Ugh ugh ugh

I mean, just how low, how disgustingly low, can someone willingly crawl? At a time when even Bill Frist is saying that with the autopsy of Terri Schiavo confirming that she had massive brain damage, "the chapter is closed,"

Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday that a prosecutor has agreed to investigate why Terri Schiavo collapsed 15 years ago, citing an alleged time gap between when her husband found her and when he called 911[, AP said on Friday]. ...

In a letter faxed to Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney Bernie McCabe, the governor said Michael Schiavo testified in a 1992 medical malpractice trial that he found his wife collapsed at 5 a.m. on Feb. 25, 1990, and he said in a 2003 television interview that he found her about 4:30 a.m. He called 911 at 5:40 a.m.

"Between 40 and 70 minutes elapsed before the call was made, and I am aware of no explanation for the delay," Bush wrote. "In light of this new information, I urge you to take a fresh look at this case without any preconceptions as to the outcome."

In addition to finding that last part rather odd - Do Florida officials normally begin investigations by making assumptions about what they'll find? - the whole thing is just, well slimy might begin to describe it. This whole thing hangs on the single thread that years after the fact Michael Schiavo would know with precision just what time events occurred. It is absurd on its face. It's not even a fishing expedition, it's a fishing expedition with no bait and a barbless hook. It's sick.

If I was Michael Schiavo, I know what my reaction would be:

"I'd just found my wife on the floor, unconscious, unresponsive, and I was supposed to, what, say to myself 'Gee I wonder what time it is? I should know just in case, y'know, in fifteen years some scumball politician wanting to re-establish his bona fides with a gaggle of reactionary crackpots wants to take some cheap shots at my expense.'"

Coming soon to an election near you: Shrub II!

Footnote: Frist is now trying to run away from his statements about Terri Schiavo.

What he said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday:

"I raised the question, 'Is she in a persistent vegetative state or not?' I never made the diagnosis, never said that she was not. I did say that certain tests should be performed to determine that before starving her to death."

What he said in March during Senate debate on the bill to allow federal court intervention:

"Based on the footage provided to me, which was part of the facts of the case, she does respond."

Discussing the diagnosis of a persistent vegetative state, Frist added: "I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office here in the Capitol. And that footage, to me, depicted something very different than persistent vegetative state.

Frist also said that "when the neurologist said, 'Look up,' there is no question in the video that she actually looks up."

But now, let's be fair. He said she was in "something very different" from PVS. He never actually said she was "not" in PVS. He never actually used that word.

And he never said "imminent," either.