Is The Failing Social Security Drive Pushing Bush To Rally Conservatives Over Terri Schiavo?

By DemFromCT

An ABC News report suggests the obvious: Bush's Social Security drive is going nowhere fast:

Seven weeks after launching a drive to remake Social Security, President Bush has visited 18 states and traveled thousands of miles but has had little success in getting the public to warm to his idea of private accounts or in enticing Democrats to bring forth ideas.

Experts say Bush is getting closer to some crucial decisions on how far he wants to go to broker a compromise he might be able call a victory in his effort to change the national retirement system.

One dilemma for him is that some ideas that might appeal to Democrats could risk infuriating his conservative Republican base.

But if the conservative base is otherwise placated by a politically-driven display of high-profile theatre, what then? Would they be as infuriated after visibly fighting for the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube? Would any Republican politician be so crass as to pander directly to the Religious Right on the issue? Sure. Tom DeLay would:

On Friday, as the leaders of both chambers scrambled to try to stop the removal of Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube, Mr. DeLay, a Texas Republican, turned his attention to social conservatives gathered at a Washington hotel and described what he viewed as the intertwined struggle to save Ms. Schiavo, expand the conservative movement and defend himself against accusations of ethical lapses.

"One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the visibility of what is going on in America," Mr. DeLay told a conference organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. A recording of the event was provided by the advocacy organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

"This is exactly the issue that is going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others," Mr. DeLay said.

Mr. DeLay complained that "the other side" had figured out how "to defeat the conservative movement," by waging personal attacks, linking with liberal organizations and persuading the national news media to report the story. He charged that "the whole syndicate" was "a huge nationwide concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in."

Dr. Bill Frist would:

The day before, Senator Frist, the Tennessee Republican whose past includes a career as a heart-lung transplant surgeon and whose future might include a run for president, addressed the same group by telephone. Even though the Senate's daylong budget debate kept him at the Capitol, he told the group that he had already talked to a neurologist who had examined Ms. Schiavo. Dr. Frist said he had serious questions about her diagnosis.

"I promise you that I will not leave tonight or tomorrow until we do everything we can and ultimately save the life by preventing the starvation of Terri Schiavo," he said, according to the recording.

Speaking of Frist, don't miss Amy Sullivan's skewering of the all-knowing Doctor Frist, significantly unqualified to pontificate on the issue as per the Tennessean:

While Congress stepped into a passionate dispute over life and death, Frist shepherded emergency legislation through a usually divided Senate, but in doing so, some medical ethicists say he helped take lawmakers into an arena they should have avoided.

''This is the kind of thing that medical ethicists have been working on and worried about for the last 30 years,'' said Larry Churchill, a professor of medical ethics at Vanderbilt University, where Frist directed the heart and lung transplant center before entering politics in 1994. ''What I fear is we're going to see a great deal of that work undone by a body that has power but — it seems to me — isn't using it judiciously.''

Conservative law professors aren't so happy about the lay of the land, either:

Douglas W. Kmiec, a conservative law professor at Pepperdine University, said the legislation had left him anguished.

"I would be naturally inclined to Terri Schiavo's part in this enterprise," Professor Kmiec said. "This is, however, a benignly intended but tragically mistaken law. It contravenes almost every principle known to constitutional jurisprudence."

But the 'important' constituency here for Bush and the other Republicans is the Religious Right. Clearly the polls show this is an unpopular decision for Congress to intervene. Nonetheless, the politics appear to be pushing Republicans to take this as far as they can, heedless of the collateral damage done to them and their image as the party of 'small government'.

I can't help but wonder whether impending losses and/or compromises on such matters as Medicaid cuts, Social Security 'reform' or even failure to exercise the 'nuclear option' is part of the equation driving the desperation on the GOP's part to radically alter the relationship between the branches of government that all of this represents. (Is this Bush bunch 'conservative'? Feh.) The Big Picture right now seems to be about Bush's weakness, not strength (despite the opinions of the usual suspects who see everything in terms of R strength and D weakness), and this  latest chapter isn't holding up at all well in the court of public opinion.

Comments

[DemFromCT]

oh, yeah... see this, too.

Republicans Respond to Evangelicals on Schiavo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Christian evangelicals, a key component in President Bush's Republican Party, believe the case of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo may help inject new life into their long campaign against abortion.

"The right-to-life issue has been with us for over 30 years but never has it dominated the news headlines day after day as it is doing now," said Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition.

"This case has generated a kind of inspirational activism. It is giving revival and renewal to millions of people who feel strongly about the culture of life and the protection of life," he said.

Republican leaders and President Bush had little choice other than to respond to Christian evangelical demands on the Schiavo case or risk alienating a crucial part of their political base, political analysts said.

[DemFromCT]

see also Chris Bowers (MyDD) on another angle of what's pushing Bush and DeLay.

[James E. Powell]

It's not just Bush's failure to generate any support for getting rid of social security, it's Bush's failure to generate any heat for anything.

The cabinet confirmations and the easy passage of the bankrtupcy bill were as much the result of Democratic complicity as Bush's political capital.

[DemFromCT]

Apparently Robert Reich feels the same... 2nd term failure all the way...

[Crab Nebula]

I don't see this as Bush-generated, I don't think he personally cares. If the Florida 2000 'I won because I proposed privatization' story is true, then it's proof he's deeply delusional about his own appeal and political skills. Schiavo is too small for him. I think this comes from DeLay and the fundamentalists. They're not *always* in lockstep with the President.

[DemFromCT]

crab, it small of Karl Rove all over, Bush's brain™.

[DemFromCT]

and to crab nebula, note the headline from AP:

Bush Role in Schiavo Case Bothers 'Right'