From the same AP story...

Terri Schaivo's mother is going through a torment that I cannot imagine. I don't dispute this.

From the AP:

"There are some congressmen that are trying to stop this bill," she said outside her daughter's hospice. "Please don't use my daughter's suffering for your own personal agenda."

The Republicans are the ones with the agenda.

I wonder how Terri's mother would react to this:

From the Washington Post:

In a memo distributed only to Republican senators, the Schiavo case was characterized as "a great political issue" that could pay dividends with Christian conservatives, whose support is essential in midterm elections such as those coming up in 2006.

Who has the agenda? McCain was asked about it...

Again from the Washington Post:

Republicans were denying that political motivations were behind legislative efforts to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube.

I hope we're not ... making this human tragedy a political issue," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "We've got plenty of other issues that are political in nature for us to fight about."

This is the heart of the matter. Either McCain's office got the memo or not. This is being played for political purposes. When a principled man like Senator McCain refuses to condemn what the other members of his party are doing, he is just as responsible.

The Republicans are attempting to make a mockery of this family's anguish, by making a big show of intervening here
.

From the same Washington Post story:

McCain was asked on ABC's "This Week" about a memo suggesting GOP lawmakers could use the case to appeal to Christian conservative voters.

"I think that the motivation of my colleagues is that we want to give this young woman's family a chance to care for her for as long as she lives," McCain said. "I don't think it's any more complicated than that."

He also pointed out, "The Democrats did not disagree with the unanimous voice vote in the Senate implementing this."

Since when do the people who so strongly shill about moral absolutes on campaign trail, who demonize the Democratic Party as being anti-life, and who use these issues to get elected, suddenly look the Democrats as their moral compass?

Let's just be clear. There was hardly anyone at the capitol when this was going on. Everyone had left for the Easter recess. Then this memo starts making its way around to the Senators. Then what happens? Suddenly John McCain and Mel Martinez are on the Sunday shows. McCain because he is the so called moderate in the party. Mel Martinez because he is from Florida.

The Republican Party is notorious for having a media machine that keeps people on message. The Republican members of congress do not put forth a media message without it being coordinated up and down the party chain of command.

This is deliberate. This isn't about life. This isn't a debate about patient’s rights when on life support.

You'll find Tom DeLay anywhere there is a television camera:


Again, from the Washington Post:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who pushed Congress to consider the legislation, said yesterday that he is "confident that this compromise will restore nutrition and hydration to Ms. Schiavo as long as that appeal endures."

DeLay said he did not know if it would mean she would be spared indefinitely. "That's not the point," he said. "The point is that Terri Schiavo should have the opportunity. We should investigate every avenue before we take the life of a living human being, and that's the very least we can do for her."

She's had 15 years. She had numerous chances in courts. Her family has had to go through this process. Now that the politicians smell blood in the water, it's about to get so much worse.

As you'll notice from other posts, Tom DeLay isn't concerning himself with Sun Hudson or Spiro Nikolouzos. Tom DeLay wants to use this for 2006. The Republicans are attempting to set the agenda for the mid term elections, using this family as their pawn. In the process they have unbelievably abused their authority and made ridiculously blatant power grab, trying to have their way over the courts.

I feel physically ill. They are VILE PEOPLE.

-The Oklahoma Hippy