The Daily Background
| Fred Thompson “can’t remember” what his opinion on Terry Shaivo was
by Arlen Parsa
Thompson, acting lazy like um, a fox:
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson gave no opinion Thursday when asked about efforts by President Bush and Congress to keep Terri Schiavo alive, saying he does not remember details of the right-to-die case that stirred national debate.
Here’s a refresher, Fred. Shaivo’s husband consulted with tons of doctors and they all concluded she was brain-dead and in a totally vegetative state. He said she would have wanted her feeding tube removed. Her family got other doctors to claim she wasn’t brain dead after-all, but their diagnosis’s were rather dubious.
A Florida court said that her feeding tube could be removed. Then the Republican-controlled congress butted in and then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist made the highly embarrassing move of performing a fake diagnosis using a deceptive pre-edited videotape that was made by her family to fake her “responsiveness.” GOP-led Congress later passed an entire law which allowed a federal court to intervene.
It did, and it refused to order the feeding tube to be re-inserted. An autopsy was later performed and it showed unequivocally that Bill Frist and Shaivo’s family and the doctors they had paid were wrong and that she was indeed brain-dead and in an unrecoverable vegetative state. The entire thing was a major embarrassment for the Republican party, which was at odds with a large majority of Americans over the matter.
Everybody– everybody had an opinion on the issue at the time. Is he saying that he’s forgotten what his opinion was?
What was your opinion, Fred? People made fun of Bush during the 2000 election when he failed to name the leaders of several countries. But failing to remember what your own opinion was about a major story that dominated the news for weeks– one that represented a major issue for many Republicans? Is he senile? Does he really not remember, or is he just trying not to give an opinion on the matter? Either way, it all speaks to the mini-meme that he still isn’t ready for prime-time.
Thompson isn’t the first old Republican to forget his position an issue though. In fact, this incident is rather reminiscent of that time when John McCain forgot whether he thought AIDS prevention was good or bad.
Gawd, he’s an idiot.
Truly.
I always enjoy watching GOP candidates dance around, trying to figure out what specific brand of BS they should peddle to that specific audience.
There’s no way he couldn’t have an opinion, unless he’s in a bubble as thick as Bush’s. The truth is, besides being a lightweight, he knows what’ll play with the GOP base won’t fly with the general electorate. But then, that’s true for many GOP policies.
I’d love to see Thompson ridiculed on this (and other issues, I’m not picky) on the national stage.
This also reminds me of that classic scene in a A Perfect Candidate when Chuck Robb insists, responding to a question, that he hasn’t changed his position on some issue, but can’t say what that position is.
That’s the advantage of not being in Congress at the time–no public record of a vote. Now, of course, if he said something in an interview that might come back to haunt him….
Well, once can dream, I suppose.
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