Jeb Bush Rising; Randall Terry Sinking

Evidently the authenticity of Jeb Bush’s fight for Terri Schiavo is raising his stock in Florida and throughout the country. Although there is criticism of politicians who appear to be using the crisis for their political gain, The New York Times reports today:

"The Florida governor's emergence as the most prominent politician still fighting, despite a string of court and legislative defeats, to have a feeding tube reinserted in Ms. Schiavo was very much in keeping with someone who has repeatedly declared a deep religious faith.
Several associates noted that he had been devoutly religious longer than President Bush, and even critics said his efforts - prodding the Florida Legislature and the courts and defying much of the electorate - were rooted in a deep-seated opposition to abortion and euthanasia rather than in political positioning.

Yet inevitably, the events of recent days have fed the mystique of Mr. Bush as a reluctant inheritor of perhaps America's most famous dynasty since the Adams family two centuries ago."
This in contrast to the rantings of Randall Terry about Jeb “blinking,” and not doing enough. I find the Schindlers to be wonderfully sincere and incredibly sympathetic characters, but they made a terrible decision naming Terry as their spokesperson. He has been a disaster for the pro-life movement throughout the years, and is the wrong voice for this case and any other when we need measured reason and effective discourse.

--James Jewell