It is utterly unbelievable what Congress, the President and others have done to violate the rights of Michael and Terri Schiavo. It violates the GOP's platform, medical ethics (Frist claiming she's not permanently vegetative b/c of what he saw on a video tape), the US Constitution and common decency.
But even if the radical right fails and Terri Schiavo goes peacefully to heaven, the GOP will have prospered on one thing. It has refocused the right wing nutbags on judicial nominations. When the fight next comes up, particularly for the Supreme Court, you will see all these people again. And they'll flash pics of Terri Schiavo, and her sobbing mother all over the country and scream, "Look what the liberals did." They will rant and rave that the federal judges are judicial activists, ignoring that everything they've done is consistent with state laws.
The filibuster now becomes ultra important for the sane part of this country. Especially if Terri Schiavo wins. They will fight, they will scream, they will cheat, they will bitch, they will DEMAND judges that have no problem rewriting law on the spot. Congress has already proven that it is willing to do that, despite overwhelming public opinion saying no. Harry Reid MUST, absolutely MUST, keep the Democrats in line. We'll lose one, Ben Nelson of FL. But other Senators who could waver, such as Landrieu, Pryor, Salazar, Nelson of FL and others, we all need to be DOUBLY and TRIPLY sure that they stay in our park on this. We cannot allow these people to take over the judiciary. For then whenever a state does something that Delay or Frist does not like, they'll simply vote to give the federal government authority over it. That is scary, and completely inconsistent with Democracy, that the government can decide on it's own what it is in charge of, whenever it feels like it. That would be like the SGA of LSU, without faculty input, voting to allow students to grade their own papers and schedule their own tests. It's outrageous and ludicrous. It would be funny if it weren't so tragic. These people have no shame and no conscience. We need to bury them and bury them hard. The American people are with the Democrats. Even before this sad affair, the nuclear option was opposed by a majority of Americans. Now it needs to be killed before it becomes a viable option, that is, before a Supreme Court nomination or a major appellate court nomination (like Priscilla Owen).
Landrieu has already gotten a letter from me, thanking her for opposing Bush's extreme nominees and asking her to please keep it up. No rants, no fury in this one. Just thank you and "we need you to keep it up." Terri Schiavo's situation has made clear how important it is that we have that option. The Right's only option for success in this is to have sympathetic judges and a sympathetic Congress. We must keep the judiciary as fair and balanced as possible.
