OK -- why did this happen?
It happened, in part, because Democrats -- as is so often the case -- were caught flat-flooted. And why was that? Why did no one in the Democratic Party grasp the fact that right-wingers have rallied around Terri Schiavo, and thus the case was ripe for self-righteous GOP moralizing?
I knew. You know when I did my first post about Terri Schiavo? 2003. Why did I know about her case? Because I pay attention to the hardcore Republican base. I'm a regular lurker at Free Republic and Lucianne.com. I know that's where you can pick up the danger signals. For that matter, I knew the Swift Boat liars were coming a couple of months before their first ad went on the air. It's not rocket science. I knew from FR and Lucianne.
Why the hell does it seem that no one in the Democratic Party does what I do? Why didn't anyone see this coming? Why were no Democrats prepared for this possibility?
Did any Democrat even know the facts of the case before this week? How many Democrats know, even now, that this is hardly an unprecedented case, that Terri Schiavo can't possibly recover, that she won't suffer agony as she dies? Republicans know all the Christian conservative Schiavo talking points. Has any Democrat in D.C. ever even looked at the exhaustive Terri Schiavo information page at Matt Conigliaro's Abstract Appeal to learn the truth about the case?
When Terri Schiavo became Congress's priority #1, Democrats -- as usual -- buckled under pressure. They've just thrown up their hands. From yesterday's New York Times we learned that
http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2005/03/ok-why-did-this-happen-it-happened-in.html