"Pull the other one, it's got bells on it."

Well, Atrios is right, we should pause at the thought of Tom DeLay flaying the character of a private citizen so publicly (quick: what did Michael Schiavo do to inject himself in to the public arena? That's the only legal protection DeLay could have in a libel suit, if Schiavo isn't already disgusted with the American legal and political system; I know I would be).

But when I said this would get ugly, I had no idea how ugly.

In a phone call to reporters on Saturday night, Mr. McClellan dismissed any suggestions that there were political considerations in the president's hurried and dramatic return to Washington. Mr. DeLay and others in the largely deserted Capitol said they were trying to move quickly to limit any health damage to Ms. Schiavo.

Can we finally and reasonably stipulate that the "feeding tube" is not what is keeping Terri Schiavo alive, but also extraordinary medical care?

This is a human being who cannot feed herself, clothe herself, roll herself over in bed, clean herself, or otherwise function except at the level of an autonomic nervous system which, sadly, is all that she is now. Without 24 hour nursing care she would have died by now, with a feeding tube, lying in her own waste or with her bowels impacted, or from bedsores and infections, or in any number of horrible ways. Terri Schiavo can breathe on her own, and pump blood on her own, because she has a functioning brain stem. But that is all she can do.

This is not, pace Tom Delay, "basic" medical care. This is extraordinary care, that is keeping a functioning brain stem alive. And that, very sadly, is all.

The whole issue doesn't even upset me as much as the political and legal issue it is now morphing into. Now this business is of a piece with Bush v. Gore. Now politics is just war by other means, and everywhere and anywhere, anyone and anything, is the battlefield. Americans supposedly have a "secular religion" in their devotion to country. If so, our "book of common prayer" has always been our legal system, that great arbiter that levels the playing field and makes sure the rules, for the most part and sometimes much later than sooner, are fairly applied to everyone.

And now these grandstanding idiots want to screw that up, too. Over an issue that shouldn't be an issue, and for reasons that don't amount to a hill of beans. On human suffering and tragedy, no less. George Bush, who would mock the pleas of a woman being executed in Texas, suddenly has to fly back to D.C. to sign a bill because he's so "compassionate"? And the article says he'll stay until Monday morning, if he has to.

Wouldn't want him to be put out or anything, since he's on vacation. No, Scottie, nothing extraordinary in this, or political.

Addendum: I just said this over at Atrios, but I can freely quote msyelf: Terri Schiavo is nothing more than a functioning brain stem. Her family is convinced she can be rehabilitated. How do you rehab a brain stem?

At what point does society have a positive duty to this delusional family to take away the appearance of this crutch they continue to cling to?

At some point their denial of reality becomes pathological, and the rest of us become responsible for supporting it. Other than via the court system, the rest of us should naver have been involved in this matter. Continuing to participate in their grief and denial of reality, is sick. We deserve better from our 'leadership.'