geekchick | Mar. 21st, 2005

Bush Signs Approved Schiavo Measure
[...]
Voting 203 to 58 at 12:42 a.m., the House joined the Senate in approving the measure and rushing it to Bush. He signed the bill into law at 1:11 a.m., saying, "I will continue to stand on the side of those defending life for all Americans, including those with disabilities.

All Americans? Like Sun Hudson? Mr. Bush did, after all, sign into law a provision authorizing unilateral withdrawal of treatment by the hospital over the objections of the patient's surrogate. To be fair (although that's not really the word I want here), it seems that the extension of this provision to include withdrawal of treatment from minors over parental objection was passed in 2003.

Or Oliver Cruz, a prisoner with an IQ of 63 who was executed in 2000? Bush was too busy campaigning to grant a reprieve; that left the decision in the hands of Lt. Governor Rick Perry, who later went on as governor to veto a bill banning the execution of mentally retarded criminals. Of course, given his track record he was unlikely to grant a reprieve, and relying on memos from Alberto "Torture 'em, kill 'em all and let (our) God sort them out" Gonzales to make a decision couldn't have helped much.

And how about the 29 juveniles on death row in Texas as of Jan. 1, 2005?

So when you say "all Americans", what you really mean is "all Americans whose cases are clearly likely to win us points with the pro-life base", like Terri Schiavo or "the unborn", and none of those messy, problematic types.

(As an aside, if you haven't seen them yet, go read Rivka's posts at Respectful of Otters for her take on the medical and ethical issues. )

I am utterly disgusted by the GOP turning what should be a private family matter into a tool to curry political favor. I'm not even going to start in yet on the legal and political ramifications of this entire clusterf**k transferring jurisdiction away from the state courts and into federal court because my head will explode, and that's bad for productivity at work.

[Edit: The same Washington Post story linked above point out that "[t]he Senate, operating under unanimous-consent rules, passed the legislation yesterday afternoon with no debate and with only three members present." ]