Disclosure: I worked for the Lamont campaign doing web design and production and some writing for the official blog (from 9/5/06 to 11/07/06).

Thursday, July 27, 2006

 

Michael Schiavo To Endorse Lamont Tomorrow

Michael Schiavo, Terri Schiavo's ex-husband who currently runs TerriPAC, is set to endorse Ned Lamont tomorrow at a press conference in Connecticut. According to their website, TerriPAC's mission is "to educate voters on where their elected officials stood when they had a choice between individual freedom and personal privacy and overreaching government action."

Sen. Lieberman stated his position on individual freedom and personal privacy very clearly in comments he made on the Terri Schiavo case to Tim Russert on Meet the Press, March 27, 2005:

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Lieberman, your Republican colleague from Connecticut in the House, Christopher Shays, had this to say. "This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy. ... There are going to be repercussions from this vote [on Schiavo's constitutional rights]. There are a number of people who feel that the government is getting involved in their personal lives in a way that scares them."

You agree with that?

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, (D-CT): I don't. But that's a very credible and respectable opinion for Chris to take. See, I think--and Chris was there on the floor of the House, so maybe he heard in the debate some things that I didn't hear following it from a distance. The fact is that, though I know a lot of people's attitude toward the Schiavo case and other matters is affected by their faith and their sense of what religion tells them about morality, ultimately as members of Congress, as judges, as members of the Florida state Legislature, this is a matter of law. And the law exists to express our values.

I have been saying this in speeches to students about why getting involved in government is so important, I always say the law is where we define the beginning of life and the end of life, and that's exactly what was going on here. And I think as a matter of law, if you go--particularly to the 14th Amendment, can't be denied due process, have your life or liberty taken without due process of law, that though the Congress' involvement here was awkward, unconventional, it was justified to give this woman, more than her parents or husband, the opportunity for one more chance before her life was terminated by an act which was sanctioned by a court, by the state.

These are very difficult decisions, but--of course, if you ask me what I would do if I was the Florida Legislature or any state legislature, I'd say that if somebody doesn't have a living will and the next of kin disagree on whether the person should be kept alive or that is whether food and water should be taken away and her life ended that really the benefit of the doubt ought to be given to life. And the family member who wants to sustain her life ought to have that right because the judge really doesn't know, though he heard the facts, one judge, what Terri Schiavo wanted. He made a best guess based on the evidence before him. That's not enough when you're talking about aggressively removing food and water to end someone's life.

MR. RUSSERT: You would have kept the tube in?

SEN. LIEBERMAN: I would have kept the tube in.

Comments:
This a prime example of being sanctimonous. Bloody freaking preachy! And he is not even a preacher; just a war-monger.
 
Schiavo should go back to his day job in Florida and quit trying to influence elections in other states.

The guy can't help wanting to be in the limelight all the time.

Not all of us who are liberals and on the left endorse what this guy did to his wife.
 
Don't worry, susan is a Lieber-troll. They seem to be worried about the effectiveness of having Michael Schiavo speak.

And why not? It's a powerful message. Connecticut does not want the Lieberman/Bush peanut gallery in our bedrooms.
 
Yes of course he's doing it to "be in the limelight", because being persecuted by the nut-job religious right is probably such great fun!
 
"Connecticut does not want the Lieberman/Bush peanut gallery in our bedrooms." Statement is as fair as calling it the Lamont/Maxine Waters/Marcy Kaptur/Hezbollah peanut gallery. No matter what your opinion, lets stick to the issues.
 
I don't think this is a matter of whether Ned Lamont or any of us agree with the course of medical action that Michael Schiavo took in this one case.

I think the endorsement speaks to the larger issue - Joe Lieberman believes it is appropriate to have the federal government intervene in a case like this. That sets a frightening precedent for ALL families who have to face end of life decisions, no matter which course they happen to choose. Is it appropriate for the federal governmetn to step in and override decisions that your family might make about end-of-life care, whether it be nutrition and hydration, use of a ventilator, CPR, or other decisions? Joe Lieberman says yes. I say a resounding NO.
 
Mr. Schiavo should be able to campaign for whomever he choses, and so should all of us regardless of which state we live in. You think the international corporations and PACs are not aiding Lieberman in Connecticut? C'mon!
 
Wow! Susan Nunes commented here. That has to mean something profound. Any old Kossacks will remember Susan's vitriol against Howard Dean in 2003. She pretty much disappeared, except for briefly appearing in early 2005 to attack Michael Schiavo.

Ref's:
Susan on Howard Dean.

Susan on Michael Schiavo
 
Nunes... was she a Gephardt person back in 03? I also remember the anti-Dean crabbing, but forgot what she actually would have preferred. Funny, the same characteristic applies today. She may be one of the very first concern trolls.

Anyway, I'm quite certain she doesn't live in CT either, so I'm sure she'd be perfectly pleased to see everyone ignore her comments here.
 
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