The
Washington Post is reporting this morning on a memo to GOP Senators outlining the importance of the Schiavo case for the '06 election. Calling the case a "great political issue," the memo specifically targets Bill Nelson and others, saying that this issue could prove an important wedge in '06 to pull the Religious Right out to the polls.
More below the fold...
This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue," said the memo, which was reported by ABC News and later given to The Washington Post. "This is a great political issue, because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a cosponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats."
This just makes me sick. It's one thing to want to keep the feeding tube in out of concern for her life; it's another thing entirely to do so for political expediency. Whatever one believes, a life is hanging in the balance here, and to call it a "great political issue" that appeals to the "pro-life base" - that's just plain cold.
Folks, we need to push this. We need to get out the message - GOP Senators don't care about Terri, they care about pandering to the base. The singling out of vulnerable senator Nelson is all the proof we need. They're more interested in her as a "political issue" than as a woman with a family. She isn't a real person to them - she's a collection of Religious Right votes to be won. This needs to get out into the wild, because this is the kind of thing that could really make my Evangelical Republican family mad.
This could be just the frame we need: "The GOP is interested in Terri as a political issue." So how do we take this story from being buried in a Washington Post article, to the headlines of CNN, MSNBC, and newspapers?