http://benquirer.blogspot.com/GEORGIA - "Save
Terri Marriage" reads the signs held by the crowds of people gathered outside the Macon Mental Health Center. With Terri Schiavo now completely dead, the religious right has been searching for another cause to latch onto. Along came Jennifer Willbanks, the "runaway bride', bringing out the fundamentalist Christians' natural instinct to defend marriage wherever it is threatened.
Ms. Willbanks checked herself into the Macon Mental Health Center on Monday, citing a "need for privacy" so she could sort out her problems at the picturesque facility. Willbanks attempted to keep the location of the mental hospital a secret, assuming that nobody would intervene to help save her.
Willbanks' family really wanted her to get married, so last week they sought help from the G.O.P. to intervene on her behalf. Yesterday, via Jerry Falwell, President Bush sent out the call for marriage- defenders everywhere to congregate at the Macon Mental Health Center, to protest Willbanks' decision to postpone her marriage.
Bush had even made an abrupt departure from his visit to Georgia, to sign Jennifer's Bill, which makes a marriage engagement a binding contract. "Sorry, freedom-lovers, your buddy George has to confront a serious problem, in the other Georgia," quipped Bush.