THE VILLAGES, Fla. (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson gave no opinion Thursday when asked about efforts by President Bush and Congress to keep Terri Schiavo alive, saying he does not remember details of the right-to-die case that stirred national debate.
Thompson was asked in an interview for Bay News 9′s “Political Connections” program whether he thought Congress’ intervention to save the life of the brain-dead woman two years ago was appropriate.
“I can’t pass judgment on it. I know that good people were doing what they thought was best,” Thompson said. “That’s going back in history. I don’t remember the details of it.”
Congress passed a bill after Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed in March 2005 to allow a federal court to review the case, and Bush returned from his Texas ranch to sign the bill into law. But a federal judge refused to order the tube reinserted, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court.
Thompson, a former Tennessee senator who left office in 2003, did say, “Local matters generally speaking should be left to the locals. I think Congress has got an awful lot to keep up with.”
Full Story Here:
Thompson Gives No Opinion on Schiavo
And this was likely the best, and safest course Sen. Thompson could take, and I fully agree with his statement, “Local matters generally speaking should be left to the locals. I think Congress has got an awful lot to keep up with.”
I don’t seem to remember the Schiavo case being brought up to all the other candidates running for POTUS, maybe it has and I missed it, who knows, but I am very impressed with FDT’s answer, it mirrors my own feelings very well…
And I’ll go even one step further than Sen. Thompson did, this shouldn’t have even been a local level matter in the 1st place, this was a matter for her family and her husband to decide and between them and God, a media circus was NOT needed, and her husbands decision should have automatically trumped ALL others, once again bringing the need for a living will to the forefront of the matter…
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There was to much of the ‘unknown’ with that case, you have 2 sides to every story and the ‘truth’ usually lies somewhere in the middle.
That was smart on Fred’s part.
I agree, his statement was right on the mark.