April 4, 2005 by s.z.

The Terri Report First, from WorldNetDaily: AFTER SCHIAVO On CBS in May:Terri TV movie CBS is rushing a Terri Schiavo TV movie into production so that it can air the biopic during the May ratings sweeps. [...] CBS' Terri story reportedly will feature "Felicity" star Keri Russell to star as America’s tragic heroine and Dean Cain of "Lois and Clark" as the husband who relentlessly seeks an end to her life. WND apparently got the info for their item from this Defamer item from 1 April.  Feeding tubes are red-hot right now. The Pope’s deteriorating health and Terri Schiavo’s death provided a tube-related field day for the news media yesterday. Today, CBS has announced plans to rush a Schiavo biopic to air during May sweeps, with Keri Russell to star as America’s tragic heroine and Dean Cain as the husband who wants to let her die in peace. The net anxiously awaits the Pope’s death to announce the casting of Ben Kingsley as the Holy Father. [Variety] Since the Variety item says nothing about any CBS biopics (it's about the intensive news coverage of the Terri/Pope stories), and since nobody else has said anything about this proposed movie, we suspect this was just an April Fool's prank.  (Oh, and the thing that made us first suspect somebody was pulling our leg is that Dean Cain just starred as the wife-killing Scott Peterson in a bio-pic.) But that didn't stop WND's Doug Powers ("there's the right way, the wrong way, and the Doug Powers' way") from writing an indignant column about how CBS is the last network that should be allowed to do a movie about Terri because it defamed St. Ronald Reagan. While the movie was in production, CBS insisted it would be "from a very fair point of view." In addition to the actors being from the left side of the aisle, the producers were confessed liberals, and CBS Chairman Les Moonves is a Democrat. Just think what they would say if Roger Ailes announced that he'd hired Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity to write a movie about the life of Bill Clinton. Would they believe a statement from Ailes that the movie would be from a "very fair point of view"? [...] Given the makeup of the mainstream media backing the movie, and the Hollywood types who will be writing and shooting the movie, even with input from "both sides," does anybody really expect a "pro-Schindler" position to get a fair shake? I think that WND (you know, the "news source" that changed the Defamer copy from "the husband who wants to let her die in peace" to "the husband who relentlessly seeks an end to her life") should make the biopic, because they are the only ones who could be fair.  Oh, and the movie should star Ann Coulter as Terri, and Sean Hannity as Michael -- if only so Ann could fed a bit during filming.  And speaking of Terri's supporting cast, NY Newsday has a little profile about Randall Terry, and how he overcame such "set backs" as ditching his old wife and disowning his gay son, by working for the Schindlers. Crusading once again A series of setbacks forced Randall Terry out of the public eye, but the 'family values' champion has returned [...] His appearance Tuesday alongside the Rev. Jesse Jackson heightened unease among organizations who for years were on the receiving end of Terry's tactics, which included delivering a fetus to Bill Clinton in 1992, chaining himself to abortion clinic sinks, and getting himself arrested dozens of times. Terry, 46, insists he has softened after going through bankruptcy, a messy divorce, the censure of his church, estrangement from his gay son, a failed run for Congress, and a feeble attempt as a country singer. [...] Terry was pleased to find a high-profile platform. "It's unbelievable," he gushed Tuesday after Jackson appeared at the Florida hospice where Schiavo died Thursday. "I could not have written this script if I had been on acid." So, as long as it all worked out for Randall, Terri's work here is done. And Sean G.pointed us to Dawn Eden's blog (Dawn is the copy editor who was fired from the NY Post for interjecting her "pro-life" views into an editorial about stem-cell research during the editing process, and/or for blogging on company time).  Dawn's blog contains some of the most over-the-top Terri stuff that I've read yet.  Here's an example: March 31 I've seen ill and head-injured people. They're not all happy, even when they're doped up on medication. Terri had a spark. She could receive love, and she could give it. You can see that in the way she smiles at her mother in the videos. A close relative was telling me the other night that I should make a living will so that I would not be kept alive if I were incapacitated. Witnessing Terri's courage, I know that even if I were attached to a feeding tube and unable to move, as long as there were one person on earth who would come to visit me and show me love, I would be happy. Well, as happy as a person with no neurons in her brain can be. And here's part of a 3 April post by her step-father: Many of us suffered an agonizing death this week. We were starved to death, writhing with seizures from lack of food and water, gasping for breath as our tongue swelled, betrayed by the institutions that we trusted would protect us. I wonder if CBS will make movies about those people too. Anyway, a couple of days ago Dawn had some happy news to announce: she got a new, better job with a better organization, AND she got an offer to write a book for "one of the largest Christian publishers" (it will be "based on themes" she developed on her blog). And she apparently got both the new job and the book deal because of a puff-piece about her by the NY Observer's George Gurley (Ann Coulter's biggest fan).  So, everything has worked out okay for Dawn too.  I bet it was Terri's doing. 6:57:09 AM

Tom DeLay Defies Poll Results Tells Critics: 'If You Strike Me Down, I Shall Become More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine'  From the Houston Chronicle: DeLay spokesman rebuffs critical poll House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has earned support in his Houston-area district because of his principles, a spokesman said Sunday in a terse response to a Houston Chronicle poll about the Republican congressman and his constituents. In the Chronicle poll, conducted late last week and published Sunday, nearly 40 percent of 501 likely voters in his district said their opinion of DeLay is less favorable than last year, compared with 11 percent who said their view of him has improved. Personally, I believe that DeLay IS guided by principles, but since those principles seem to be self-interest, opportunism, and demagoguery, maybe he should be guided by the polls. One of the findings of the Houston Chronicle poll was that Tom's constituents weren't impressed by his Terri Schiavo stunt: Nearly 69 percent of people in the poll, including substantial majorities of Democrats and Republicans, said they opposed the government's intervention in the case. Nearly 58 percent were critical of DeLay's leading role in spurring Congress to pass a special law to get a federal court review of Schiavo's parents' attempts to have her feeding tube kept in place. [...] DeLay has argued that his morals guided him in the case of Schiavo. But nearly half of those polled said he intervened in the case for political gain. And because of his interfererence in the Schiavo case couldn't distract the people from his ethics problems, many of  them are ready to replace him; the poll found that "45 percent of respondents said they would vote for someone other than DeLay if the 22nd Congressional District election were to be held soon." Of course, DeLay blames all this on the the "liberal media" and George Soros.  This is what he told the Sugar Land Rotarians last week, per the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram: His troubles are the handiwork of the "liberal media" and their cohorts at well-funded "leftist organizations" who want to tear down the conservative movement in places like his district, he said. Interestingly enough, that's what The Hill ("a non-partisan, non-ideological weekly newspaper covering Congress") was saying all last week, per Media Matters (see item entitled "The Hill continues to carry water for House GOP").   The two articles and an editorial were apparently all derived from "GOP research," so maybe Jeff Gannon got himself a new gig.  Of course, the paper's executive editor, Hugo Gurdon is also known as Mr. Meghan -- so we're betting that the newest Gurdonette will be named The Hammer Gurdon, to show further solidarity with DeLay. But back to what Tom told the Rotarians: He is ready, he said, to take on those calling for his resignation as well as the Austin prosecutor -- a "partisan political hack," he said -- investigating the fund-raising network he helped create. "The more they fight, the more they overreach," DeLay said. "And the more they overreach, the American people figure out what's going on here. I'll tell you what: The more they attack, the stronger I get." That is, if you define "stronger" as "making voters think less favorably of you."  But anyway, we hope Obi Wan DeLay's "bring it on" policy works out for him, because this kind of popularity couldn't happen to a nicer guy. However, we admit that we found this tidbit in the Star-Telegram piece really disturbing: In 1978, DeLay was the first Republican elected to the Texas House from Fort Bend County in modern times. When he arrived in Austin, he didn't distinguish himself with fierce ideology or any particular legislative triumphs or failures. "DeLay is remembered most in Austin as a party animal," wrote Lou Dubose and Jan Reid in The Hammer, a DeLay biography. "They called him Hot Tub Tom." Okay, just imagine this face: In this scene: Queasy yet? 6:13:11 AM