The Weekly Standard's false charge against John Edwards:

In an essay by Wesley J. Smith that revisits the Schiavo case, we read:

... the media have portrayed the effort by Republicans in Congress to pass a law to save her life as an attempt to impose their religious views on a private family.

This myth has become a staple of the Democratic presidential campaign, despite the fact that the denigrated legislation was enacted in almost record time by one of the most bipartisan congressional margins seen during the Bush presidency. Indeed, passage in the Senate required unanimous consent, which means any senator--including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden, and Chris Dodd (but not Barack Obama, who was not yet in the Senate)--could have stopped the bill in its tracks by simply saying no. None did so.

This is a reference to:

On March 21 [2005], Congress passed a bill, S.686, that allowed Schiavo's case to be moved into a federal court. The controversial law is colloquially known as the Palm Sunday Compromise. It passed the Senate on Sunday afternoon unanimously, 3-0, with 97 of 100 Senators not present. Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, deliberation ran from 9pm EST to just past midnight during an unusual Sunday session. The bill was passed 203-58 [...]     President Bush returned from vacation in Crawford, Texas to sign the bill into law at 1:11 that morning.

The legislation was passed in March of 2005. John Edwards last day in the Senate was January 3, 2005.


posted by Quiddity at 10/31/2007 04:34:00 AM