Schiavo

I'm a little less depressed about this whole appalling spectacle because of the results of ABC's poll:

Mar. 21, 2005 - Americans broadly and strongly disapprove of federal intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, with sizable majorities saying Congress is overstepping its bounds for political gain.

The public, by 63 percent-28 percent, supports the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube, and by a 25-point margin opposes a law mandating federal review of her case. Congress passed such legislation and President Bush signed it early today.

That legislative action is distinctly unpopular: Not only do 60 percent oppose it, more -- 70 percent -- call it inappropriate for Congress to get involved in this way. And by a lopsided 67 percent-19 percent, most think the elected officials trying to keep Schiavo alive are doing so more for political advantage than out of concern for her or for the principles involved.

So, it's still awful, but at least most people agree that it's awful.My question is, why is Bush still pandering to the evangelicals? He doesn't need them anymore. And why would Congress pander to them? Sure, some individual players need support from evangelicals in their constituency, but I think within districts the evangelical base has much less clout. Am I wrong on that?

And note, there's a lot of evangelicals who don't support this either.

Also, if you haven't already heard, Bush signed a law when he was governor of Texas that allows hospitals to cut off life support for terminal patients who couldn't pay their bills, even against family wishes. One casualty of that law was a six month old black baby.