Karl Rove on Sunday:
“I believe in the principles of the Republican Party. I believe in limited government and the right of the individual to make choices.”
Karl Rove’s White House on Tuesday:
The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to block the nation’s only law allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients die more quickly.
The appeal from Attorney General John Ashcroft had been expected since May, when a lower court ruled the federal government could not punish Oregon doctors who prescribed lethal doses of federally controlled drugs.
Oregon voters approved the law and since 1998 more than 170 people have used it to end their lives. Most had cancer.
As Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) noted, Oregon voters have twice endorsed the right of terminally ill patients to die more quickly and that “it’s past time for this administration to focus on ways to work with Oregon — not against us.” A federal appeals court agreed that the Bush administration cannot override state law and punish doctors who prescribe lethal doses of medication for their terminally ill patients. Bush nevertheless wants to reject local control.
So, what about the Republican Party’s principles of the “right of the individual to make choices”? That only counts when individual choices are consistent with Bush’s political agenda.