Unless something changes, Tom DeLay and George Bush should know that the day they leave public office they can make a lot of money in a new career: as engineers in train demolition derbies.
Because yet another poll indicates their decision to shove the Terri Schiavo controversy into Congress, abruptly change hundreds of years of democratic checks and balances, and do it in a way to maximize political drama and appeal to a key segment of the GOP base is turning into a political train wreck.
How big? It’s too early to tell. At the end of the day their strategists may be giving each other high-fives for consolidating Christian Evangelicals, but a second poll now suggests that their political choices will prove a wash — but most likely a net loss.
Who was their advisor? Bob Shrum?
Here are the results of yet another political poll that is SURE to be dismissed as being inaccurate, meaningless and distorted by such scholarly experts in political impartiality as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, who blasted an earlier ABC poll that showed the Schiavo policy was as popular as The New Coke:
Congressional leaders have insisted their only motivation in getting involved in the Terri Schiavo case was saving a life. But Americans aren’t buying that argument, a CBS News poll finds.
An overwhelming 82 percent of the public believes the Congress and President should stay out of the matter.
As Daffy Duck would say: “82 percent, eighty-two perschment: what does it matter as long as we have the power to do it?” More:
Just 13 percent of those polled think Congress intervened in the case out of concern for Schiavo, while 74 percent think it was all about politics. Of those polled, 66 percent said the tube should not be inserted compared to 27 percent who want it restored. The issue has generated strong feelings, with 78 percent of those polled — wheter for either side of the issue — saying they have strong feelings.
Public approval of Congress has suffered as a result; at 34 percent, it is the lowest it has been since 1997, dropping from 41 percent last month. Now at 43 percent, President Bush’s approval rating is also lower than it was a month ago.
Indeed, his poll numbers could fall even more. George Bush won two elections by getting Benefit Of The Doubt Voters: people turned off by the inept, clumsy, and at times left-of-center campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry. Post election analyses showed that the Democrats lost many centrists during these elections because Bush was considered the safer choice. Phone calls and emails we’re now getting indicate some of these folks now consider this crew not compassionate conservatives or classic conservatives but members of an increasingly powerful radical right.
And it gets worse for DeLay/Bush. CBS’s polling also indicates this NEW BRAND of Republicanism — something not seen on the American scene and not resembling anything described by Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan — is not playing well with Democrats, Republicans or any religion:
Both Catholics and Protestants think the tube should not be re-inserted now. Liberals and moderates both believe the tube should not be re-inserted; conservatives are more closely divided. Most Democrats and Republicans agree the tube should remain out at this point. A strong majority of Americans in every age group says the tube should not be re-inserted now.President Bush signed the legislation concerning Terri Schiavo on Sunday night, but a majority of those who voted for him last November do not think the feeding tube should be re-inserted. John Kerry’s voters agree.
Most Americans do not now think the case ought to go further up the judicial system. A majority, 61 percent, says the case should not be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, while 37 percent say the court should hear the case.
We’re sure the Supreme Court justices are reading the poll and must be considering receipt of this case as welcome as a pitcher of Kool Aid from Jim Jones. GOPers should consider the issue Kool Aid, too, because the latest news is that there is considerable speculation that Florida Governor Jeb Bush is trying to get court custody of Schiavo to put her in protective custody.
Meanwhile, the poll has REAL bad news for DeLay/Bush/Bush: it suggests their stance is not beloved in the GOP itself:
There are no partisan political differences on this issue: majorities of Democrats (89 percent), Republicans (72 percent), liberals (84 percent) and conservatives (76 percent) are in agreement that the government should not be involved. 68 percent of white evangelicals think that Congress and the President should stay out of the Schiavo case.
Glenn Reynolds, in a detailed analysis on his MSNBC page, looks into the possibility that the GOP coalition could be splintering. A key quote:
A while back, I wrote about the problem of “fair-weather federalism,” but judging by the past week things look to be getting much worse. So will the Republican coalition fracture under these pressures?
Quite possibly. National security is the glue that has held Bush’s coalition together. The war isn’t over, and we haven’t won yet, but it’s going well…and this is allowing the divisions to show… One may argue that libertarians and small-government conservatives aren’t a big part of Bush’s coalition, but his victory wasn’t so huge that the Republicans can surrender very many votes and still expect to win. So this is a real threat.
CBS also notes this on the poll:”And Congress’ motives for being involved are seen as driven by political calculations, not compassion.”
Question: How can people be so cynical? Answer: Easily.
Why? Because this issue has gone beyond the realm of being an issue about saving a life. It has gone beyond the realm of being about a medical diagnosis. It has gone into the realm of really being about a group of politicians — people who desperately need votes and campaign cash to perpetuate themselves in power — pulling out all stops to show that they have the power to do whatever they want so they can readily get the campaign contributions and votes that they need.
If they have to change the rules of the game for issues Congress traditionally has voted on, and limit it to just one case, they will. If they have to demonize a judge who before he ruled was called a good judge, they will. If they have to basically repudiate the heartfelt philosophy of the GOP’s onetime icons Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan to do it — all the time denying that they are doing so — they will. If they can find a way to put Schiavo in protective custody to skirt legal defeats in the appeals process, they will.
It’s now all about power — the power to change the rules of the game that have been in place for years about the way these kinds of cases have been conducted; the power to change the rules of the game about what Congress gets involved in; the power to jettison conservative philsophy that so many people worked so long and so hard to bring to America’s corridors of power; and the power to try to triumph over losing court appeals by taking Schiavo into protective custody if necessary and doing an end-run around the actual court cases.
It’s about power…using a political steamroller to flatten, squash and seemingly ignore opposing views…and above all winning at ALL costs, without aggragating a wide variety of interests. That’s why there is such a frenzy to come out on top.
By this action, flying in the face of political polls showing an overwhelming rejection of this by the bulk of Americans from a large cross-section of groups and parties, President George Bush has proven himself a divider not a uniter. Or perhaps we have that wrong: he is uniter because so much of America adamantly opposes his and DeLay’s action in this case. And if there is fallout, DeLay should not take the sole blame; Bush made a choice that his more moderate father never would have made.
The late comedian Jack Benny once got big laughs on a talk show by taking out a phone book and reading it. George Bush, Tom DeLay and Jeb Bush can now get big laughs by simply declaring:”The era of big government is over.”
BUT THERE ARE OTHER, DIFFERING VIEWS ON THIS FROM PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THEMSELVES TO BE AS CORRECT AS TMV. Here’s a cross-section:
–Wizbang’s Kevin Alyward:”I remain skeptical of the argument the Schindler’s lawyers have put forth (they claimed that Terri Schiavo’s religious and due process rights have been violated) in their federal case, and suspect the Supreme Court may decided not to hear the case. I still believe their only path to victory would have been to challenge the flimsy evidence to suggest that Terri Schiavo would have wanted the fate she’s now about to meet.”
—Americablog:
82 percent. Wow. When was the last time 82 percent of Americans agreed on anything? And, especially on a so-called moral issue. The intensity factor, which the GOP was figuring was on their side…well, it’s on both side…
I think this was one issue that Americans understood. Too many people have had to go through a tough family medical crisis….and too many people have their own intra-family issues. The Schiavo case opened a window for the American people on what kind of leaders they really have in George Bush and Tom DeLay. And they don’t like what they see. These guys are power crazed and out of control.
—Mark Keiman:” I think we need to be cautious in interpreting the polls. It makes sense to think that if CBS got even more lopsided answers than ABC got, it was by asking even more lopsided questions. If the public believed what I believe about the facts, solid majorities would think Congress had done the wrong thing and the courts the right thing. But the picture they’re shown is of a woman alive and smiling whose mother is pleading for her life. We still don’t know what they think about that.”
—Mahablog:”Right now I think some people in the GOP must realize they’ve made a miscalculation and are secretly hoping Terri Schiavo hurries up and passes on. I think the longer this drama drags on, the bigger the backlash is going to be.”
–The conservative blog Always Right:”At this point, DeLay can only bring House Republicans more agony as some of his past, unscrupulous actions come to light. Now, he’s using the Schiavo situation to deflect attention from himself. Does this remind you of anyone? Kinda like Clinton bombing Iraq in an attempt to deflect Monicagate, huh? Let’s put a muzzle on DeLay like we did Trent Lott a few years ago. That has worked out pretty well so far…”
—Daily Kos:”This is turning into a disaster of epic proportions for the GOP. They thought they had the Dems wedged, and instead they have wedged themselves from the American public. Congress is being exposed as the cynical, power-mad, ethics-free zone that it has become under DeLay’s leadership. Read the poll. It has nothing but bad news for Republicans.”
—Jazz Shaw, who left the GOP before the elections:”I no longer have any interest in going back, either, even if you do manage to find some scrappy fighters. The Eisenhower Republicans are long since gone. Even if you find some moderate GOP members today who aren’t totally castrated and silenced by DeLay and company, they are still a new breed of shrinking violets, most of whom I would still rather not be associated with.”
—Greg Ransom:
EVANGELICALS to Bush and the Congress — it’s none of your business.
CONSERVATIVES to Bush and the Congress — it’s none of your business.
REPUBLICANS to Bush and the Congress — it’s none of your business.
—Michael Demmons:”If you needed more proof that this is simply electioneer grandstanding, you need only know that President Bush himself, while governor of Texas, signed legislation giving the spouse the right to decide to remove life support.”
—James Joyner (a highly thoughtful conservative blogger) on Jeb Bush:”While I find the idea of the state trying to assert custodial rights after over a decade of litigation outrageous, trying to do so via the legal process is at least less obscene than a unilateral decision to kidnap her.”
–pudentilla at skippy the bush kangaroo (who writes all in lower case) also points to jeb bush’s efforts:”ever wonder what an american theocracy would look like? it would look like this…”
—The Left Coaster’s Duckman raises a slew of issues. A small taste:
While… the righteous can claim their divinity, what remains is that the freaking republicans have conspired to reach out and violate the Courts, the States, and the Citizens of this country….
From this non-precedent case, how long will it be before they try to force a woman to carry that fetus to term? How long before they tell you where you can live? How long before they tell you what kind of education you can get and where? How long before they tell you what god to worship? How long before Guantanamo moves Stateside? And what in hell happened to the freaking Sanctity of Marriage crap that these world class hippocritters have been so orgiastically railing about since rove decided it would stimulate the base?
—David Limbaugh (Rush’s brother who has a blog crammed with content):
Though the spiritual and moral state of our society seems to have deteriorated, I can’t help but believe that a creative legal (judicial or legislative) remedy exists out there that could benefit Terri — assuming current efforts fail and assuming she could live long enough to benefit from it.
At this point, the law has failed Terri, and to that extent the law, for now, has lost a notch of respectability in my eyes at least. We have too many judges who have embraced the Culture of Death. Again, I’m not so sure all of the judicial mistakes in this case have been born merely of judicial activism, but also judges, even when operating within the scope of their authority, reflecting the degenerating morality of our culture.
–The Democratic blog My DD has an intriguing analysis which should be read in full. An excerpt 4 U:
Bush’s job approval is now at 43% and the job approval of Congress is at 34%, the lowest it has been since 1997. Ah… Lewinsky? Yea, sounds like it.
Karl Rove finally has pushed forward George Bush into saying there’s nothing more that Congress will do– stop the bleeding! The Republicans in DC are going to want a scapegoat for this, and that’s likely to be Tom DeLay. Back in Florida, the Republican State Senate refuses to be rolled, and with Jeb Bush now personally (through the tool of the government) seeking to take away custody of Schiavo from her husband, under Big Father state control… I guess we should believe him when he says he’s not running for President, cause this is his big moment to forever sink the Bush battleship.
–But is all of this a masterful plan to set it up so President Bush can cram the court with conservative judges? Tapped’s Garance Franke-Ruta thinks so:
Suddenly it occurs to me that the Republican fight against the courts on Terri Schiavo has been, among many other things, a perfect set-up for the Republicans’ next major congressional initiative: packing the courts with President Bush’s conservative judicial nominees….
Combine that with the fact that Mark Levin’s Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America is right now on the best-seller lists, and you have a recipe for a mobilizing a hurt and highly motivated constituency in defense of the president’s coming effort to transform the courts so that they more closely hew to the perspective in the White House and Congress.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.