Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Angie Paccione in New York Times

The New York Times has a big story on Michael Schiavo, who is campaigning against grasping harpy politicians who want to use their power to make your medical decisions.

Mr. Schiavo, who won a scorching legal battle to remove his brain-damaged wife’s feeding tube, also remains furious at lawmakers in Tallahassee and Washington who intervened in the case. Hence the creation last winter of TerriPAC, a federal political action committee aimed against politicians who tried to stop Ms. Schiavo’s death, and the debut of Mr. Schiavo, a newly remarried, self-described normal guy, as a political weapon in this year’s midterm elections.

He is an unpolished speaker, sometimes abandoning sentences midstream or grasping for the right words. He did not vote or follow the news until recently, he says, and had never heard of a PAC until strangers suggested he start one late last year.


Then on the visit to Musgrave's office:

Mr. Schiavo also hand-delivered a caustic letter to Representative Marilyn Musgrave, Republican of Colorado, who outspokenly opposed Ms. Schiavo’s death, and endorsed her Democratic opponent, Angie Paccione. He attended a bloggers’ convention in Las Vegas in June to raise his profile in the online pundit world, being host of a “privacy roundtable” at the Riviera Hotel.

“He is the human face of government intrusion,” said Ms. Paccione, explaining why she accepted Mr. Schiavo’s offer to appear with her at a news conference July 12. “We need more individual citizens like him to step up and put an end to it. People trust somebody who looks like them, talks like them and has their experience.”

As opposed to people like Marilyn Musgrave, who thinks it's the government's business to interfere in your life decisions.

Michael Schiavo's letter to Musgrave.