Tell Congress to stop grandstanding on the Schiavo tragedy.

[Guest guest]

On Sunday, Tom DeLay and Bill Frist, the Republican congressional leaders,

convened an emergency meeting of Congress to pass a bill that that interferes

with the Terri Schiavo tragedy. And although in five years no other issue has

prompted President Bush to return to Washington during a vacation—including the

tsunami—Bush flew back from his ranch in Texas to sign it.[1]

 

Bush, Frist, and DeLay claim that they're acting out of concern for Ms. Schiavo.

But a memo intended only for Republican Senators—uncovered by ABC News—reveals

Republicans' true concern: " The pro-life base will be excited...this is a great

political issue...this is a tough issue for Democrats. " [2] This story also takes

the heat off Tom DeLay, who is facing a number of serious ethics charges and

legal scandals.[3]

 

Americans can have different personal opinions about what should happen to Terri

Schiavo—life is precious, and this case raises some important ethical questions.

But we can all agree that that's what the courts are for: to make the call in

difficult circumstances. That's why Congress' interference is such an ugly and

shameful incident of political grandstanding. There's no legislative purpose

here, just a blatant attempt to play politics with someone's life.

 

We need to tell the Republican leaders in Congress that this kind of pandering

and demagoguery will not stand. Will you sign our urgent petition to Congress to

tell them they must stop using one person's tragedy for their own political

gain, and move on to the important business facing our country?

 

Sign now at:

http://www.moveonpac.org/grandstanding

 

Even many right-wing activists are concerned about Congress's interference in

this case. GOP pollster Tony Fabrizi told the L.A. Times, " It becomes a more

crystallized proof point that we are no longer the party of smaller government.

We have become a party of 'It doesn't matter what size the government is as long

as it is imposing our set of values.' " [4]

 

The New York Times talked to David Davenport of the Hoover Institute, a

conservative research organization, who said, " When a case like this has been

heard by 19 judges in six courts and it's been appealed to the Supreme Court

three times, the process has worked even if it hasn't given the result that the

social conservatives want. For Congress to step in really is a violation of

federalism. " [5]

 

Medical ethicists are also outraged at the armchair diagnoses of Republican

doctors in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. As the

Associated Press reported:

 

" It's disturbing that doctors who would never venture a comment about the health

of anybody from a homemade video are sitting on the floor of Congress making

declarations, " said Art Caplan, chairman of the Department of Medical Ethics at

the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine. " My own impression, from a

distance, is that they've subverted what they know to be good medicine for the

aim of achieving a political goal. " [6]

 

And reporters are now raising questions about a right-to-die law Bush signed as

Texas governor, contradicting his position in the Schiavo case. Just last week,

the law was applied for the first time, allowing doctors to remove a critically

ill infant from life support against his mother's wishes. According to the

Houston Chronicle, this marks the first time in American history that courts

allowed a pediatric patient to die against the wishes of their parent.[7] As the

Knight Ridder News service reports:

 

" The mother down in Texas must be reading the Schiavo case and scratching her

head, " said Dr. Howard Brody, the director of Michigan State University's Center

for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences. " This does appear to be a

contradiction. " Brody said that, in taking up the Schiavo case, Bush and

Congress had shattered a body of bioethics law and practice. " [8]

 

It's time to speak up about this kind of political posturing, and ask Congress

to get back to work. Can you sign our petition to Republican leaders in Congress

to stop grandstanding on the Schiavo tragedy?

 

http://www.moveonpac.org/grandstanding/?id=5254-4787433-H1IyXooiKgrC0l3A0Tlr0w

 

A large majority of the American public agree that Congress was wrong to

interfere in the Schiavo case, and less than a quarter believe Congress acted

out of real concern about Schiavo's life, according to an ABC poll.[9] And the

nation's editorial boards agree. Check out this sampling from many of the

nation's papers, compiled by the National Journal's Hotline:

 

" The U.S. legal system is not supposed to be one of legislative 'do-overs...

Lawmakers may believe that they acted this weekend to save a life, but they also

took a step that diminishes the rule of law " (Washington Post, 3/22).

" When the Founders wrote the Constitution, they devoted the largest section

to spelling out the powers of Congress. Nowhere did they include the right to

play doctor. Terri Schiavo's story is tragic enough without political

malpractice " (USA Today, 3/22).

" The Bush administration and the current Congressional leadership like to wax

eloquent about states' rights. But they dropped those principles in their rush

to stampede over the Florida courts and Legislature...It may be a formula for

short-term political success, but it is no way to preserve and protect a great

republic " (New York Times, 3/22).

" Congress' unwarranted and brash effort to seize judicial power in the case

of Terri Schiavo is shameful truly a low point in its recent history " (Kennebec

Journal, 3/22).

" What has happened here is that the GOP, famously the party favoring limited

government intervention into people's personal lives, has inserted the federal

government squarely in the middle of an incredibly personal medical issue. And

they've done it all in the name of making sure that some of their core voters

stay with them " (Athens Banner-Herald, 3/22).

" Terri Schiavo has the right to die ... Congress and President Bush should be

ashamed for prolonging the suffering and trying to legislate what is clearly the

authority of the courts to adjudicate " (Atlanta Journal Constitution, 3/22).

" Coming at a time when crucial health care services are being slashed, it is

particularly upsetting to see this kind of expensive grandstanding on the part

of congressional Republicans over one high-profile case. This is not compassion:

This is cold-blooded political calculation " (Charleston Gazette, 3/22).

" One by one, the bedrock conservative convictions of the national Republican

Party are giving way...yielding to the demands of a raucous religious right that

has become the Republicans' most reliable electoral base " (Trenton Times, 3/22).

" Washington's empathy for Schiavo centers on vying for political points, not

merely concern for one family's personal, medical plight. That makes this unwise

intervention by elected officials even more distasteful " (Philadelphia Inquirer,

3/22).

" To have the legislative and executive branches of the federal government

mobilize on a Sunday as fast as if we'd declared war in order to intervene in a

family's medical dispute is, frankly, frightening. It's an unprecedented

intrusion by the highest echelons of federal power into a private hospital room.

It's dangerous. And more than a little Orwellian " (Augusta Chronicle, 3/22).

 

Let's tell Tom DeLay and Bill Frist to get back to business. Please join us by

signing the petition at the link below, and sending this message on to your

friends and family.

 

http://www.moveonpac.org/grandstanding/?id=5254-4787433-H1IyXooiKgrC0l3A0Tlr0w

 

Together, we can restore some common sense to a Congress that's out of control.

 

Sincerely,

 

--Eli Pariser and the whole MoveOn PAC Team

March 23rd, 2005

 

Footnotes:

 

1. Schiavo case exposes political divide in U.S., Reuters AlertNet

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21351168.htm

 

2. GOP Talking Points on Terri Schiavo, ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Schiavo/story?id=600937

 

3. DeLay Under Fire Over Ethics, Associated Press

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=667 & id=5254-4787433-H1IyXooiKgrC0l3A0Tlr0w

 

4. Some in GOP Fear Effort May Alienate Voters, L.A. Times

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=668 & id=5254-4787433-H1IyXooiKgrC0l3A0Tlr0w

 

5. G.O.P. Right Is Splintered on Schiavo Intervention, New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/politics/23repubs.html

 

6. Physicians in Congress criticized, Associated Press

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7263055/

 

7. Baby dies after hospital removes breathing tube, Houston Chronicle

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=669 & id=5254-4787433-H1IyXooiKgrC0l3A0Tlr0w

 

8. Law Bush signed prompts cries of hypocrisy, Knight Ridder Newspapers

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=670 & id=5254-4787433-H1IyXooiKgrC0l3A0Tlr0w

 

9. ABC News poll

http://www.pollingreport.com/news.htm

 

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