The Beginning of the End of the Religious Right and the power.........

[Bonhomme Richard]

that they have had influencing congress.
Historically this country, from the beginning, has had to withstand the surge of influence that the religious right appears to have from time to time. It only seems to last as long as politicians think they can get some mileage out of it. This Schiavo case has become the straw that broke the camels back. In stark contrast to what the politicians believed, most citizens (even hard core repugs) are appalled by the attempt of congress to override the courts in this matter.
Delay has done all of us a favor by opening the eyes of semi-rational thinking americans.
There is hope.

[hector459]

1. I hope you are right.

eom

[coloradodem2005]

2. Me too.

[Lone Pawn]

3. An individual act which Americans find distasteful does not have any

long-term effect. Otherwise the Republicans would have been dead in the water after the failed Clinton impeachment. Sorry.

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. I don't think politicians do anything without thinking of.....

political mileage and they have driven that evagelical car about as far as it's going to go. From now on they are going to be cautious about jumping on any religous bandwagan and start thinking about political consequences. We know, sure as there is a sun in the sky, that they are not really christians or even moral for that matter but only opportunist. That, from our perspective, is a start.

[Lone Pawn]

8. Of course they aren't Christians, but they aren't doing this because it'll

be popular. They aren't stupid. You don't get to control the richest, most powerful nation in the world and be a pack of fools.

I believe they have four reasons for the Schiavo push:

1. Clear the scene. We just had a pretty nasty few weeks, with radical 'reforms' to bankruptcy and ANWR. If they kept it up without a break, the media would pick up on the radicalized agenda.

2. Make Americans forget Social Security. This year's SS push was an unmigitated disaster for the Republicans. This makes everyone forget everything that was just said about SS reform. They'll be able to approach it from a different angle now without people remembering too much about why in particular they didn't like Bush's plans.

3. A rallying cry for judge nominations. They'll be able to pull "Remember Terri!" for quite a while. And the opposition to Terri's death is minimal--only 56% actually are in favor of pulling the plug on her. That's certainly not a strong majority, especially when people forget so easily. For example, right now Reagan is in the popular eye one of our most beloved presidents of all time. In reality, his average Gallup approval rating was 52%, and he hit a low of 46% during Iran-Contra. His likability ratings were at 50% in '83. But now we remember him as godlike. What matters isn't what we think now, it's that in a year they can claim 'THE COURTS LET HER DIE, DEBATING AND REFUSING UNTIL SHE DIED WHILE HER PARENTS WERE STILL TRYING TO GET SOME HELP!'

4. Rally the base. America at large will have forgotten this in '06--people forget things that don't immediately apply to them. The religious right will not have.

[mattclearing]

4. What if they riot when she dies?

It will be interesting to see how the less moderate subsets of the life movement take this defeat.

[flakey_foont]

6. But if she does die

wouldn't that be God's will?

[FreedomAngel82]

11. Not in this case

Not in this case. In this case they'll either a) Blame Clinton (the judges) b) blame the judges themselves c) blame those democrats who didn't go for this. I'm not ready yet to make any statements on how this will turn out. Right now it can go either way.

[Speck Tater]

7. Sounds good, except for one small problem...

This is the 274th time in the last 12 months that someone has posted something on DU that begins "This _____(insert name if incident)_____ is the beginning of the end. It's all over for the Repugs."

And on each of those 274 occasions I've said to myself; "I sure hope so." But so far, it's been nothing more than a pleasant day-dream. The repugs are far more dangerous than we want to admit, and far more resilient than we give them credit for.

[never_get_over_it]

10. But the good news is

that one of these times the poster will have to be right....PLEASE - I can't take much more of this shit.

[NewJeffCT]

12. 274 times in a year? maybe that many in a month

I think I see those threads several times a day on here, at least.

[Just Me]

9. At the very least, the extremism is being exposed.

These people are quickly discovering that they defy mainstream views pertaining to individual freedoms and rights.

No one wants to have a group of radicals shoving their agenda down their throats in a nation where people of all different walks of life are supposed to co-exist peacefully.

[NewJeffCT]

13. Sorry, I'm a pessimist

The radical clerics of the Religious Reich have been doing this for a good 30 years now. Despite their radicalness, they are very patient and good at re-grouping & re-organizing. They have spent their last 30 years quietly infiltrating first local town councils and boards of education, then they moved on to state legislatures and are now players on the national scene with Ricky Santorum and Sammy Brownback.

Besides, these fundies all brainwash their women to have 10+ children each. So, not only are they taking over on the local & state levels, they are slowly breeding us into an insignificant minority. The "evangelical" vote has increased significantly in those 30 years in no small part due to this. Imagine what another 30 years of fundies having 10+ kids each will bring to us?

[adwon]

14. I have to agree

The GOP's traditional strength in foreign policy/defense (well, tradition since 1968) has been greatly compromised. Americans seem to hold two contradictory opinions today. First, the war in Iraq was not justified. Second, the seeming democratic revolution in the Middle East is a good thing (I'm cautiously optimistic that changes can occur, I'm just not so sure those changes will be good for the US). The two ideas really aren't that contradictory. In essence, America is hopeful about the results, but wouldn't want to pull this trick twice.

This capitulation to the religious right will only further downgrade their credibility because of the autocratic nature of the event. Many Americans, not just wingnuts, are concerned about the moral stature of America. Hell, I have concerns about the blatant commoditization of people we see in all these 'reality' shows. However, most Americans aren't yet in favor of pissing on the Constitution. While freedom is always lauded in noble terms, nobody wants to give up their constitutionally-protected right to spout off their pet screwball opinions (we all have at least one). People could admire the seeming moral courage of W (some do, why is the question) without wishing to have him dictate their lives.

The beauty of this situation is that it puts the GOP on the wrong side of the political correctness war. Political correctness, which has the same definition as obscenity I think, is seen as a means of control. People may not mind subtle controls, but Americans usually rebel at direct controls. And there's the fundamental error of the GOP. They forgot the first rule of tyranny: always cloak the iron fist in a velvet glove.

[_TJ_]

15. fingers crossed this works out

In fact everything crossed :)

[Greylyn58]

16. It's tragic that this woman and her family

had to be dragged into the middle of all this, but if this does indeed wake up some of the sheeple to what is going on in this country it might be worth all this insanity.

This whole situation should never have been pulled in the spotlight to begin with. This should have been a private matter for the husband and her parents and no one else.

My Uncle(my mom's only brother) went into the hospital for emergency gall-bladder surgery in 1994. Afterwards he suffered a massive stroke that left him brain dead.

IF ANYONE had jumped into the middle of our decision to remove his life-support I think I would have beat them senseless. We were in pain at losing him, but knew it was the last loving thing we could do for him. Keeping him hooked up wouldn't have made him better, it would have only made us feel better.

If Terri Schiavo's eyes were closed, none of these monsters would care one whit whether she lived or died. But because she has reflexive movements and her eyes are open, they have jumped into the fray.

I'm am sick of the lot of them. :grr: :grr:

[Bonhomme Richard]

17. Don't get me wrong. This is not going to be a quick fix.

What I am saying is that this has turned into a major crack in their attempt to blend extremist moral isssues with the constitution. They have hit a brick wall.
Edit: This is only the beginning and it will take years to shake out.

[JamboGuide]

18. YEa well

When these Nazi zealots can make IMAX, of all things, to BAN a movie on volcanoes and dolphins, u know we r JUST seeing the tip of teh iceberg. THEY NEED TO BE STOPPED.