The Schiavo case is has gone beyond any definition of “circus.” Religious nutters accuse the judicial system of legislating from the bench. They accuse Congress of not using their power to save Schiavo. They demand an “Elian Gonzalez style” raid to re-insert Schiavo's feeding tube. Religious fundamentalists have threatened to assassinate Michael Schiavo. Terri Schiavo dying through starvation is just cosmic irony.
There are no winners here.
First, let's briefly examine the judicial actions. The definitions of conservative and liberal on the bench are not the same as the political arena. A conservative judge makes decisions based on the letter of the law. A liberal judge interprets the law beyond what it actually says. The state judges may have approached the liberal side of the spectrum but the federal judges have been quite conservative. No new rights have been created as a result of the Schiavo case. There is no “right to die” today.
The religious nutters are so vicious, untrustworthy and rabid that the Republican maneuvering in the Congress makes it look like an inside job to discredit the religious right. Congressmen and Senators know exactly what the trends are in American political positions. They also know that legislating this case into the federal court system was beyond the scope of their power. If you look at past actions like the Gingrich removal, it's not farfetched to speculate that the Republicans took this hit because they know they can repair their image with the public but the religious right loses their only vehicle to national limelight. Time to reconsider McCain's objections to the fringe and make it party policy.
Does anyone really want federal officers with machine guns entering the hospital to reconnect Schiavo's tube? I personally do. It would be awesome. Such a zany disregard for the Republic would be so shocking and utterly nauseous that it might balkanize the country and make it a bit more manageable after a healthy civil war. Related to this point is the death threats aimed at Michael Schiavo. Nothing declares your uninhibited psychotic nature by threatening to kill one person for euthanizing another.
Finally, let's examine death by starvation. It's cruel. Medicine knows how to quickly and humanely end someone's suffering. They say Terri Schiavo won't know what is going on but starvation is still a bad idea. Barbiturates and 20 minutes can help Schiavo move on in this universe.
That said, she got into this situation with an eating disorder. Jump on the logic train here: she refused to eat in the name of beauty to the point where her body stopped functioning correctly and put Schiavo into a coma. Now she's dying by starvation.
That's irony. That's karma. And, frankly, that's cosmic justice.
