think
he got it) - "Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great, if a sperm is
wasted - God gets quite irate!"
Comment posted on 4-7-2005
The more I think and read about the current political climate the more I
am getting enraged. Thankfully I’m not the only one, even the right side
of the isle is getting pissed. Schiavo was all about the assault on the judicial
branch, and the religious right screaming judicial ternary is just another
Fox like move to turn the last branch into a farce. It’s all about abortion
and anti-gay rights in the name of Christian supremacy. There is a reason
for balance of power, and what is happening today is the reason that there
are life long appointments to the judicial branch. Man, our structure is
really well thought out.
Thank God DeLay looks like a goner. The Republican branch of the
Republican party will see to that. They is already in-fighting over how far
the, "kill the judicial branch" will go.