More on Giuliani and Schiavo
by Ryan Sager
Wed, 11 Apr 2007 at 12:33 AM
updated Tue, 10 Apr 2007 at 1:33 PM
In my story today, I take a look at Mayor Giuliani's recent comments on the Terri Schiavo controversy, where he states that he supported the congressional intervention — but also makes clear that he was completely unprepared to handle the question, despite the fact that he was not only in Florida, but in the very county from which Schiavo hailed.
In the column, I report on Mr. Giuliani's response to a reporter's question and also on the responses of political observers who are puzzled by his lack of preparation.
What I didn't have room for in the paper, however, is a full transcript of Mr. Giuliani's remarks. It is really a marvel of incoherence...
Here it is then, in full, from the transcript provided by the Giuliani campaign of the question from the March 4 press availability in St. Petersburg, Florida:
MAYOR GIULIANI COMMENTS ON TERRI SCHIAVO
REPORTER: Can I ask you about Terri Schiavo...
MAYOR GIULIANI: Sure.
REPORTER: this is the county that she's from. Did you support the congressional intervention to...
GIULIANI: I believe I did. I don't I, it's a while ago and I think I said that I thought every effort should be made to keep her alive. I don't know that I supported the, the whole thing to the very end, but I am not sure now.
REPORTER: I mean do you think it was appropriate, it had gone through the court system, the courts had said...
GIULIANI: I thought it was appropriate to make every effort to give her a chance to stay alive. But honestly I don't remember now the final... I am not sure I was asked in the last couple weeks of it.
REPORTER: Do you have a opinion on it now? I mean was it appropriate?
GIULIANI: I think we should let it rest. And I think that case got a tremendous amount of attention. My general view is you should do everything you can to keep somebody alive unless they have expressed a strong interest in not having very, very special things done; extraordinary things done. Obviously, you gotta do the ordinary and regular things and even some of the extraordinary things that's a legal matter and when you get into the area of discretion, as best we can tell we should follow the wishes of the person and their loved ones and in that particular case it was a dispute. So I think it was a tough case for everybody. I think it was a tough case for people on one side, tough case for people on the other, because the intentions weren't, weren't clear. Had the intentions been clear, maybe it've been an easier case.
(Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Press Availability, St. Petersburg, FL, 4/4/07)
The fact that Mr. Giuliani goes on at length to make the point that we should keep people on life support who have asked to be kept on life support makes it seem he doesn't even remember what the case was about. If Schiavo's wishes had been known, there wouldn't have been a controversy in the first place.
The question, then, is whether — once the courts in Florida sided with Michael Schiavo as to determining his wife's wishes and best interests — the Florida legislature, Governor Bush, Congress, and President Bush should have all intervened in one family's private medical dispute, turning it into a national media circus. As I mention in the story, I asked the Giuliani campaign for clarification on this point numerous times; they declined to provide any further statement, instead referring back to Mr. Giuliani's plea that, "I think we should let it rest."
Unfortunately for the Giuliani camp, neither side in the dispute is likely to let that happen. While the Schiavo case itself is over, the issues of pro-life and right-to-die are — no pun intended — alive and well. As is the issue of where the government's power to interfere in the lives of individuals begins and ends.
It's also a bit puzzling that Mr. Giuliani seems to claim he either had no position, or doesn't quite remember his position, on something major that happened just two years ago. He certainly doesn't seem to have said much on the case at the time. The one public position his campaign pointed out from the time of the controversy was this statement from an April 1, 2005, article from the New York Post (that's the day after Schiavo's death):
"I think the right decision would have been to keep the feeding tube in, under the circumstances of the case," former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said.
And, again, this statement has nothing to do with the actual issue in the case. If Mr. Giuliani were the guardian, he seems to be saying, he would not have removed the feeding tube. Fine. Perhaps this is the parallel of his statement that he is personally opposed to abortion. But, as with abortion, this leads to the next question. What conclusion does this lead the former mayor to, as regards public policy?
A rambling response in Florida, plus a week's time, and there's still nothing approaching an answer.
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