The politics of Terri Schiavo

"The government should declare martial law for the whole county, arrest the judge, arrest the sheriff," said Hunt, who identified himself as a government subcontractor.

Dana Milbank gives us the rundown on the lunatic fringe of the religious right and Terri Schiavo. It now appears that when the Republicans and the Bush family attempted to pander to the Religous Right they were only talking to a small minority. Now they have created a monster they can't control.

"Terri has not given up hope," the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition and organizer of the rally, said into a dozen microphones. Citing her endurance through 11 days without food or water as evidence that she wants to live, Mahoney shouted: "She is speaking from her hospice bed, saying, 'I want to live. Will you help me?' "

Mahoney turned his fury on his erstwhile allies in the Schiavo case: the brothers Bush and congressional leaders. "They are lacking the political will," he said, criticizing Congress's failure to enforce its subpoena to question the severely brain-damaged woman. "Is this a political stunt by the Republican leadership?"

Michael McMonagle, another speaker, proposed that the Justice Department take Schiavo into protective custody, that her husband, Michael Schiavo, be arrested, and that the president call Congress back from its recess.

As an indication of just what a minority the Schiavo activists are, Millbank noted that there were more journalists and photographers than protesters. The Republicans and the Bush administration certainly did gain politically from the Schiavo intervention but only time will tell how much they were hurt. It can be said at this moment in time that no one is happy.