"Where ignorant armies clash by night...."

This is going to turn very, very ugly:

From the LA Times:

Michael Schiavo was not present because he was emotionally unable to attend, lawyer George Felos said, but he arrived minutes later. Terri Schiavo's parents had been at her bedside earlier in the day, but were asked by officials to leave before the tube was shut off.

After the procedure was complete, Felos launched into a caustic attack on Republican leaders, describing their subpoenas directed to the Schiavos as "nothing short of thuggery."

"Apparently, according to the House of Representatives, any committee member can direct a subpoena to any American citizen, forcing them to have medical treatment against their will," Felos said. "It was odious. It was shocking."

DeLay said House Republicans would not be deterred by Friday's events. He called Greer's order "barbaric" and cited Felos as "the personification of evil."

...

Frist, a physician who is considered a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2008, said Congress remained "dedicated to saving Terri Schiavo's life." He earlier had insisted that after a review of videotapes of Schiavo, he had found that she might not be in a persistent vegetative state — a requirement crucial in any order to cut off nutrition.

But right-to-die supporters have insisted that only a few snippets of videotape show any animation from Schiavo, whereas hours of footage portray her in a near-motionless state. And some ethicists questioned whether Frist could have properly drawn his conclusion from only reviewing videotapes.

...

DeLay and other House leaders said they were issuing subpoenas to "require hospital administrators and attending physicians to preserve nutrition and hydration for Terri Schiavo to allow Congress to fully understand the procedures and practices that are currently keeping her alive." The fight, they insisted, "is not over."

The move prompted an angry reaction from Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, ranking Democrat on the Government Reform Committee. Calling the subpoenas a "flagrant abuse of power," Waxman said the Republican move "is turning the Schiavo family's personal tragedy into a national political farce. The committee has no business inserting itself in the middle of an excruciating private family matter."

And from the Washington Post:

On Friday night, Frist (Tenn.) and Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.) announced that congressional committees will work through the weekend, saying in a statement that they "are committed to reaching agreement on legislation that provides an opportunity to save Mrs. Schiavo's life." The House committee asked the U.S. Supreme Court to order the feeding tube reinserted while it appeals in lower courts to have its subpoenas recognized.

....

Schiavo's feeding tube has been removed twice before, most recently in 2003 when a law pushed by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) gave him the authority to override Greer's orders and restart Schiavo's tube-feeding six days after it had been stopped. The law was later declared unconstitutional.

The legislative focal point of the case -- once centered in Florida's capital, Tallahassee, where conservatives failed on Thursday to pass laws blocking the tube removal -- has shifted to Washington. The U.S. House and Senate agreed in principle Thursday to pass legislation that would move jurisdiction in the case to the federal courts, effectively leaving Greer powerless. But the two legislative bodies were unable to reach a consensus before adjourning.

Now the Senate, whose members had planned to take two weeks of vacation, plans to reconvene Monday to debate a bill aimed at saving the life of Schiavo, 41. The prospect of Schiavo's death inflamed emotions in the Capitol on Friday as lawyers in Washington and Florida did battle.

And the New York Times:

And George Felos, the lawyer for Ms. Schiavo's husband who had fought for nearly two years to allow his wife to die, blistered both parties in Congress for what he portrayed as a politically motivated, 11th-hour interference in a case that has existed for years without previously attracting much attention from Capitol Hill.

"It was odious, it was shocking, it was disgusting and I think all Americans should be alarmed," Mr. Felos told reporters in Florida.

And he had a warning for Democrats who would deign to veer from longstanding opposition to federal intrusion in such intimate medical decisions: "If they don't stand up for Terri Schiavo, they deserve to be the minority party."

Many Congressional Democrats were biting their tongues Friday as they witnessed what they considered an egregious misuse of power by Republicans. They pointed to public opinion polls that show support for Mr. Schiavo's right to decide his wife's fate, but they also fear the power of the mobilized right.

Plus, lawmakers of both parties say they have been moved by the videotapes they have seen of Ms. Schiavo, viewing themselves as the last barrier between her and a death sentence.

Yet, as Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, warned her colleagues this week as they considered a bill that would move the case to federal court, the mix of politics and mortality can be volatile.

"We change the nature of all these things to put this in the political arena," she said.

Yes, they do.

It is obvious from reading these articles that many of the protesters are motivated by ideology, not compassion, sympathy, or even understanding. One, in the Washington Post article, said "We treat dolphins better than this." Few, clearly, understand Ms. Schiavo's physical condition. Actually, we euthanize animals long before they reach Ms. Schiavo's condition. It has been 15 years; it is time to let her go.

Understanding, however, has no place in this matter; not any more. Politics has entered.

Perhaps there is a cautionary tale for all of us, in that.