(to facilitate context of Euthanasia pertaining to Healthcare "Reform" in present day 2009...)


A Powder Puff Interview
Dateline Sunday, March 26, 2006



Who would you select if you needed a hard-nosed journalist who asked all the tough questions? I know I'd call Matt Lauer ???

As it turns out, Mr. Lauer is exactly what one could wish if you're Michael Schiavo, intent on promoting one's new book. Did the "deal" stipulate questions be run past Schiavo and his attorney so they could define what was asked on-air?

Matt did sneak one in "under the radar" at the outset of the interview though. (or am I giving him too much credit?) He caught Michael off balance while joking that this book sure got in some good licks on Schiavo's detractors. Michael had to laugh and admit that it did. Then Michael, no doubt realizing his mirth could be interpreted as crass, was quick to add that it ALSO honored Terri's memory.

The overall "script" called for a recorded segment with a camera crew following Michael down the street where he resided last year, Schiavo playing the victim, describing how his privacy was assailed by protesters. Later, live in the studio, Mr. Schiavo seemed less inclined to model the recluse. As it turns out, it's next to impossible to be demure about public attention when you're in the midst of promoting your newly released book. However, Lauer emphasized that Terri's dehydration attracted the likes of Florida governor, Jeb Bush, state legislators, the U.S. Congress and President, the Supreme Court and even the Pope.

Notably missing were any questions by Lauer pertaining to multiple testimonies by previous nursing home staff that cared for Terri. Several nurses had testified that Michael frequently asked them "when the bitch was going to die." It would have been interesting to see him rationalize those kinds of questions and statements when confronted on national television. Instead, Michael continually portrayed himself as a devoted husband, and their marriage before and after Terri's collapse, as idyllic. And Matt allowed him.

Even as cynical prenuptial agreements have assaulted marriage, I don't know of anyone who puts a clause in their vows qualifying the traditional phrase about sickness and health. Have you ever heard of a contingency plan for a second wife and family to join the marriage in progress in case of any "extenuating circumstances?" The dubious "promise" on which Michael Schiavo chose to focus all his attention came from an offhand conversation on a train when he was alone with Terri. He decided to ignore his formal vows, witnessed by the family and the community within their church. Doesn't that logically make his credibility suspect to any sane person?

Matt didn't delve into Michael's denial of palliative care for Terri either. Michael had refused to allow a nurse even to have Terri squeeze a washcloth to keep up basic finger dexterity because he characterized it as formal long-term occupational therapy which he had disallowed by dedicated therapists.

In the context of the extended battle over Terri's custody, Matt asked Michael why at the very end, when the courts had allowed Michael to withhold hydration, that he refused Terri's brother admittance at her deathbed. Wouldn't Terri have naturally wanted her family of origin also around her as she died? Michael's response was that there wasn't enough time. When pressed, he added that he didn't want police in the room, because Bobby's presence would have necessitated the presence of security as well. As if a hurried glass of water at that point would "rescue" Terri as she was about to expire? A good followup question from Matt would have been why Michael initially denied the Schindler family the location of Terri's grave, sadistically preventing their respects there as well. It would have been even more difficult to explain away that level of vindictiveness, security being an uncontestable irrelevance.

As if all this wasn't disturbing enough, in addition to the moral descent of culture into the abyss of euthanasia, we have a trivialization of marriage vows, itself a part of the content of this particular so-called "mercy" murder. Schiavo's adulterous liason, Jode Centoze, made an appearance on Dateline. She testified to his "loyalty" to Terri while Michael lived with (and had two children with) her. Apparently the definition of loyalty is as elusive as the definition of "is" in this culture permeated with moral relativism. Matt Lauer didn't even blink, let alone formulate a question, during this characterization of loyalty in marriage. Usually any presentation should take into account its entire potential audience when decisions are made as to the vehicle's content. Obviously, by its actions, NBC does not care to acknowledge that Michael Schiavo's behavior pertaining to marriage contradicts the worldview of a significant share of its audience. The lack of spousal loyalty was treated as if it was the ideal norm through Lauer's failure to address it. It's just another instance of the liberal media's biased filtration of reality. Either morality is actively portrayed as a non-issue, or if it is addressed, a Hedonist or Pragmatist bias is rendered.

Lapdog NBC finished off the segment by dutifully showing the headstone Michael placed on Terri's grave. It gives Terri's birth date, the date she "departed"... and the date she "entered into rest." The focus of a headstone normally honors the deceased. Would anyone want the significance of one's life editorialized according to an estranged spouse's summary of their years apart? Under the quite unorthodox account of Terri's marking "dates" is the statement, "I kept my promise." Again, instead of an epitaph honoring Terri, it is Michael having the last word in granite. One wonders if he also went to the gravesite after dark and pissed a circle around it, in order to mark it as "his" territory.