Terri Schiavo’s parents got a rare legal victory, albeit small, when a federal appeals court agreed to consider an emergency motion for a new hearing for their daughter. She’s gone 12 days without nutrition, so it may be too late. More interesting from a political perspective is Jesse Jackson’s new involvement on behalf of the Schindler family and protestors. On the one hand, he could have done this a long time ago, and I suspect he wants his publicity back as much as he wants Terri to live:
Mr. Jackson, who arrived in a white limousine and met privately with the Schindlers before addressing the news media, called Ms. Schiavo’s case “one of the profound moral and ethical issues of our time.” He also phoned several black Democrats in the State Senate and pressed them to reconsider legislation, defeated in the Senate last week, that would require the feeding tube to be reinserted.
“We cannot hide behind the law and not have mercy,” Mr. Jackson said, calling the withholding of food and water inhumane, immoral and unnecessary.
The decision by the civil rights leader to enter the Schiavo fray at the last minute surprised some fellow Democrats.
“I don’t question the motivation – I question the timing,” said Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000. “The parents are in a last-ditch effort at this moment and have run out of legal options.”
It’s still significant, though, because it forces the media to look at the Schiavo case not just as a family or religious issue, but as a civil rights issue, which is long overdue. As one minister who helped set up the meeting said:
“I suggested it to everyone I could see down there,” said Mr. Mahoney, who left Pinellas Park this week to lobby lawmakers in Washington. “His coming says that it isn’t a religious-right issue and it’s O.K. for others to get involved, particularly in the African-American community.”
It could have been a great story angle, diverging from the pack, if some enterprising reporter had decided to pursue it a couple weeks ago.
I’m a tech journalist who’s making a TV show about a college newspaper.