Friday, March 25, 2005

ABC News backing off on “talking points” memo?

This morning, the ABC News blog The Note discusses the political fallout of the Terri Schiavo case. But nowhere in the “news summary” do they mention the disputed memo allegedly circulated among Republican lawmakers about the possible political gain among certain voters. For example, why does ABC News ask this rhetorical question:

5. Does this galvanize the GOP base?
But not this question:

5. Does this galvanize the GOP base as a recent internal memo circulated among Republicans suggests?
It seems strange to leave out that relevant detail, unless ABC News now believes they’ve fallen ass-backward into another Rathergate. Stay tuned.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I would not be surprised if a memo did exist, but I can tell you it isn’t expanding ‘the base’ in my household. In fact, it’s shrunk the base in my household. I will be deregistering myself as a Republican on Monday.

I am disgusted and tired of being fed lies by “conservative” talk show hosts. I used to trust Rush, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and the local radio hacks to provide me with the truth. My eyes and ears have been opened, and they are no different from the Michael Moore’s and Al Franken’s of the world. Conservative or liberal, they all lie, omit and distort the truth to fit their own reality. I do not trust them anymore. Within the past two days, I have heard Michael Schiavo referred to as a murderer, a spousal abuser, and a greedy, thief out to steal the settlement monies, among other insults by conservative talk radio hosts. To hell with the phony radio pundits, today I bought an XM radio.

Unfortunately for them, I’ve gone to FindLaw and took the time to read the trial transcripts. And the reality could not be further from what is being espoused by conservative talk radio. Without reading everything, a good summary of the events can be found on a report issued by an independent, court appointed guardian. Find it here:

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/1203galrpt.pdf

As for Congress and the President, I am sickened by their decision to insert themselves into a private family matter. Thousands of illegal immigrants are crossing our boarders and they can’t find the time and will to do anything to safeguard our nation from economic and physical harm, but they can spend 4 million dollars to fly people back to Washington to inflict their opinions on this family. Tom DeLay blames Mrs. Schiavo's current legal status on a single judge. Bill Frist offered his medical opinion on a patient he never examined in a specialty he has never been trained in. Then they pushed a bill thought to direct the federal courts to get involved in a matter that has already been exhaustively litigated in state and federal court. A House Committee has subpoenaed Mrs. Schiavo to testify. They now have the power to command a woman who is dead from the brainstem up to speak? This is political grandstanding to appease the religious kooks that are taking over the Republican Party. I will not be a member of the party of Lincoln until this lunacy ends.

I feel pity the parents. If you read the document linked above, you will find they really don’t care about their daughter’s wishes. The family testified in court to a hypothetical question and they stated even if their daughter told them she did not wish to live in a vegetative state, that they would ignore her wishes and keep her alive. They also testified that they would amputate all her limbs, submit her to open heart surgery, and any other procedure to keep her alive as long as possible.

This woman’s life is a sad, tragedy. She deserves more dignity than being an unwitting political pawn. We all deserve more out of our elected officials.

Mike J