Jeb Bush: Unfit for President!!!

I saw this story buried in the front section of the Houston Chronicle this morning and mentioned by Matt Drudge. It is a reflection of the sorry intellectual state of our media that Terri Schiavo's physical state, and not this, made the front page. (And that the version I saw there was so short on detail.) Depending on what, exactly, occurred, it may be that Jeb Bush very nearly caused a constitutional crisis! Did the governor of one of our biggest states just subordinate the law he was sworn to uphold to the wishes of the religious right? This is much more important.

[A]gencies answering directly to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had planned to use a wrinkle in state law that would have allowed them to legally get around the judge's order. The exception in the law allows public agencies to freeze a judge's order whenever an agency appeals it.

Participants in the high-stakes test of wills, who spoke with The Miami Herald on the condition of anonymity, said they believed the standoff could ultimately have led to a constitutional crisis - and a confrontation between dueling lawmen.

"There were two sets of law enforcement officers facing off, waiting for the other to blink," said one official with knowledge of Thursday morning's activities. In jest, one official said local police discussed "whether we had enough officers to hold off the National Guard."

"It was kind of a showdown on the part of the locals and the state police," the official said. "It was not too long after that Jeb Bush was on TV saying that, evidently, he doesn't have as much authority as people think." [italics mine]

If the Schiavo case was a trial balloon for the religious right, this could be a shot across the bow. What does Jeb Bush mean when he says he "doesn't have as much authority as people think?" Was what he did legal or illegal? How, exactly, would this have caused a constitutional crisis? Was the pulling back of state law enforcement an admission that he acted illegally and that he was merely outgunned? Did Ann Coulter basically get her wish after all? This article raises lots more questions than it answers.

The Schiavo controversy has thus taught us two things. First, of all the possible GOP presidential candidates for 2008, Jeb Bush may very well be the least fit for office and the one to oppose most vigorously. Second, and more important, the religious right is far more dangerous than they looked a few weeks ago.

Update (3-28-05) Robert Tracinski of TIA Daily calls this episode "Jeb's Rebellion." The following quote (which I missed) from the story supports the implied interpretation of these events: "Alerted by the Bush administration that Schiavo might be on her way to their facility, officials at Morton Plant Hospital went to court Wednesday, asking Florida Circuit Judge George Greer, who ordered the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube last week, what to do."

No more need for a question mark in the title. I would also agree with Tracinski that, "[T]his is an extremely important story that ... ought to dominate the headlines."

-- CAV

Updates

3-26-05 Since it is not yet completely clear that Jeb Bush himself ordered this, I changed some of the wording.
3-28-05 Added last paragraph.