Schiavo Show Flops in Florida

The results are in, and one thing is certain: Floridians wouldn’t want the next reality show to feature a comatose woman whose husband and parents are battling each other to take her off life support.

According to multiple reports, including the Miami Herald,

From the president to the governor to legislators to judges to reporters, nearly every outsider involved in the Terri Schiavo tragedy is viewed unfavorably by Floridians, who frown most heavily on those who intruded the most…

The research was conducted by Quinnipiac University. For some reason, the news media took the biggest hit, and rightly, the Supreme Court got the least criticism. Personally, I still blame Jeb for getting involved early and often.

”I think this is a case of shooting the messenger,” Clay F. Richards, pollster for the university, said Wednesday. “And there was fatigue. This was on television and in the newspapers constantly and people just wanted this to go away. The Supreme Court got a pass because it just stayed out.”

Following the news media in descending order, Floridians viewed these entities less favorably than ”favorably:” Congress, the Florida Legislature, Gov. Jeb Bush and President Bush, the federal courts and the state courts. The poll showed, however, that both Bushes’ job-approval ratings in general held constant.

Jeb’s reaction to the news? Pure Jeb:

”I don’t know where Quinnipiac University is, for starters,” Bush said Wednesday. “Secondly I didn’t do it for polls or politics. When you are in this position you can’t be driven by polls. It’s just not appropriate.”

Of course, party affiliation made a difference. Republicans, as their puppet-masters knew they would be, were more evenly split.

However, the actions of the Republican lawmakers in Washington and Tallahassee proved almost as popular as it was unpopular with GOP voters — underscoring the logic behind a well-publicized ”talking points” memo that noted the case was “a great political issue.”

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