Scott Tibbs
blog post
March 22nd, 2005
Back to Archived blog posts.
Another day, another political column by Mike Leonard on the front page of the Herald-Times "Local" section. Today, Mike Leonard is addressing the Terri Schiavo case.
It is perfectly fine with me if Leonard wants to write politically themed columns on national issues. He does put forth a good effort much of the time and he is an enjoyable read. However, the front page of the "Local" section is not the place for those columns. Leonard's column, like countless other politically themed columns before it, should be on the opinion page.
Conservatives have been complaining for years about the placement of Leonard's column, and today's rant simply reinforces those complaints. Somehow, I doubt that a conservative columnist would be allowed to use his allotted space on the front page of the "Local" section to disseminate political propaganda.
As to the column itself: Leonard accuses Republicans of "politicizing" the Terri Schiavo case. I suppose the alleged motivation is that the GOP base is motivated on the Schiavo case, and determined to not allow Terri's "husband" to murder her via starvation and dehydration. I don't buy the argument that this is politically motivated, though. Considering polls have shown that the American people do not want Congress to get involved, Republicans are taking a political risk.
Could it be that the Republican Congress, which includes many people with strong pro-life beliefs, is simply trying to correct what they see as an injustice? I guess it is easier for Leonard to take the easy way out and attack the motivations of those he disagrees with rather than address their arguments.