Terri Schiavo
Ah, nostalgia. Nothing conjures up 2005 better than “Terri Schiavo.” And those two magic words have just transported you back five years.
I wouldn’t have thought the Far Right would want to bring back the Terri Schiavo fiasco, since that was their most embarrassing public relations defeat in recent history. But this is exactly what Marco Rubio is doing.
Florida’s favorite Rightwing Shitburst — and governor wannabe — has been attacking Charlie Crist for not worshipping fetuses devoutly enough. And in a new press release, his campaign dredged up Terri Schiavo:
“Crist also received criticism on the Terri Schiavo debate about where he really stood on a Congressional bill that would have let Terri’s parents take their lawsuit to save her life to federal courts.”
More than any other incident, the Terri Schiavo Show™ put the national spotlight on the Far Right’s chronic severe schizophrenia. Government should be small enough that we can drown it in a bathtub. AND it needs to be big enough to insert itself into millions of Americans’ agonizing personal tragedies.
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Everything you always wanted to know about Reconciliation: Is it a magic wand that will instantly pass every bill the Democrats want? Will it turn Republicans into a horde of screaming foaming maniacs (how could we tell?) who will bring the Senate to a grinding halt?
This article answers a few questions and misconceptions about the Reconciliation process.
Yes, Republicans can offer jillions of amendments to try and paralyze the proceedings. But the total debate time allowed is twenty hours. After 20 hours, “all amendments must be disposed of in a so-called ‘vote-arama.’ So all of those amendments (or motions to waive the amendments) must be voted on in rapid succession.”
Yes, it’ll be a long tedious excruciating process. And that’s all the more reason to get started Yesterday.
Labels: Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio, reconciliation, Terri Schiavo
posted by Tom Harper @ 6:04 PM
12 Comments:
Terri Schiavo. Yeah, that was a rare moment in which the public seemed to recognize, for a few minutes anyway, that the Republicans cared a lot more about the votes of the religious nutcases protesting outside the hospital than they did about Schaivo or her family.
They pretty much threw out their "state's rights" principles while they were at it to, didn't they? These people disgust me. Anything to get their way, and their way always SUCKS. Ruel of LAW? Yeah right, unless they get ruled against.
But hey, good on them for bringing her back to the forefront. Wouldn't want to forget THOSE lessons now, would we? ;)
No need to worry about reconciliation, Joe Biden will be handling everything. The amendments that get chucked into the mix by the Republicans are going to make interesting reading.
Terri Schiavo
Wasn't she the one Bill Frist Diagnosed on Video and declared able?
Next thing you know they will be dredging up Karen Ann Quinlan
Erik
I know facts are painful but the parents went to the Supreme Court because they were willing to take over her care and expenses.
I guess it would be hard to understand watching your child starve to death and feeling helpless regardless of the situation.
Easy to say unless you find yourself in a similar situation and don't even try to up me because we have a family member in a similar situation and his parents are on top of his care.
I am sure in the back of their minds they feel it would have been best had he not survived but he did and the way they "religiously" tend to his needs they would not subject themselves to speeding up his demise intentionally and watch helplessly.
Easy to say when it isn't your own child.
Niceguy Eddie: Yup, for that rare moment the Republicans were shown to be the phony two-faced SOBs that they are. Too bad the public has such a short attention span. As soon as Terri Schiavo's 15 minutes of fame were over, the public went right back under the spell of "family values" and "limited government" and other rightwing drivel.
Holte: You're right, it'll be interesting to see the wacky amendments that Republicans come up with.
Erik: LOL, I'd almost forgotten about that. Bill Frist the Video Doctor.
Anonymous: Yes I'm aware that her parents wanted to keep her "alive" (using the term loosely). Her husband didn't. It was surely an agonizing dilemma for both parties. I'm not trying to say who's right or wrong. And that's exactly why the government shouldn't have intervened. You've gotta admit it's pretty absurd for the party of "limited government" to be getting the Supreme Court involved in a personal tragic family matter.
Ah...reconciliation! An opportunity for Democrats to do the caving in to the health-care lobby rather than the 'Thuglicans. I can't wait! ;-)
Kvatch: That's what I'm afraid of too. We finally use the reconciliation process for a few crucial bills, and they get derailed by Blue Dogs and "moderate" Democrats.
Tom it's not like they had a choice. Who should they have pleaded to then?
Like I said, I didn't take sides in that issue. I blame the Republican "leaders" of that period, for using Terri Schiavo as a giant photo-op for rallying the party's base. Bush, Tom DeLay, Bill Frist -- they all swooped in. And it backfired, which is why I thought it was odd that a Republican candidate would want to dredge the whole thing up again.
I always found it ironic that the anti-choice "pro-life" wing of the Republican Party are also the first ones to rally around bombing another country for no good reason. I guess it would be hard to understand watching your family members become "collateral damage" and feeling helpless because some hate filled hypocrite doesn't understand the situation.
This happened right after my father passed away and made mom and I both go get living wills. Why do they always have to revert to things from years ago instead of where they stand on issues is something I always wonder out loud to myself.
HCR, If they had any sense, they would throw in a public option amendment and see who would be the ones to vote it out. That's my dream dammit and I am staying with it. I want health care as good as I have for everyone.
Anon, I too have been put in that unfortunate situation as a young adult and I can tell you, it is a agonizing thought process. I am glad my mother had a directive in place, in the event anything happened to her.
For a party that keeps repeating the mantra, they want government out of our private lives, they went to great extremes with this one family to do the exact opposite. If you remember, commander cuckoo bananas rushed back to D.C, from his vacation so that he could sign the bill that would keep that poor woman here.
Lew: It's definitely ironic, or schizophrenic, or something. I don't know what runs through these people's minds when they hear themselves spouting "Family Values! Call in the government!" and "Get the government off our backs!" at the same time.
Jess: A public option amendment, I'd love to see that.
Dumbya getting involved in the Terri Schiavo affair, who could forget. The Daily Show had a hilarious take on it. Jon Stewart kept saying "oh, come on, Bush isn't gonna bother with something like this." And then he does that bug-eyed drop-jaw facial expression of his when the video shows Bush stepping off of Air Force One. Too funny.
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