Another Bush Who Is Never Wrong: Jeb

Jeb Bush appears to be a tintype of his brother George W. Bush in at least one respect: he’s never wrong. The Politico story of Jeb, Michael Schiavo, Terry Schiavo, and Terry’s parents, the Schindlers, in the long, tragic dispute over whether Terry Schiavo was brain dead or not and over who had the authority to decide whether she should be disconnected from her feeding tube shows the side of Jeb that reminds me a lot of “the Decider,” the president who was never wrong.

The pro-life side of Terry Schiavo’s supporters decided she was alive, not brain dead, and emotionally responsive to her parents, the Schindlers. The Schindlers wanted to decide their daughter’s fate instead of her husband. Terry, an extreme dieter, had a potassium imbalance from her dieting that caused her heart to stop, that rendered her unconscious, fall face forward on the floor, and deprived her of oxygen long enough to cause severe structural damage to her brain.

After Jeb Bush’s repeated governmental intrusions into the private lives of Michael and Terry Schiavo over 10 years were finally slapped down in court, the court gave Michael Schiavo, Terry’s husband, permission to have Terry’s feeding tube disconnected and she died. When her body was examined on autopsy, pathologists found that her brain had shrunk to half of what a normal brain should weigh. Her brain neurons had stopped functioning to the point where she would have been unable to feel anything while alive, not even pain. Her hands had turned into claws. She was, indeed, brain dead, as her physicians and her husband had argued all along. Even after the autopsy showed irreversible brain damage, then Governor Jeb Bush sought to have Michael Schiavo criminally prosecuted.

Do we need another intrusive “Decider” who is never wrong as president of the United States?