Schiavo Politics, Up CloseDotty Lynch: How The Schiavo Case Became A Political Blockbuster| Page 2 of 2 WASHINGTON, March 25, 2005 | by Joel Roberts   Good Friday DeathwatchDemonstrators continued their efforts in Florida to prolong Terri Schiavo's life. Her relatives are soldiering on with their court battles, Mark Strassmann reports. | Share/Embed
(CBS) Conversations with a number of Democratic consultants and Hill staffers indicate several reasons behind the skittishness: Two Democratic senators who have thought this through, Tom Harkin and Ron Wyden, took very different positions. Harkin, of Iowa, was a prime mover behind the Senate decision to join with the Republicans to urge federal judicial review. Harkin is close to the disability community, which worries about "right-to-die" issues, and Senate Democrats deferred to him on Schiavo. He forged the coalition with Republicans Frist, Santorum, Martinez and, according to two sources, had the support of former President Clinton for his actions. While Mr. Clinton apparently didn't talk to Harkin until after the vote, one source described Mr. Clinton as "egging him on." The former triangulator-in-chief has taken an interesting position on faith and values issues in the past. According to Newsweek, he urged John Kerry to consider supporting the gay marriage bans which were on the ballot last fall and he has generally urged Democrats not to get pigeonholed on the "immoral" side of the moral values debate. The other Democratic senator who was read-in on the issue was Ron Wyden of Oregon, whose state has a law allowing physician-assisted suicide. He objected to the initial Senate measure, which he believed could have impinged on Oregon's law, but withdrew his objection to the private, Schiavo-specific bill to let it go through unanimously without a vote. Those Democrats who did speak out were mostly liberals like Reps. Barney Frank and John Lewis, who voted against the bill, along with 51 other Democrats and five Republicans. In fact, they said Congress had no reason to be involved in this issue – which turned out to be completely in synch with the vast majority of Americans. Many Democrats now believe that this action will come back to bite the Republicans and the Bush brothers. One consultant told me that the Democratic passivity "enabled the Republicans to make fools of themselves on their own" without the Democrats' politicizing the debate. Others believe they now have an issue that will hurt the Republicans' ability to make the case on everything from judicial nominations to Social Security reform and health care funding. But Democratic consultant David Sirota has called the Democrats' capitulation a "missed opportunity." And other Democrats believe the silence may be more emblematic of their party's larger problem with voters; their failure to lay out a coherent worldview. Democratic pollster Diane Feldman wrote in a memo entitled "Winning" last January that the Democratic Party's problem with voters is an inability to articulate its principles and where it wants to take the country. By shying away from controversies like these they have lost opportunities to talk clearly about their core values. The recess will be over soon and this case may fade but the political fallout may have long-lasting impact.
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