# Jeb Bush - I have a hard time believing that you're actually a human being. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 10, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266 "2004-04-10T02:34:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/61 "2004-04-10T22:42:20Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Perhaps the Governor is wiser than we give him credit for. Do you honestly believe it’s even remotely possible he had some knowledge that the mother would pull through that the doctors did not? That his decision wasn’t purely political and she only survived through luck? Does Jeb Bush have medical training I’m unaware of? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/62 "2004-04-11T00:58:07Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Like I said earlier, if this were a current situation, if the woman were pregnant right now, I might be convinced of the self-defense argument for abortion. > But that’s in the past, so I’m sticking with the “all’s well that ends well” position. > Alright, it’s not really “well”, but what’s done is done. Bush’s decision resulted in [my opinion] the best possible outcome in a bad situation. > > Perhaps the Governor is wiser than we give him credit for. So, hypothetically speaking, if I tried to run you down in the street and missed, you’d be okay with it? After all, whatever my intention might have been, everything turned out okay in the end, right? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/63 "2004-04-11T01:04:32Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > So, hypothetically speaking, if I tried to run you down in the street and missed, you’d be okay with it? After all, whatever my intention might have been, everything turned out okay in the end, right? Scenario doesn’t fit. I don’t believe Bush was doing this intending for the woman to die. If what he did was so horribly wrong, why aren’t there hearings and such. Or are there? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/64 "2004-04-11T01:31:07Z")
If he really cared, then why did he not also apoint a guardian to the woman as WELL as her fetus? Seems to me he cares more about pandering to the pro-life crowd than he does about a rape victim who is severely retarded. And that sickens me. These people are so obsessed with the unborn, but don’t seem to give a shit about the born. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/65 "2004-04-11T01:36:37Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Scenario doesn’t fit. I don’t believe Bush was doing this intending for the woman to die. That’s not the point. I did something that almost killed you. Does the fact that I didn’t succeed excuse the action? > [@](#): > > If what he did was so horribly wrong, why aren’t there hearings and such. > Or are there? Wether or not his actions were _legal_ does not make them _right_. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/66 "2004-04-11T10:08:04Z")
**pkbites** , are you willing to say to this young woman, “Your mother was so severely mentally retarded she is incapable of understanding that she gave birth to you and your father was suffering from senile dementia so severe he may not remember conceiving you, and your conception resulted from a rape?” Are you willing to force victims of rape to give birth any children which result from that act? Do you think a woman should die because she was a victim of rape? You know, I really wish that last was an exaggeration. Unfortunately, given what was known at the time Jeb Bush appointed a guardian for the child and not the mother, the evidence in hand suggested it was likely she would die. As others have said, he had no way of knowing if the mother would survive the pregnancy. He is, in effect requiring that the victim of a crime die rather than the person who committed it. I’m too appalled to be polite. CJ ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/67 "2004-04-11T10:17:06Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I don’t get it.😕 “Scarecrow franchise” = many strawmen. Just trying to help out… ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/68 "2004-04-11T12:17:35Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Myself, I don’t believe in killing someone just because their father is a criminal! Risking killing the _mother_ on the other hand, is apparently okie-dokie in your book though. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/69 "2004-04-11T14:01:33Z")
> [@Necro Romancer](#): > > The fact that someone with the emotional and cognitive capacity of a **one year old** was not only raped and impregnated, but was forced to give birth despite her mental _and_ physical disabilities, putting her life at risk. I wonder how well a one year old recovers from being raped and giving birth. You could just as easily flip that script, though, and you’d still be between the exact same rock and hard place. Is it better to “force” a woman to give birth or to “force” a woman to have an abortion? How well does a one year old recover from being raped and then having her cervix dilated and her fetus ripped from her womb by a vacuum? Not that I’m saying that I agree with what Bush did; despite my strong pro-life convictions I do not, but that particular argument isn’t terribly compelling to me. I am compelled to being appalled at Bush for his abuse of his office and his attempt at making end-runs around the separation of powers, just as in the Terri Schiavo case. At least there, however, there are some mitigating circumstances; in this case there do not seem to be which makes the governor’s act all the more egregious. But I’m having a hard time finding anger because J.D.S. _and_ her baby both lived. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266/70 "2004-04-11T14:11:30Z")
> [@TeaElle](#): > > You could just as easily flip that script, though, and you’d still be between the exact same rock and hard place. Is it better to “force” a woman to give birth or to “force” a woman to have an abortion? How well does a one year old recover from being raped and then having her cervix dilated and her fetus ripped from her womb by a vacuum? If she has a much less chance of death from the abortion than the pregnancy, then I’d have no problem “forcing” her to have an abortion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeb-bush-i-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-youre-actually-a-human-being/239266.md?page=3)