On Sunday the Palm Beach Post ran an opinion piece by it's Editorial Page Editor regarding Senator Bill Nelson's vote to support the Schiavo legislation in Congress:
http://tinyurl.com/58t2b
Nelson lost by trying not to lose
By Randy Schultz
Sunday, March 27, 2005
What's the Democrats' problem? They worry so much about making enemies that they don't make friends.
Take Bill Nelson, Florida's senior U.S. senator. Last weekend, Republicans were stomping on his state and his state's courts as if they were sawdust on a dance floor. Sen. Mel Martinez, who doesn't have lunch unless he checks with the White House, joined in. As the GOP vultures picked at Terri Schiavo's case, Sen. Martinez perpetuated the myth that she hadn't received due process, even though 19 judges had reviewed the case. He fought to give Ms. Schiavo's parents a hearing in federal court, even though the Supreme Court had declined four times to get involved.
Schultz continues: Sen. Nelson won his seat in 2000 with 51 percent of the vote. He's up for reelection next year. Any question that Republicans were more concerned with politics than Terri Schiavo disappeared when ABC News reported a GOP memo calling the case "a great political issue" and mentioning Sen. Nelson. He could have shown courage, defining himself and his party. Since polls show that most Americans object to the unconstitutional attempts by Republicans to interfere in a personal decision, principle would have been good politics. Instead, he ran scared.
Today's paper runs a response from the Senator, and although Nelson's letter references Mr. Schultz' Sunday column, the Senator's argument is a carbon copy of the defenses raised in an email he sent to Schultz prior to the publication of the opinion piece.
http://tinyurl.com/5bxjk
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
In response to Randy Schultz's column Sunday, "Nelson lost by trying not to lose": The case of Terri Schiavo has been a 15-year-long nightmare for all involved. Even the actions of Congress in this case raise questions over whether federal lawmakers overstepped their bounds. At times, I wondered myself.
As has been reported, I did not support the first version of the so-called Terri Schiavo law, because it could have violated the medical privacy of every American. I also disagreed with a second version, in part, because it would have given Terri's parents another long year to file an appeal. But when a third version was offered to give them one final judicial review in a reasonable time frame -- one month, instead of a year --- I supported it. In my view, that narrowly worded bill covering only Terri's case presented a way to finally settle the family's unending dispute. And that's what I as a parent would have wanted -- one last say on behalf of my child.
Regardless of one's views about the ethical, legal and constitutional issues, one aspect of this case is that more people know about the importance of having end-of-life discussions with their family, doctor, clergy and/or attorney. We all should complete a living will. In the 1990s, when I was Florida's treasurer and insurance commissioner, my friend Jim Towey -- now head of President Bush's faith-based programs office -- started a nonprofit called Aging with Dignity, best-known for creating a straightforward living will. I helped Jim form that group and offered its living will, called "Five Wishes," to employees at Florida's Department of Insurance. In the Senate, I've introduced two bills -- the first one in October 2003, the second this month -- that would increase the awareness of living wills among Americans and make it easier to fill them out. One would cover a doctor's office visit for all Medicare patients to discuss end-of-life medical choices and finance a public education campaign to inform Americans of all ages about the importance of having a living will. The other would require state driver license agencies to provide interested persons with easy access to information on living wills -- similar to the way people are informed about organ donation.
Among those that have endorsed my living wills legislation is the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the nation's oldest and largest group representing providers who care for incapacitated patients. The NHPCO has asked all U.S. senators to support the legislation. Congress gave Terri's parents only the benefit of one last appeal to a federal court, but it's now in a position to spare other families by enacting living-wills legislation.
SEN. BILL NELSON, D-Fla.
Washington
Senator Nelson had a perfect opportunity to further explain his position on states rights, respect for the judicial process, government interference in private family matters but chose instead to focus on living wills.
The Senator is up for re-election in 2006 and in fact was directly targeted in the "memo" that no one will take credit for that positioned the Schiavo affair as a political opportunity for the Republican's efforts. Not only did the memo and the meddling by Congress backfire; Senator Nelson tried to play the middle of an issue that has no middle and has become lost.
I was planning on playing an active role in a Nelson re-election campaign, however, for the past few months, despite many emails and phone calls to his office urging the correct votes on many issues, including opposing the Rice and Gonzalez nomination, opposing the bad bankruptcy bill and more, the only recent satisfaction democrats in this state received was his vote against opening the Alaskan wilderness to oil exploration and voting for a minimum wage increase.
There are several Senators and Representatives who regularly post on Kos now, I'd like to issue a challenge to Senator Nelson to come here and explain to his former supporters who are now on the fence just how the hell he's hoping to keep his seat next year....