Those Were the Days, My Friends

By Zamboni

Speaking of Jeb Bush not running for the Senate: The wackos on the Christian Right are making us smile like Cheshire cats.

They so want to remind us how the Republican Party began its second-Bush-term self-immolation with its hysterical intervention in the Terri Schiavo affair back in 2005.

How are they doing it? By trying to stir up right-wing umbrage over President-elect Obama's appointment of Thomas J. Perrelli to the number-three job at Justice. You see, lawyer Perrelli advised Michael Schiavo's successful bid to remove the feeding tube of his wife, who was being kept alive in a persistent vegetative state.

Nonsensically connecting the Schiavo case to a woman's right to choose, the Christian Coalition calls President-elect Obama's sub-Cabinet nominee "Piranha Perrelli" and laments their failure to prevent him and "his fellow pro-abortion henchmen from killing this innocent Florida woman."

Hm. We cats don't get the "piranha" nickname. But we sure are happy that the right-wing nutbags are resurrrecting the Schiavo nightmare. Although we're sorry that Michael Schiavo has to put up with his name being in the news again, we recall that nearly 80 percent of the American people opposed the Republicans' interference in his and his wife's private lives.

In the words of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel: "Was [the Schiavo bill] a mistake? Yes. I think most Americans agree. There are things the government should stay out of — and that was one of them."

So have at it, you wonderful, nutty Christians, you. Keep dragging the Republican Party down as you yank it further to the right. We PURR at you for your utter, but useful, silliness.