On Giving a Good Cause a Bad Name

washingtonpost.com: 'A Great Political Issue'

I'm only dipping a toe into the Schiavo case because I think Richard Cohen gets this better than most. But as one who does believe that a culture of life is not a held in partisan monopoly, I think that given any discrepancy between family members on the wishes for a person in Terri's situation ought to defer on the side of life. Simple as that.

But the actions taken in reaching this conclusion, apparently, aren't shared alike. "A great political issue" this is called ... often attributing the most vile and cynical memo to one Senator Rick Santorum. This is a tragic choice that divides a family, yet this is seen as a great sop to the crusaders of the right - a good excuse to stand shoulder to shoulder with Operation Rescue's Randall Terry while proclaiming good will at the same time.

Cyncicism radiates from the actions of the so-called right on this moment. Terri deserves to live, but she didn't deserve to be made into a political prop.

Money quote from Cohen ...

After viewing the tape, Frist felt confident in questioning the several courts and many doctors who -- apparently handicapped by firsthand examinations -- had erroneously concluded that Schiavo was in a "persistent vegetative state."

...

Terri Schiavo's husband said she would not want to live the way she does now -- and that she even said so. But she was only 26 when tragedy struck, probably too young to have given serious thought to these matters. Besides, what she once wanted is not the point. That person is gone -- or so say the experts and so say the courts that have heard from the experts. What remains is a legal case that no longer is about Schiavo. Instead it's about the politics of abortion -- right to life -- and political opportunism. Terri Schiavo lives so that others, notably Frist, can run for higher office. I know that by watching the tape.