Bachmann: Terri Schiavo was “healthy”; audience disagrees

Here’s an oldie but a goodie (moreso for those, like I, who hadn’t seen it yet): Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) at a committee hearing circa 2006 wherein she declares that Terri Schiavo should be kept alive because she was “healthy” and that despite her “brain damage”, “she was not terminally ill” … when Schiavo was in a permanent vegetative state due to the fact that her brain had turned to mush.

My transcript: (click the [+/-] to expand/collapse →)

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BACHMANN: I would’ve voted in favor of protecting the life of Terri Schiavo. She was a woman who was healthy and she had brain damage – [audience laughs] – there was no question, but from a health point of view, she was not terminally ill.

I love that audience’s reaction. And this YouTube comment: “Bachmann been braindead for years and looks surprisingly healthy, so why not Schiavo?” (Touché?)

Of course, it’s clear that Bachmann was referring to the state of Schiavo’s external, non-liquified-brain body, which was indeed perfectly “healthy” – in the sense that it could be sustained indefinitely … as long as it remained attached to life support. After all, to Bachmann (and other religious-rightists), all that matters is that the person be alive in the strictest sense, any semblance of well-being or quality of life be damned. Doesn’t matter if they’re mentally impaired, or long-suffering, or even nothing but a shell at that point; if their heart’s beating, keep ’em tied to life at all costs. I find that to be a far scarier thought than mere death itself could ever be.

That is why these people are so dangerous. They are the 21^st Century’s boogeyman, only this time, they’re not hiding under the bed; they’re vying for presidency.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Tags: Michele Bachmann • Terri Schiavo