Lessons of the Schiavo Battle

LIFE OR DEATH : Mary and Robert Schindler, the parents of Terri, speak to the media

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS / VII FOR TIME

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On the Internet, conservative bloggers questioned whether an anonymous G.O.P. talking-points memo calling the Schiavo case "a great political issue" was in fact a fake cooked up by Democrats. And DeLay, for whom the Schiavo case served as a well-timed media distraction in the midst of his growing ethical scandals, told a private gathering of the conservative Family Research Council that "this is more than just Terri Schiavo. This is exactly the kind of issue that is going on in America ... attacks against the conservative movement, against me and others, to destroy everything we believe in."

Many voters reacted negatively to such bluster. In the TIME poll, 54% of respondents said they would be more likely to vote against their congressional representative if he or she voted for the recent Schiavo bill. Still, for all the speculation that Republicans may have overreached with their control of Congress, it is hard to imagine that many voters, especially moderate Republicans, will punish legislators for, in effect, trying to prolong Schiavo's life.

"All we did was allow Terri's parents to have the same privileges as an individual sentenced to death--an appeal to the federal courts," says Thomas Price, a Republican Representative from Georgia. That comparison is debatable, but there is no denying that the action will resonate with a small minority of committed members of the religious right. "For people for whom this is murder by the state in a grotesque and inhumane way, this will deepen and harden their energy and activism in ways that will last a lifetime," says former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who while personally conflicted over the issue, thinks Congress did the right thing. "But for everyone else, it will be a memory."

That surely was one of the political calculations the Republicans made when deciding to get so involved in the Schiavo case, which was first discussed in the halls of Congress late last year. At a time when G.O.P. leaders in Congress have been unable to gain much traction on issues like abortion and gay rights--which are near and dear to Christian conservatives--this was a no-lose opportunity to burnish their credentials with their most demanding and important supporters. Still, many Republicans reject the notion that anything but deep moral conviction motivated the extraordinary legislative measure. "It's hard to say it's politics when you get that kind of consensus in a divided U.S. Senate," says Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

The move contradicted the G.O.P.'s long-standing support of states' rights, generating concern from a few independent-minded members of the party, like Virginia Senator John Warner. As the only Republican Senator to take to the floor to speak against the emergency legislation, Warner declared in the Congressional Record that "I fear the door has opened, and Congress, which by constitutional mandate is entrusted to pass laws for the nation, will again and again be petitioned to deal with personal situations which are the responsibility of the several states." Even so, the idea of a meaningful split emerging in the Republican ranks seems to be overblown. The people who deliver votes and mobilize constituencies are still on the same page, and that means doing what they can to make social conservatives happy.