Unwedged

Till Death—or Tom DeLay—Do Us Part
The "sanctity of marriage" is suddenly negotiable.
By Dahlia Lithwick

Lithwick's opening paragraph really nails the irony of the Schiavo situation and the grandstanding from Republicans it has inspired:

Of all the ironies at the heart of the Terri Schiavo case—alleged federalists who scoff at federalism; the fact that Schiavo, who's in a persistent vegetative state, has lived off the winnings in the same kind of medical malpractice suit that Republicans in Congress seek to limit—the most astonishing is this: Congressional Republicans who have staked their careers and the last election on the "sanctity of marriage" have turned this case into a mockery of that very institution.

I'm not married, so I can't vouch for Lithwick's reaction to Tom Delay's statement:

"I don't know what transpired between Terri and her husband. All I know is Terri is alive. ... Unless she has specifically written instructions in her hand, with her signature, I don't care what her husband says," snarled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay the other day. Can this be true? In DeLay's worldview, is my grocery list more binding than promises made to and by my husband about our deepest wishes? Can Bill Frist and Tom DeLay and George W. Bush really be attempting to shred up the very institution they most want to protect?

I'm not married, but that's partly because Bill Frist and Tom Delay and George W. Bush don't want me to be. I DO know that, while I love my parents very much, each passing day makes it far less likely that they would know what I want in a given situation and far more likely that the person who lives with me day in and day out would. What kind of funeral would I want? In what circumstances would I prefer not to be kept on life support? These are not things you discuss with your parents, for one obvious reason--you don't expect them to outlive you. A life partner, no matter what the law calls him or her, is the person who should be asked these questions--and that's exactly what every court that rules on this case has said and done. If DeLay and Frist and Bush really believed in the sanctity of marriage, they would say so, too. This situation exposes them for what they really are: exploiters of fear and panderers to the lowest common denominators within their political base. This time, I think, their exposure may be too obvious for them to return to hiding.