Will Jeb and/or * use the "Nuclear Option" being demanded by the RR?

[Walt Starr]

There is an "Executive Nuclear Option" being demanded by many in the Religious Right in the Terry Shiavo case. They are demanding that either Jeb or W, via Executive Order, intercede in the Shiavo case with law enforcement or military forces to take her into "protective custody" and force the feeding tube reinsertion.

Will this happen? Are we this close to absolute constitutional crisis over a single woman whose brain has been replaced with spinal fluid?

[ohio_liberal]

1. I hope not

I can't believe any loony Executive orders will be coming down after all these polls agreeing that the government should be "hands off"

[Walt Starr]

2. It is a very real possibility

and the nutballs have been saying that if the Bushes let Terri die, then they will know tha the Bushes only offered lip service to their issues.

Do they fear losing the nutball base enough to do something dictatorial like this? I hope not!

[Warpy]

3. Hard to say. This is a showdown on several fronts

First, states rights. That one's already been decided by the lunatics in Congress. No more states' rights!

Second, separation of powers. An EO would be a declaration that the entire judiciary is now irrelevant. It would be a declaration of executive dictatorship, with the other branches only existing as rubber stamps. If it's allowed to stand without an impeachment, this country is completely finished.

Third, the basic showdown at the heart of the whole thing is emotion/superstion vs. science. So far, science has won every contest. All that remains is trying to vanquish science by executive fiat.

I have a sneaking suspicion that even Stupid will back away from this one. If he blows the gaffe to the extent that he demonstrates that he IS the dictator, that the other branches of government and the people they are supposedly accountable to are now irrelevant, I doubt his support will last long, not even among the hysterics. Appearance is everything.

[cynatnite]

4. Totally Agree!

The repubs have pushed too hard on this thing and now their base is going to expect them to pay up. Either bush does and comes out as boy king or backs off.

[Walt Starr]

5. It's definitely hard to say. There is a HUGE risk in taking the gamble

but the potential payoff is also HUGE because it relegates the independent Judiciary to the dustbin of history, solidifying a dictatorial Executive branch with a rubber stamp Legislative branch.

It all comes down to the Busheviks weighing the potential risks versus the potential gains and deciding on whether or not to pick up the dice one more time and roll them for the big win.

[Walt Starr]

6. Hmmmmm, maybe I voted too soon. Look at this quote from live interview

of Bush moments ago:

"We look at all options from an Executive Branch Perspective."

[mcscajun]

7. Translation: I Rule!

I will control the horizontal, I will control the vertical.

Y'all know the rest.

[Walt Starr]

8. WOW, little did I know it, but I must be prescient!

Looks like Jeb will be sending in the state troopers!

[salin]

10. Are you serious?

Whoah. Is that breaking on the news?

[Walt Starr]

12. Miami Herald Story

State officials may place Schiavo under protective custody

PINELLAS PARK - Rebuffed by the courts and unsuccessful in the legislature, state officials may attempt to place Terri Schiavo under protective custody so her feeding tube can be reinserted, The Herald learned this afternoon.

No timetable for a decision was clear, but events were moving at a rapid pace in the courts and in state offices today. The brain-damaged woman has been without food and water since her feeding tube was removed Friday.

<snip>

LBN Thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1335795

[salin]

14. Thanks - I just read that Jeb got voted down in the statehouse

it is getting interesting. I hate to finally be watching this almost transfixedly. Ghoulish meets political high drama.

[DearAbby]

11. This is going way too far.

The sane people of the country are not going to stand for this.

[Walt Starr]

15. IT may be too late

If the Judiciary is overthrown, it's all over.

[salin]

9. Had the overall public sentiment not been so overwhelmingly

against the DC actions - I would say that either one of them might have done it... but now they realize the miscalcution. If either does it - it would have to be JEB! (of perpetual election campaign mode) - given that some of the reasons polls indicate indignation is related to "state" vs "federal" action - so he may calculate that he wins more than he loses.

It is all about whether or not there is perceived to be more net political capital gained or not by the move.

Problem - now that this is expected by the RR - the captial they hoped to gain (by firing that base up) might get sapped if/when they don't come through - so all around the political calculus has been a bad one for repubs.

[Walt Starr]

13. Jebbie Boy is making noises he'll send in the state troopers

to take her intocustody. See my post above.