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Home > Archive > Medicine transcription > March 2005 > Schiavo case tests GOP alliances, priorities
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Schiavo case tests GOP alliances, priorities
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| Public reaction to federal intervention surprises many lawmakers
ANALYSIS
By Shailagh Murray and Mike Allen
Updated: 11:43 p.m. ET March 25, 2005
WASHINGTON - A week after their unprecedented intervention in the Terri
Schiavo case, Republican congressional leaders find themselves in a moral
and political thicket, having advanced the cause as a right-to-life issue -
only to confront polls showing that the public does not see it that way.
"How deep is this Congress going to reach into the personal lives of each
and every one of us?" asked Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.), one of only five
Republicans in the House to vote against the Schiavo bill.
Fractured alliances
Republican lawmakers and others engaged in the debate say an internal party
dispute over the Schiavo case has ruptured, at least temporarily, the uneasy
alliance between economic and social conservatives that twice helped
President Bush get elected.
"Advocates of using federal power to keep this woman alive need to seriously
study the polling data that's come out on this," said Grover Norquist,
president of Americans for Tax Reform, who has been talking to both social
and economic conservatives about the fallout. "I think that a lot of
conservative leaders assumed there was broader support for saying that they
wanted to have the federal government save this woman's life."
Some Republicans said they do not believe the vote to allow a federal court
to examine whether any of Schiavo's
constitutional rights had been violated will become a political issue,
especially since 47 House Democrats voted for the measure, while 53 voted
against.
An issue of 'conscience'
"It was not a partisan issue. It was one of conscience," said Rep. Eric I.
Cantor (R-Va.), the chief deputy whip. "People will remember that the
majority attempted to address a very difficult situation and did it with a
real seriousness of purpose."
Democrats struggled with their own internal divisions over whether to join
Republicans in urging federal courts to consider the Schiavo case - or to
oppose it as a dangerous legislative overreach. The decision of so many
Democrats to support Republican action represented a rare moment of detente
between the two otherwise warring parties.
Even House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.), one of the most partisan
politicians in Washington, conceded, "There's been incredible cooperation by
the Democrats and Republicans." Aides in both parties say a shared concern
about the fate of incapacitated people could lead to bipartisan legislation
addressing their rights.
Long-distance diagnoses
The stakes could be particularly high for Frist. Even as he shores up
support with one crucial presidential primary voting bloc - Christian
conservatives - he may have repelled another: small-government
conservatives, who are particularly key in the New Hampshire primary. "A lot
of Republicans who vote up here would be inclined to see this as a personal
matter . . . and would be uncomfortable with what Congress did," said Dante
Scala, a political scientist at St. Anselm college in Manchester, N.H.
One wild card in the Schiavo debate was the degree to which lawmakers,
including DeLay and Frist, questioned Schiavo's medical condition - a
persistent vegetative state with no hope for recovery, according to the
doctors who examined her. DeLay said of Schiavo, "She talks and she laughs
and she expresses happiness and discomfort," and he blamed her inability to
speak on the fact that "she's not been afforded any speech therapy - none!"
In a Senate floor statement March 16, Frist referred to a videotaped exam he
had seen of Schiavo and suggested there could be questions about her true
condition. He described Schiavo as having "a severe disability similar to
what cerebral palsy might be." Neurologists and other experts say that
Schiavo's facial expressions, captured on videotapes that her parents are
circulating, are nothing more than involuntary movements. Scans show her
cerebral cortex has been severely damaged, and other tests indicate no
normal electrical activity in her brain.
An uphill battle
Aggravating Republican frustrations are disturbing new polls, including a
CBS survey that found that 82 percent of Americans - including a whopping 68
percent of people who identify themselves as evangelical Christians - think
Congress's intervention was wrong.
Democrats, who note that the action is identified with the GOP-led Congress
and the president, hope that the public's negative response could translate
into a more general unease with Republican rule. "They look out of step,"
said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), a Clinton White House adviser who runs the
House Democrats' campaign committee. "This Congress is getting involved in
things they shouldn't be getting involved in, and not getting involved in
things they should be."
Republicans are "going to get kicked around a lot," said Larry Sabato,
director of the Center for Politics at the university of Virginia. On the
other hand, he sees a silver lining in the otherwise miserable polls: The
minority that does back congressional action probably supports it intensely,
while the majority that disagrees "won't remember this woman's name in a few
months."
Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-Colo.), who represents one of the toughest districts
for Republicans and is exploring a run for governor, flew back to vote for
the Schiavo bill and said he has no regrets.
"If civil rights issues are a federal issue, and I agree they are, how about
the issue of life?" Beauprez asked. "If I'm going to be the only one
standing up at the end of this that said, 'I stood for life,' I'm happy to
do that."
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7297597/
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