Perfect Political Storm

My co-denizen Scott has, as usual, succinctly summed up the myriad of legal controversies and contradictions in which the Terri Schiavo spectacle has become entangled, and far be it from me to gild the lily. However, what’s also worth pointing out is that the sordid ongoing struggle has become a perfect storm for the religious right wing and their political allies in congress — and the White House.
Not only does it give the right-to-lifers an easily exploited posterchild — She “smiles!” She “laughs!” The only thing she can’t do is speak for herself! — but it also pits the forces of pro-life righteousness against a favourite whipping boy of talk radio’s America. Who is to blame? Why, those dastardly “activist judges” who stubbornly insist on enforcing the law, rather than bending to the will of whichever side presents the slickest, most soundbite-friendly public relations campaign. While there has been no shortage of grumbling about “judicial activism” in right wing circles in recent years — just do a search on FreeRepublic if you need a couple of thousand examples — a case like this puts the question squarely in the centre ring of public policy debate.
One could expect that the usual social conservative Republican suspects would be only too happy to drag a morbidly incapacitated woman into the spotlight to score political points, but the silence of elected Democrats on the potential consequences of this attempt by legislators to flout the rule of law speaks volumes.