Terri's Law Leaves Republicans Reeling

[Judi Lynn]

Published Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Terri's Law Leaves Republicans Reeling
Legislation made over the right-to-die case left the party scrambling to rethink, regroup.

By WES ALLISON & ANITA KUMAR
St. Petersburg Times

WASHINGTON -- Each December, the Family Research Council grades Congress on how it voted during the year on important conservative social issues, such as gay marriage and abortion. But this year, the group didn't even bother to score the Senate.
Blame Terri Schiavo.

After the public backlash that followed congressional intervention in Schiavo's end-of-life case in March, conservative social victories were just too few to count.

Moderate Republicans, already uncomfortable with the rightward cant of their congressional leaders, found in Schiavo a new reason to keep their distance. And the Democrats who had helped pass several Republican priorities early this year disappeared, too.

After four years of galloping triumph for the conservative Republican agenda, the rush to pass Schiavo legislation marked a critical turning point in Washington, helping expand fissures in a Republican Party known for discipline, emboldening Democrats and derailing conservative social initiatives that had been expected to win easy approval in Congress this year.
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http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051227/NEWS/51227002/1004