GOPers Decrying Obama "Death Panels" Supported Intervention For Schiavo

[babylonsister]

Sam Stein
GOPers Decrying Obama "Death Panels" Supported Intervention For Schiavo

First Posted: 08-14-09 04:55 PM | Updated: 08-14-09 05:40 PM


On a conference call with reporters this week, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas.) repeated what has become the most popular conservative canard about President Obama's health care agenda. The government, Cornyn ominously warned, would end up deciding the "cost and the value of one's life, rather than leaving those decisions in the hands of the family." A "firewall" needed to be put in place to prevent this from happening.

Four and a half years ago, the Texas Republican wasn't heeding any firewalls. He was one of the lead sponsors of unprecedented government intervention to keep the permanently brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive.

"Congress has a right and a responsibility to investigate this case and explore possible means to protect the defenseless such as Terri Schiavo and others, including those in Texas who are in similar situations," Cornyn said at the time.

The Schiavo case became an embarrassment for the Republican Party and a crucial turning point in the 2006 election. Conservative lawmakers later acknowledged mistakes in their handling of the entire episode, but at the time they defended their actions by framing them as a desire to protect both life and due process.

Some of the same conservative figures taking potshots at Democrats for wanting to fund voluntary discussions about end-of-life decisions between doctors and their patients were leading the charge four years ago to contravene the decision by Schiavo's husband and guardian to remove the feeding tubes from his wife after she had spent 15 years in a vegetative state.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/14/gopers-critical-of-obamas_n_260027.html

[Ikonoklast]

1. Republicans are all for government intervention into personal health issues

if they can play to their ignorant fundy base and try to score some cheap political points. The hypocrisy is stunning.

Except that the vast majority of Americans were sickened by it. The Republicans think everyone is as stupid as their 'true believer' followers, and are easily fooled by their grandstanding.