Schiavo furor leaves rips in GOP 'big tent'
By LUCY MORGAN
Published March 26, 2005
What ever happened to that Republican "big tent" that was supposed to welcome those with differing ideas?
Some members of the Florida Senate are questioning where the tent went and why they are being made to feel like lepers by the Christian right wing.
Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, and eight others were the targets of extreme pressure over the past week for opposing a measure that could have jeopardized thousands of living wills and violated the wishes of many Floridians who have yet to write down what they want to happen at the end of life.
King and the others were repeatedly accused of being disloyal to the GOP.
"This is very dangerous for our party and our government," King said this week as he struggled to make it past protesters jamming Capitol corridors.
In an effort to pass a bill that might help extend Terri Schiavo's life, some legislative leaders were willing to jeopardize everyone else's wishes. The measure failed to pass the Senate.
Some Republicans are worried that the intolerance shown by Christian conservatives in the Schiavo matter could jeopardize many of the gains the party has made in the past decade.
The GOP captured control of the Legislature only nine years ago and got control of the Governor's Mansion in 1998. Democrats often say the GOP is in the hands of extremists. The Schiavo case supports that notion.
Instead of winning support for a bill aimed at restoring Schiavo's feeding tube, many protesters angered senators who were bombarded with obscene telephone calls and death threats.
It was Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, who complained the loudest as the Senate engaged in an unusually emotional debate. She said the death threats filled her with fear, but they didn't persuade her to vote for the bill.
King, meanwhile, was not alone in wondering why Christians who believe in a better life after death would work so hard to prolong the suffering of an innocent person who should be going to a better place.
As the week moved toward Easter, the pressure was on Gov. Jeb Bush to do something. Bush didn't do himself a favor when he said he believes he has the authority to seize custody of Schiavo and provide her with treatment.
At a news conference Wednesday, Bush wouldn't answer questions about whether he intended to use the power he thinks he has. That led to mounting speculation that the state might swoop into the hospice and kidnap Schiavo.
Finally Bush surfaced briefly Thursday afternoon to say he would not violate court orders that have denied the state access to Schiavo.
By then it was too late to silence the clamor that was rising among vociferous protesters outside the Capitol.
Loudest among them was Operation Rescue's Randall Terry, who said "there will be hell to pay" if Bush doesn't intervene.
Somewhere in all of this the rule of law must prevail, or we are all lost. Bush's brief flirtation with taking the law into his own hands was a serious mistake that could cost the GOP for years to come.
One by one, Republicans around the state began announcing: "Enough."
"I am a longstanding registered, voting Republican, but after watching this disgusting display, I am gone," wrote Ray Snyder of Crawfordville in a letter to the editor in the Tallahassee Democrat Friday. "I see the dark ages of the Inquisition being born again. Someone needs a large dose of sanity and common sense, but it may already be too late."
Asked about the impact of the case on the GOP, Larry Sabato, professor of politics at the University of Virginia, says he thinks there will be some temporary backlash but voters will have forgotten by the next election.
Republicans in Congress have totally politicized the issue, and shouting protesters have turned the entire tragedy into a circus operating outside the hospice, the courthouses, the Capitol and the Governor's Mansion.
No one wins. And once again Florida looks incredibly stupid.