How Many Conservatives Does It Take to Splinter the GOP Right?

Jacob Sullum | March 23, 2005

In a story ostensibly about dissension on the right concerning the wisdom, propriety, and constitutionality of congressional intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, The New York Times offers criticism from two moderates (Sen. John Warner of Virginia and Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut), two libertarians (Steve Moore and Bob Levy of the Cato Institute) and one self-identified "process conservative" at a think tank (David Davenport of the Hoover Institution). The payoff is a bit disappointing, given a headline that announces "GOP Right Is Splintered on Schiavo Intervention." To be fair, a story in yesterday's Times cited Pepperdine University law professor Douglas Kmiec as another conservative critic of An Act for the Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo. So that's two so far. I'd like to think the Times just isn't trying hard enough.