A smart e-mailer:
Derb seems to lean a lot on the idea that the pro-dehydration side had the rule of law behind it. Florida law, passed by the voters’ elected representatives, wasn’t pro-life. That’s true but Derb totally ignores that the Supreme Court ordered all states’ laws to have the pro-euthanasia features he’s talking about. Also, it’s a bit much to say that pro-lifers were being dishonest in questioning whether Schiavo was PVS even though we didn’t think she should be killed even if she were PVS. All political movements do this kind of thing. People who are against the death penalty try to highlight cases that seem especially helpful to them, like the execution of minors or the retarded. Most anti-abortionists don’t believe that partial-birth abortion is worse than other kinds of abortion, but there’s no reason they can’t highlight issues that will expand their appeal to others. Pro-choicers, for that matter, make a big deal about rape and incest when their own position doesn’t really turn on these things. None of this seems cynical or dishonest to me.