The range of reactions on the conservative side to the Schiavo autopsy is interesting. It stretches all the way from Neal Boortz’ sober reaction:
Correct me if I’m wrong .. but when the Terri Schiavo matter was consuming front pages and broadcast news, wasn’t the issue whether or not she was reacting to her parents and watching that balloon floating around her room? She should not be allowed to die, people said, because with rehab she would improve and then her family could take her to malls and birthday parties and such.
Well, the autopsy results are in. [full autopsy pdf] There was no way that Terri Schiavo could benefit in any way from rehabilitation therapy. What’s more, she had no cognitive abilities. In this context the finding means that Terri could not engage in any conscious intellectual activity. She could not participate in or understand conversations. She could not communicate. She never did try to say “I want to live.” She had no awareness or understanding of the state she was in, or of the controversy surrounding her. She could not see, so that rules out those stories of her watching that Mickey Mouse balloon floating around her room. It’s safe to say that she was not aware of her own existence on any conscious level.
…to the rabid hate-mongering of Michele Malkin:
Late last night, I took the time to read the 39-page autopsy report of Terri Schiavo–something which, it is clear to me, most of the callous gloaters on the other side of this debate have not bothered to do. And will never do. These are people who can only talk about the sanctity of life if it’s enclosed in ghost quotes and pronounced with a sneer.
You do not need a medical examiner’s license to see that the report raises many more questions than it answers, though from the (once again) misleading media coverage, we are led to believe that the matters of Terri’s life and murder are resolved. They are not.
Conservatives and Republicans may be many things, but they’re not hive-minded creatures marching in lock-step on this and many other issues. In contrast, I suspect Liberals and Democrats are pretty much on the same page on this issue, not altogether bad since they happen to be right.
I also find it interesting that those who want to denounce the autopsy (or media treatment of it, which amounts to the same thing) tend to be supporters of the scurrilous Intelligent Design movement. I don’t think this is a coincidence.
Malkin posted an advert for her site on LaShawn Barber’s (equally hateful) blog. When I responded to it, my post ws deleted. When I questioned this policy, my question was deleted, along with Malkin’s advert. Now LaShawn won’t even let me on. I love the smell of charred wingnuts in the afternoon!
“You do not need a medical examiner’s license to see…” Translation: we don’t need to understand anything to judge everyone else.
Read your exchanges with Anchoress. I’m just a lowly cheesemaker, and not a doctor, so I don’t know how much a brain will shrink when death is induced by dehydration. Do you know the answer to this?
Also (considering my already stated lack of credentials) it seems reasonable to me that many other atrophies and losses of function described in the autopsy could have been at least exacerbated, if not caused, by death by dehydration coupled with complete removal of food. I haven’t run across any scientists saying that this isn’t possible. Your thoughts?
LaShawn kindly informed me that I am no longer permitted to link to her idiocy because it sends a trackback that she doesn’t want.
Why? Because I had the temerity to criticize her…
Just recognize who and what you are dealing with and move on is my advice.
Boy, is that Anchoress a piece of work or what?
Cheesehead: brain-scans revealed that there was fluid where much of her cerebral cortex should have been a long time before the feeding tube was yanked. So no, there’s not much chance of this being caused by dehydration. If there was, this ME would have had the competence and integrity to mention it.
John Cole: if “Anchoress” = “LaShawn,” then the answer to your last question would be “Yes.” Gods, what a pathetic coward! Looks like Ann “The Blonde Brainstem” Coulter has competition. GIRL-FIGHT! GIRL-FIGHT! Where’s the lime jello?
The pathologists specifically addressed the question of the effects of the dehydation on the brain and said it wasn’t significant. Our bodies are 80% water or so, but death by dehydration doesn’t require we lose all of it.
There seems to be contest going on among these Bible-pounder sites to see who can offer up the most ridiculous and hateful claptrap on the faith-based medicine front.
A couple of things:
What part of Malkin’s post (the 2 paragraphs you posted) are hateful? And what part of LaShawn’s post was hateful? I don’t see the word hate, or see any reference to anyone’s hatred over anything.
They have strong opionions just like you. Because they’re opposite of you, it doesn’t make them hateful and you all-knowing. Sounds like projection to me.
The autopsy proves that whatever happened 15 years ago, if anything nefarious, can’t be proven one way or another. I admit that it’s over with. Is that good enough for you guys?
And why no Spurs-Pistons update post? Touchy subject, maybe?
TV (Harry)
Malkin’s and LaShawn’s posts drip with hate for Mike Schiavo, all of them. Don’t ask me to wade back into that swamp just to show you something you’re going to deny anyway. Re-read the first paragraph of Malkin’s quote, slowly. What does “callous gloaters” mean to you?
I am a Christian and a conservative (on most fiscal and social/moral issues) but I am embarrassed and saddened by the so-called “pro-life” position in this case and the attitude attached to it. I took some heat for blogging/grappling the whole thing when it was happening and I definitely feel vindicated (as I knew I would) by the autopsy report. I wish my sisters and brothers in Christ would humble themselves and show compassion toward those they don’t understand even if they can’t bring themselves to rethink the situation in light of the new evidence.