Theo-con rage: the hijacking of Schiavo’s death
I’m sure Michael Schiavo is not surprised at being labeled ‘Judas’ by the holier-than-thou crowd so noisily protesting outside the hospice, but I really wonder how the Bush brothers feel about being likened to Pontius Pilate by the very contingent whose bidding they did... (1)
Bush and Bush, and Congress, intervened in order to placate these theo-cons, in spite of the overwhelming disapproval of a large majority (reported as being 78%) of the US population. My guess is that those courting the theo-cons are about to receive a painful lesson, which is: no matter how much you do to try to pacify the theo-cons, nothing you do will ever be sufficient.
The second lesson is that once you mobilize the theo-cons, you will not be able to control them - Mr. Schindler might as well have been shouting into the wind when he asked the protesters to go home for the day. (2) Did he really think theo-cons were there in support of him and his family? That was not at all their mission.
‘Sanctimonious’ does not begin to describe these folks, out on the front walk shouting their slogans and disrupting the peace of everyone in the vicinity, including other dying people inside the hospice trying to live out their last moments, peacefully with their loved ones near. The theo-cons don’t care about the impact they’re having on nearby innocents with their loud and childish tantrums and threats; they only want their way, and they want it now.
It would also be interesting to know whether, in their own lives and families, anyone has ever died and under what circumstances. My guess is they’re all like Tom DeLay, and that they have all experienced a surrender to death by the withdrawal of life support when death is the only possible outcome. In other words, the rule they live by is ‘do as I say, not as I do,’ the very worst sort of hypocrisy.
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(1) “At vigil, Schiavo depicted as new martyr - Appeals rejected; her parents run out of legal options,” by Anna Badkhen, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, March 27, 2005.
(2) “Schiavo Family Asks Protesters to Go Home,” by Mike Schneider (AP writer), SFGate.com, Sunday, March 27, 2005.
Bush and Bush, and Congress, intervened in order to placate these theo-cons, in spite of the overwhelming disapproval of a large majority (reported as being 78%) of the US population. My guess is that those courting the theo-cons are about to receive a painful lesson, which is: no matter how much you do to try to pacify the theo-cons, nothing you do will ever be sufficient.
The second lesson is that once you mobilize the theo-cons, you will not be able to control them - Mr. Schindler might as well have been shouting into the wind when he asked the protesters to go home for the day. (2) Did he really think theo-cons were there in support of him and his family? That was not at all their mission.
‘Sanctimonious’ does not begin to describe these folks, out on the front walk shouting their slogans and disrupting the peace of everyone in the vicinity, including other dying people inside the hospice trying to live out their last moments, peacefully with their loved ones near. The theo-cons don’t care about the impact they’re having on nearby innocents with their loud and childish tantrums and threats; they only want their way, and they want it now.
It would also be interesting to know whether, in their own lives and families, anyone has ever died and under what circumstances. My guess is they’re all like Tom DeLay, and that they have all experienced a surrender to death by the withdrawal of life support when death is the only possible outcome. In other words, the rule they live by is ‘do as I say, not as I do,’ the very worst sort of hypocrisy.
_______________________________
(1) “At vigil, Schiavo depicted as new martyr - Appeals rejected; her parents run out of legal options,” by Anna Badkhen, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, March 27, 2005.
(2) “Schiavo Family Asks Protesters to Go Home,” by Mike Schneider (AP writer), SFGate.com, Sunday, March 27, 2005.
posted by Kathleen at 8:10 PM
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