Picking Your Causes

Of all people, Michelle Malkin complains that celebrities aren't rallying to her cause du jour, the question of whether the state of Massachusetts should have sought to remove Haleigh Poutre from life support, particularly in light of evidence that what had been diagnosed as a "vegetative state may not be a total vegetative state."

While Haleigh clings to life, I've pondered how we might help persuade the plug-pullers to put off the child's state-sanctioned death sentence. I propose nominating her for a Nobel Prize. It bought Tookie Williams five extra years.

Jamie Foxx and Susan Sarandon, will you join me?

Malkin argues that up to this point "The only person who wanted Haleigh alive was her stepfather, who will likely be charged with murder if Haleigh dies." I'm not sure why Malkin deems that relevant, given her endorsement of decisions by the State of Texas to remove a six-month-old baby from life support over the objections of his parents, and to remove a severely brain-damaged stroke victim from life support over the objections of his family. She does not present any evidence that Haleigh has any better chance of recovery, or even as great a response to external stimuli, than that stroke victim. Nor does it seem particularly relevant that those two patients were designated as "terminal", given Malkin's apparent position that doctor's opinions which back up the state's desire to terminate a patient's life support can't be trusted

It was The Experts' unequivocal assessments that led the court to declare Haleigh in "an irreversible vegetative state" and to assert that "the child could not see, hear, feel or respond." Now, they admit they were wrong. ... Haleigh's story is a wake-up call to "right-to-die" ideologues who recklessly put such unlimited trust in the medical profession and Nanny State.

She's in no position to be accusing celebrities of hypocrisy.

But to me, the greater issue is not the removal of this unfortunate child from life support, but how she came to be in that position. How did an eleven-year-old child end up beaten into a coma by her abusive father? What can we do to reduce child abuse and to be more effective in protecting children from abuse? Will Michelle Malkin join me?

Hardly. She has other priorities, such as defending the mass internment of American citizens of Japanese extraction during World War II. Malkin's only apparent use for abused children is as a basis for attacks on Democrats. She really knows how to pick her causes....