Schiavo case reveals the hypocrisy of the right

Washington Times-Record Story *requires free registration Highlights below.

The extraordinary intervention of Congress and the president into the Terri
Schiavo case serves as an inkblot test for a nation conflicted over the ethics
of death and the role of religion and morality in policy-making.

Across
America, conservative talk radio hosts and other supporters saw turning the
brain-damaged woman's fate over to the federal courts as a righteous stand
against the Florida court system, Schiavo's husband and her doctors, and a
culture that puts too small a premium on human life.

Critics interpreted
the all-night session as a crass political gesture, an abandonment of long-held
principles on states' rights, and a craven effort to use one family's agony for
political advantage.

[...]

Some analysts said the political
motives were particularly transparent for Republicans who - until Monday - had
traditionally championed states' rights.

"They are totally trampling on
the state's authority in a way the Republicans historically have been opposed
to," said Melanie Leslie, a professor of family law at Cardozo School of Law at
Yeshiva University in New York. "During the Civil Rights era, that was their
whole diatribe. They've gotten awfully creative to come up with this."

[...]

Polls conducted over the past 48 hours show that a
majority of Americans believe that Congress and the president are overstepping
their bounds by getting involved in a matter that had already been reviewed by
19 judges in Florida.

In a poll released by ABC News Monday, 70 percent
said it is inappropriate for Congress to get involved, and two-thirds of the
respondents said they believe elected officials trying to keep Schiavo alive are
doing so more for political advantage than out of concern for her.

[...]

"I don't think Congress is going to get out of this without some damage,
" said Jack Pitney, a professor of political science at Claremont McKenna
College outside Los Angeles.

"If they didn't act, supporters of this
action would have accused members of letting (Schiavo) die. As it is, a lot of
people think Congress has intervened improperly. One characteristic of these
issues is there is no way to make everyone happy."

I just hope that this wakes up an otherwise apathetic majority to the fact that the religious right is trying to hijack and destroy everything that made america great. Initial polls indicate that it is possible they are at least are starting to notice.