Ken Shepherd, who often frequents the comment boxes of Catholic Light, passes along this story about Howard Dean’s pro-death views.
I do not use “pro-death” loosely. He favored — no, favors — the judicially sanctioned killing of Terri Schindler Schiavo, and mocked Governor Jeb Bush (R-Badass) for intervening to save her life. He also thinks killing isn’t a public act, but a private one.
“I as a physician would not be comfortable administering lethal drugs,” Dean explained, “but I think this a very private, personal decision, and I think individual physicians and patients have the right to make that private decision.”
In the Roman Empire, the paterfamilias, or patriarch, had the power to kill children he deemed unworthy of life, and the civil law had little to say about it. Far from being an advance in civilization, turning premeditated killing into a private act is retrogression of a very high order.
Is anyone really surprised by this?
As an addendum:
I think I know why he isn’t comfortable prescribing lethal drugs: he has, in his own mind, a destiny and the legal/PR problems that would cause would interfere with that destiny. He thinks it’s to become president, but I think that he will replace Terry McAuful as chairman of the Evil Losers Party in 2005.