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Michael Schiavo Founds PAC

By TChris, Section Other Politics
Posted on Thu Dec 08, 2005 at 08:59:13 AM EST
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by TChris

Terri Schiavo's husband, vilified and demonized by members of the extreme right, is using the political process to fight back. He’s created TerriPAC to raise funds to defeat the politicians who exploited his family’s personal tragedy for their own political purposes.

Among Republicans it is targeting are Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas.

Michael Schiavo’s experience made him realize that his party has been hijacked by extremists.

"I was a lifelong Republican before Republicans pushed the power of government into my private family decisions," Schiavo said in a statement. "And it is not so simple to forget those politicians who shamelessly sought to squeeze political leverage out of my family's most emotional hour."

< Say Hello: Alito's America | Sham Patriot Act Compromise Moves Through Congress >

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    • Michael Schiavo Founds PAC | 38 comments (38 topical)
    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#1)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:46 PM EST
    Good for him. This deserves to be remembered.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#2)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:46 PM EST
    Hopefully, other life-long Republicans come to the same realizations. The GOP has been hijacked by extremists.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#3)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:46 PM EST
    "I was a lifelong Republican before Republicans pushed the power of government into my private family decisions"
    Didn't Michael push the power of government into the private family decision when he requeted a court order?

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#4)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:46 PM EST
    Except that it was a court order to enforce rights he already had. This was, you have to remember, pre-drooling, pre-pandering.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#5)
    by Slado on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    This was an emotional issue on both sides and BOTH sides tried to score political points. As a life long Republican I do not take their actions on one issue as a sign that my party is cracking up. There is a lot of extremism on both sides and the lefties should spend less time worring about the republican party and a little more time checking out the party run by Dean, Reid and Pelosi.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#6)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Except that it was a court order to enforce rights he already had.
    Rights he had by government decree. Though Michael didn't invite that decree.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#7)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Slado...point taken. The Dems are useless, the Reps are dangerous. I worry about the party in power.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#8)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    roy writes "Rights he had by government decree. Though Michael didn't invite that decree." But governments don't give rights so much as they take them away. Our style of government is supposedly so damned superior because it steals less rights. The Court order was a representation of that. The Congressional Act was a violation of it. Slado writes, "BOTH sides tried to score political points" Please. Very few high profiel Democratic politicans spoke to this issue much at all, and many of the most powerful Senators and Congresspeople (Such as Kerry, Schumer, and Clinton) didn't even bother to show up for the sham vote. It wasn't the Dems who set up lemonade stands outsid the hospice. kdog: Stop Nadering.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#9)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    But governments don't give rights so much as they take them away.
    I happen to agree, but definitions can be finicky. I was surprised to learn that I have a "right" to no less than $5.15 for an hour of work. I thought my boss had lost the right to offer me less. (Not trying to start a minimum wage debate, just illustrating a point about word choice) Whether it's a "right", a "priviledge", or a "widget", Michael had authority over his wife because the government said so way back when. The government saw a problem with incapacitated adults and (IMO legitly) stuck its nose in to set rules. The Republicans just stuck the pre-existing nose in further than usual to score political points. That was a sleazy reason, but not a new phenomenon in the Schiavo affair.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    My new favorite PAC. I feel his pain, before this administration I came down on the side of Republicans more often than not... not anymore.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#11)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Another liberal hero who the liberals should probably(for their own good) stay away from. Why didn't he defer to the parents if that's what the parents wanted: to keep their daughter alive? I don't get it, except it looked like a case of sour grapes and he was the bad guy. I've been there and it's not good either way.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#12)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    This is for you harx...

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#13)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Why didn't he defer to the parents if that's what the parents wanted: to keep their daughter alive?
    You know, LWW, those were and are my private thoughts on the matter. Given what it obviously meant to the parents, what would have been the harm (beyond violating Terry's request, but then, she would never have known. I don't know. I am thankful that I have never been in Michael's position. And if I am ever there, Congress and Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes are the last things I'm going to want to deal with.) But anyway, what we personally think of Michael Shiavo's decision is irrelevant, none of our business, etc. Defending his rights is not the same as emulating him. Emphasizing the Congressional overreach as represntative, in 2006, will not be the same as emulating him either. It will only be telling the truth. Which seems to bug the GOP more than anything.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#14)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Why didn't he defer to the parents if that's what the parents wanted: to keep their daughter alive?
    You know, I'm sure no parent likes hearing this, but he knew Terri better than they did. Kinda goes along with the whole "being married to her" thing. Oh, and given that the autopsy revealed Terri's body to be little more than a brainless corpse forced to continue metabolizing, they were clearly nutjobs anyway. All their stories about how she laughed and told stories and played croquet were either hallucinations or lies. Well, maybe that's a little harsh, given their understandable grief, but Terri's parents were pretty clearly no longer "all there" mentally. I'd rather not have the lunatics running the asylum.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#15)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    "Defending his rights is NOT the same as emulating him." That is some convoluted thinking you have going there. What the hell does that mean in the scheme of things? Maybe in your mind he was wrong? Why not keep that thought.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#16)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    LWW: It's not "convoluted thinking," it's called your opinion of what he decided doesn't matter, and neither does mine. Michael Shiavo owes you nothing, he owes Congress nothing. Sorry you can't wrap your head around that. Maybe you were one of the people chanting and rolling your eyes into the back of your head, behind FNC's stand in front of the Hospice. LWW's way of thinking is exactly why civil liberties are eroding in America today.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#17)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    I haven't rolled my eyes at anyone since I was a kid. Some aunt or uncle if I remember. Convoluted thinking to me is someone who agrees with a principle and then goes along with their pedigree as a good liberal or conservative. You can't do that. That's dishonest to youself. Convoluted too.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#18)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    You jyst don't get it, do you? Your personal opinions are only that, and (thank heavens!) in a great many cases they have no relationship to constitutional law. Find pornography offensive? Don't buy it. Find Grand Theft Auto offensive? Don't buy it. Recoil at the idea of a rally for overturning Roe? Don't attend it. There are lots of people whose views and life choices I don't agree with; doesn't mean I would have them go to jail, or strip them of their right to hold those views/ make those choices. That you need such things explained to you is very troubling.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#19)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    I agree with most of glanton's 12:22 post. This was a debate that needed to be had though. At it's core two qustions needed to be weighed against each other to see which had more weight. The possibility, and at the end probabality, that he was acting spitefully to hurt her parents, to the point of willingness to kill his wife on one hand. And the inherent rights of marriage and the ability to decide what is in your spouse's best interest. The great, and oftentimes terrible, aspect of the law is that we live by a system of precident, and this case was going to set, or at least reinforce, precident. The question simply boiled down into a question of when in doubt, are we going to side on the rights of a spiteful husband, or are we going to side on the protection of life. This debate needed to happen to settle the question of whose right was greater. It's ugly when this happens. No two ways about it. However, I'm glad this case was as ugly as it was. This way, the battle was faught all out, and the question resolved. Regardless of which side you come out on in the debate, this issue had a full fight, as a nation we grappled with and resolved a very personal, very troubling issue. The fact that so much time energy and resources were spent fighting the issue through gives comfort that as a nation we decided the issue correctly. Had this been simply a small, ill funded issue precident would have been established without the issue having been fully explored.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#20)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    What did you become, my teacher now? Who are you? You haven't explained anything to me( although I bet you think you did) so off your high horse now. My opinions are just that, like yours.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Blah. I heard him on Ed Schultz yesterday, and he was terrible. He only used emotional arguments, and even then could barely support them. I was very unimpressed. Granted...maybe he has good people around him that will help get this thing off the ground and running, but from what I heard yesterday it won't last long.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#22)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    OK, LWW, so you're saying that if the person "seems unsavory" or if enough people think he's got "bad or spiteful motives," or something like that, then his rights don't matter? If this is truly your position then, if not me, someone needs to teach you something. But maybe I misunderstand you. Maybe you were never arguing that his rights should have been violated, but only sharing your opinion of the guy. In which case I apologize.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#23)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    He only used emotional arguments
    Dave, I bet you'd be pretty emotional, too, if the United States Congree called a special session for the specific purpose of further complicating a family tragedy you were going through, with the ultimate end of frustrating whatever decisions you had come to. Unfortunately, Dave, it seems that since it didn't happen to you personally, you don't see it as anything worth getting worked up over. And, wanna talk "emotional arguments"? Did you pay attention to all the grandstanding by the droolers "for Terri" when it was actually going down? Blah indeed.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#24)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Glanton, (if that is your real name) I never said anything of the sort. You yourself intimated that you agreed Michael Schiavo should've stepped aside for her parents. Yet you continue to hump for the guy? [remainder deleted]

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#25)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    The key word is "intimated," as far as my own feelings go. My own kneejerk reaction, since the mdeia chose to ram this thing down my throat (I could have closed myself off, and maybe should have, and perhaps still should, eh Tampa?)--my own kneejerk rection was sympathy for everyone, cause the situation, to put it lightly, sucks. What followed was an equally kneejerk sense of, what the hell, it means something to the parents, let them tend to the body. But never for a second was I so ridiculously manipulated by the media as to think that Michael Shiavo deserved to be compelled, by law, to "do what I wanted." I "hump" not for him but for civil liberties, for privacy rights.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#26)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    insult deleted

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    LWW - The point I think that Glanton is trying to make is that it doesn't matter what we think Schiavo's motives are. We can't base our system of law on our subjective views on what was going on, and we can't let those subjective views create a precedent of what would happen to others in that situation. You are not god and you cannot look into Michael Schiavo's heart and know why he made the decisions he did (for example, I think he had completely different motives than you ascribe to him, but I have no real way of knowing which one of us is right). When it comes to who has the right to make legal decisions, we base it on the law (that a spouse has precedent over parents to make medical decisions, which is definitely the way I want it), not on our opinion of Schiavo's character.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#28)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Big Tex writes:
    However, I'm glad this case was as ugly as it was. This way, the battle was faught all out, and the question resolved.
    No, the question was not resolved. Whether the legal community likes it or not, the general populace casts a jaundiced eye upon the very heavy use of precedent. Wrong or not many felt that her parents never received a fair hearing, and that the review process merely looked at the process, not the facts. Glanton writes:
    Defending his rights is not the same as emulating him.
    Okay. But defending them without condemning his actions results in defacto approval. I don't remember you doing that. et al - Seems a shame that the hisband can't let the dead bury the dead.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#29)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Thanks J.B. Maybe you're right. Maybe parental rights mean nothing. We'll see.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#30)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Jim, I don't know enough to condemn Michael Shiavo's actions outright. Do you? I mean, if there were some way to prove that he was lying about Terri's wishes, that would be something, wouldn't it? Now, I will say I, personally, might have done things differently than the husband did. Hard to tell until you're in the middle of it, though. But I bet when one is there, Rick Santorum's opinion, or those of some preacher in North Carolina, or FNC's, or yours, Jim, don't amount to a whizz in a hurricane.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#31)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    You've been great. Especially you the big eraser in the sky. Made my point. Next topic will be some loathesome murderer who should be saved. Yet the innocent are more than expendable. It's positively virtuous to kill them. Please explain.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    "Wrong or not many felt that her parents never received a fair hearing, and that the review process merely looked at the process, not the facts." Holy crap! Receive a fair hearing!?! Congress came to freaking halt on behalf of the parents! My kneejerk reaction happen to be the same as the law. Get out of the mans business, and turn that poor woman off.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#33)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:48 PM EST
    Boobear, you have a bleeding heart in you for Tookie or Mumia? Turn those poor guys off.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#34)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:48 PM EST
    Glanton - When you start to defend someone it kind of goes without saying that you agree with their actions unless you specify otherwise. You did not, and now you want to back up. Boo - What in the world does Congress' actions have to do with a "fair hearing?" And you fail to grasp the obvious. If all the claims were true, she already was turned off. Gesh.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#35)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:48 PM EST
    If all the claims were true, she already was turned off.
    Absolutely right Jim.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#36)
    by mindfulmission on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:49 PM EST
    Glanton:
    Dave, I bet you'd be pretty emotional, too... Unfortunately, Dave, it seems that since it didn't happen to you personally, you don't see it as anything worth getting worked up over.
    Glanton - you don;t seem to understand. I am not criticizing Michael Schiavo for what he did a few months ago. I am criticizing his inability to put together a coherent argument on a national radio show to promote his PAC. I never said it was not something to get worked up over. I didn't even imply. To be honest, I very much think it is something to be worked up over. But I think that it needs to be done better. I was very unimpressed with Michael Schiavo on the radio - not because of what he did in the past, but because of his inability to communicate. If you cannot communicate your mission, values, and goals, you will not have a successful PAC.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#37)
    by mindfulmission on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:49 PM EST
    Oops...my html got messed up. Sorry about that.

    Re: Michael Schiavo Founds PAC (none / 0) (#38)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:49 PM EST
    Dave: Thanks for the clarification. My bad. Jim: I have no interest in backing up, because I'm confident that I've seen this clearly and dispassionately from the beginning. Ridiculous, ofmcourse, that you and I even know who Michael Shiavo is. What a bunch of crap the media blitz was, it was like paparazzi orgy. None of our business, Michael's decision. But since I know about the case I have reflexively thought about it, to an extent against my own will. That's why I say maybe I would have done differently. Still none of my business, though, nor was/is it the US Congress's business. And again, hats off to those Congresspeople who stiffed the vote, ignored it. Hats off, because Congress's attempt to frustrate Michael's decision was/is inexcusable. Let the American people never forget it, so that it may never happen again.

    Michael Schiavo Founds PAC | 38 comments (38 topical)