Friday, April 08, 2005

I Wrote the Infamous Schiavo "Talking Points" Memo

I, Senator Jay Billington Bulworth, wrote the memo, and I'm terribly sorry. I admit I was playing politics with the issue and wished only to advance my own sorry, stalled career. But a lot of innocent Republican officials and conservative bloggers have suffered from my chicaneries. And for that, I wish to confess my wrongs.

It should have been clear to all that my Republican friends and conservative colleagues had no political ambitions with the Schiavo case. After all, they passed a bill in Texas that explicitly allows hospitals to pull the plug on patients, regardless of the family's wishes, so why would they have sought political advantage from this one case? In addition, if the Republicans really wanted to play politics with the "culture of life", why, they wouldn't have proposed such drastic cuts in the Medicaid program, which as I understand it, was helping to underwrite Terri Schiavo's care. Finally, the fact that Republicans have pushed so hard for legislation limiting medical malpractice awards--the kind which supported most of Ms. Schiavo's care--and for legislation restricting the ability of working families to declare bankruptcy due to medical crises, should have perfectly illustrated the Republican Party's stance on this issue and the broader range of "culture of life" matters.

So, regardless of whatever you may hear in the next few days about some staffer from Senator Martinez's office having written the memo, rest assured dear friends, that I, Jay Bulworth, deserve the blame for this terrible tragedy. However, I bare no responsibility for the words uttered by Tom DeLay, when at a recent gathering of the Family Research Council, he said:

Its more than just Terri Schiavo. It is a critical issue for people in this position, and it is also a critical issue to fight the fight for life, whether it be euthanasia or abortion. And I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, one thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to elevate the visibility of whats going on in America...This is exactly the issue thats going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others. The point is, the other side has figured out how to win and defeat the conservative movement, and that is to go after people personally, charge them with frivolous charges, link that up with all these do-gooder organizations funded by George Soros, and then get the national media on their side. That whole syndicate that they have going on right now is for one purpose and one purpose only, and thats to destroy the conservative movement. Its to destroy conservative leaders, not just in elected office but leading. I mean, Ed Feulner of the Heritage Foundation was under attack in the National Journal. This is a huge, nationwide, concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in. You need to look at this, at whats going on, and participate in fighting back. One way they stopped churches from getting into politics was Lyndon Johnson, who passed a law that said you couldnt get into politics or you were going to lose your tax-exempt status because they were all opposed to him when he was running for President. That law were trying to repeal; its very difficult to do that. But the point is, when they knock out a leader, then no other leader will step forward for a while, because they dont want to go through the same thing. If they go after and get a pastor, then other pastors shrink from what they should be doing. It forces Christians back into the church, and thats whats going on in America...

So, again, don't blame the Republicans or Powerline for the Schiavo memo. President Harry Truman was known for the placque on his desk that said The Buck Stops Here. Well, friends, the buck truly does stop here. I wrote the memo and deserve whatever penalty may befall me.

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