More Less-Than-Wholeness
Topic: WorldNetDaily
With the first anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death coming up, we had a feeling that Diana Lynne would surface to write some more about the case (and, hopefully, to sell a few more copies of her book). And we were right. A March 27 column by Lynne attacks Jon Eisenberg's book "Using Terri," which described the right wing's support of the Schiavo case (and which we cited in our critique of Lynne's book). For all of Lynne's attacks, there are a couple things worth noting:

-- Despite Lynne's claim that "Eisenberg's book is a misleading, disingenuous case of the pot calling the kettle 'black,' " and that "Schiavo was a right-to-die case five years before it became a right-to-life case," Lynne never denies or disproves Eisenberg's basic assertion that the religious right used the case for their own purposes.

-- Despite Lynne's diversionary tactic of detailing what was spent on the attorneys for Michael Schiavo to counter Eisenberg's claims that the religious right spent "between $400,000 and $500,000" backing Terri Schiavo's parents, the Schindlers, Lynne appears to concede this number as the truth -- which would be the first time that Lynne has acknowledged this. In her book, she never cited the funding for that side, disingenuously describing it as "a grass-roots effort." Lynne also concedes here that Wesley Smith was "an unpaid adviser to the Schindlers"; in her book, she cited Smith's writings but failed to disclose his adviser status.

-- It appears that Lynne is about to drag George Soros into this; apparently, a Clinton connection couldn't be found or fabricated. After describing Soros as "the Daddy Warbucks of left-wing political campaigns and numerous left of center causes," she claims that "Employing Eisenberg's methodology, George Soros conspired to cause Terri's death." But Lynne fails to mention -- as she similarly failed to do in her book -- the contributions of pro-life extremists Randall Terry and Gary McCullough. C'mon, Diana, if you're going to dismiss Michael Schiavo attorney George Felos as having a "fascination with death and dying," you might want to mention that McCullough was the media consultant for a convicted killer and condoned his act of murder.

This looks to be a week-long series from Lynne. We'll check in again when she does.

UPDATE: Added links to books.