Schiavo debate proves Dent a different Republican
Two different faces of the Republican Party emerged dur ing the congressional inter vention into the tragic
case of Terri Schiavo.
Moderate Republican Charlie Dent, a new congressman from Allentown, stood up for keeping Congress out of
the private end-of-life decisions families make.
U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, the godfather of conservatism in Pennsylvania, was willing to use federal power
to change a family decision he didn't think was moral, a rationale he crusades against when it is deployed by politicians
such as Hillary Clinton or Ted Kennedy...
Congress swung into action, just as Schiavo's feeding tubes were to be removed.
Arguing that questions were raised that meant Terri might be functioning and responsive, Santorum and other
congressional leaders crafted a bill. It directed the case into the courtroom of U.S. District Judge James Whittemore in Florida.
They wanted Whittemore to start the case all over again, with new medical findings, and keep Terri fed while
he looked into the case, Santorum told radio and TV talk show host Sean Hannity in one of his nearly nightly appearances on
Hannity's shows.
Congress stayed in session until 1:45 a.m. on Monday to pass the bill.
But Whittemore declined to order Terri to be fed, saying the Schiavos had little chance of overturning the
Florida court order. A few days later, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Whittemore.
Santorum and others ripped into Whittemore, saying that while the bill was silent on the issue of whether
Whittemore would order Schiavo fed, they presumed he would order her fed while he studied the record and ordered new findings.
Every Pennsylvania Republican Congress member present but one voted for the Schiavo bill Santorum helped to guide into law.
That one dissenter was Allentown's Charlie Dent. While Santorum and others were arguing that Schiavo had
consciousness and that terminating her life would be like euthanizing the handicapped, Dent had a different view.
He told The Morning Call of Allentown, "If it were my family, I wouldn't want it to be voted on on the floor
of the House."
Dent said he had been a party to two decisions about when the lives of close relatives should end, adding,
"I just don't think this was an appropriate issue to be adjudicated on in Congress."
And while Dent supports abortion rights, he says this issue is simple.
"Had the courts ruled in favor of the parents, and the husband had come to Congress for the same reasons,
I would have voted the same way," Dent told The Morning Call.
Santorum, on the other hand, wants the federal courts to stop, go back, re-do everything and reach a better
decision.
Oddly, Santorum usually wants government to stay out of people's way, much more so than the moderate, and
usually government-intervention-friendly, Dent.
Several of the Republican Pennsylvania congressmen who voted with Santorum are privately praising Dent for
not being stampeded by "pro-lifers and radio talk show hosts, like most of us were," one GOP congressman said.
Several GOPers who voted for the bill privately said there are issues -- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security,
terrorism and highway funding -- that should have been higher congressional priorities than this swoop into a family feud.
They also noted that even those who wish someone other than Michael Schiavo were making this decision wonder
whether federally empowering family members to dispute spousal decisions like these won't be a solution far worse than the
current problem.
Dent's colleagues didn't join him, but several echoed one who said that if Republicans really want to be
the party of less government then "we should have said what Charlie said and done what he did. And stayed out of it."
