I’m getting a gagillion hits today. Why? Not because some great post of mine has gotten picked up a bigger blog, but because I misspelled Terry Schiavo last week. I’m the number one google hit for Terry Shiavo, without the C.

If you have found your way here and would like more information about Terry Schiavo with a C, here are a couple of good links. Ampersand has had a post or two from the opposite perspective.

Taking a bizarre twist, this case is now in the hands of Congress. Divisions on this issue are falling along party line. Republicans are pushing to keep her feeding tubes in place; Democrats are advocating for its removal.

This seems to fit in very well with the other posts that I’ve written this past week on the party.

What the hell are Democrats thinking by pushing for Schiavo’s death? This is a loser issue. There is no clear cut case that Schiavo is brain dead or that she would have wanted to end her life this way. Even if the matter was more cut and dry, the right to die is still a loser issue. Why waste political capital on politically unpopular and ethically ambiguous issue?

Focus, people, focus. Let’s get back to talking about social equality, the state of urban life, education, the environment, promoting social justice in the world, whatever. Pulling the feeding tubes from this woman should not be the way that we define the Democratic party.