We’ve been on vacation in Florida this week and for us news junkies it’s been a pleasure to partake of the St. Petersburg Times, and ignore the usual suspects. In consequence, we’ve been able to read the local, rather than national, coverage of the Terri Schiavo case, and get the perspective of the people who have been covering the story since way before DeLay and Frist decided to play God.
One story today noted the outrage of Florida Republicans at DeLay referring to Florida judge George Greer as a murderer and terrorist. It happens that Judge Greer is himself a Republican, and has a lot of Republican friends who have rallied to his defense. The irony of the Republican Congress violating its own oft repeated mantra of states’ rights to interfere in a Florida matter is not lost on the people down here. Say what you want about Florida (and we are certainly guilty of calling them names ourselves on many occasions,) but the folks here, even many right-to-lifers, don’t care much for DeLay’s cynical grandstanding.
Also today, an editorial pointed out that President Bush’s pronouncement that he should “err on the side of life” rings a bit hollow when one takes a look at the executions he approved while governor of Texas, including that of Gary Graham, the last American to be executed for a crime committed while a juvenile. As the Times points out, Graham was almost certainly innocent, and yet Bush rationalized his execution by asserting that he was guilty of other crimes. Actually the Times didn’t equivocate at all on the topic of Bush’s pronouncement: “That is a contemptible hypocrisy,” is the exact language they used.
Finally, columnist Howard Troxler asked today why DeLay and Frist waited during a legal procedure that has been going on for years before they acted “to say our [Florida’s] law does not count.” He recounts the story of Thomas More, albeit the fictionalized one of A Man for All Seasons. You may remember Thomas More as a genuinely religious man who gave his life for his principles when he refused to approve the divorce of Henry VIII. Troxler notes that the government of Henry was willing to trample its own laws for its political ends.
No matter what you think of whether Terri Schiavo should be kept alive or allowed to die, it is clear that the Florida judiciary did not take the matter lightly. The litigation has been going on for years. All sides have had their day in court, and the Florida legislature has had ample opportunity to make its wishes known.
In that context, the self righteous Thomas DeLay stands out in sharp contrast to the righteous Thomas More. One can only hope the Christian voters in Florida remember the difference the next time they get a chance to make their opinion known as to which sort of religion they prefer.
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