Fred Thompson on End of Life Issues

Many people (myself included) do not see Fred Thompson speaking passionately about anything. He spoke with great conviction about how the government should have stayed out of the decision to take the brain dead Terri Schiavo off the feeding tube.

Citing his own personal experience with the death of his adult daughter in 2001, Thompson said the question is “an intensely personal thing with me,” and added, “It should be decided by the family. The federal government and the state government, too, except for the court system, ought to stay out of those matters as far as I’m concerned.”

Thompson was faced with with the decision with the same difficult decision. His daughter Elizabeth Thompson Panici died from an accidental overdose.

"I was at that bedside and I had to make those decisions with the rest of my family," Thompson said" "And I will assure you one thing, no matter which decision you make, you will never know whether or not you made the right decision."

This statement will hurt his damaged reputation with the Christian Right. It says much about how the Republican Party has become fed up with having to pander to people like James Dobson. Dick Armey described James Dobson as a man "you can‘t make that man happy." Armey said Dobson should have the courage to run for public office and stop abusing Republican candidates.

2008 will be a pivotal year for the Christian Right. I will be more than happy if it diminishes their political influence. Supporting the Iraq war, intolerance towards gays and saying that global warming is nonsense illustrate how angry these people are. They are all Old Testament fire and brimestone. Amanda Marcotte sums up what Thompson's stance does for his presidential hopes.

He’s underestimating how much of the Republican party is fueled by a bunch of busybodies that just know that they are the final moral arbiters on other people’s lives, and they don’t need to be bothered with things like facts or understanding before declaring other people unfit to make the most private decisions about their lives. In other words, he’s toast.

I concur.