Schiavo dominates US media

The legal and political battle over whether a brain-damaged woman in Florida should have her feeding tube removed dominated Monday morning coverage in the United States.

An ABC News poll found that by 70% to 27%, Americans opposed Congress' intervention in the case.

The same poll found that 80% of Americans would not want to live if they were in Mrs Schiavo's position.

CNN's Jack Cafferty was particularly exercised about the issue.

"It's like living in the twilight zone," Mr Cafferty said. "Congress comes back from vacation in order to work nights on a weekend. The president flies back from his ranch in Texas and interrupts his vacation in order to address the Schiavo matter."

"It is truly amazing the speed with which this group can function if there is publicity to be had, as in the case of steroids, or political turf to be captured, as in the Schiavo case," Mr Cafferty said.

CNN asked its viewers whether Congress should have intervened in the Schiavo case considering issues including the war in Iraq and the record budget deficit.

Mr Cafferty said the network received a record number of e-mails on the issue.

E-mails from both Republicans and Democrats expressed anger with Congress over inserting itself in what many saw as a family issue.

A woman from North Carolina wrote in an e-mail: "For the first time in my life, I'm embarrassed to be a Republican."

The case has galvanised activists

"Instead of worrying about the economy, our dependence on foreign oil, the war and crazy paedophiles on the loose, they hold a late-night session to deal with a family's private turmoil. This disgusts me," she said.

A viewer from New York wrote said that Congress and the president had overstepped their constitutional authority.

"The courts have to hand these clowns a copy of their job descriptions and tell them to get back to work," the viewer said.

"Issues more important that Iraq and the deficit? Not until Congress weighs in on the Jackson trial," another viewer wrote into CNN.

'Political circus'

The Washington Post hosted an online discussion about the Schiavo case with Robert Kaiser, the newspaper's associate managing editor.

Mr Kaiser normally is hesitant to offer up his own opinion, but the Schiavo case obviously touched a nerve not only with the people participating in the forum but also with Mr Kaiser himself.

"This is a political circus of the first rank, no doubt about it," he said, in response to a question as to whether taxpayer would be left to pay for the costly travel of the hundreds of members of Congress who cut short their Easter recess for the rare weekend vote.

A reader from Washington DC wrote in saying: "I have to think that whatever amount of social conservatives who are happy about this, are vastly outnumbered by the conservatives who want the federal government to stay out of state matters."

To which, Mr Kaiser responded: "I am notoriously bad at predicting the political implications of one thing or another, but I share your doubts that this is a long-term winner for Republicans."

Another reader asked how the Republican Party could square its desire for less government with the direct intervention in the Schiavo case

Mr Kaiser said it highlighted a possible problem for the party.

"There is real tension between its moralistic, Christian wing and its more libertarian elements," he said.

Religious conservatives

The US media noted that President Bush's efforts to return to Washington from a working holiday at his Texas ranch to sign the bill would play well politically with religious conservatives.

MSNBC White House correspondent Jeanie Ohm said the President's Democratic critics called "the move a violation of the separation of powers, moved by political reasons to appeal to their religious conservative base."

And Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times wrote that President Bush's "dramatic return was seen as a powerful embrace of the 'culture of life' issues of religious conservatives who helped him win the White House in 2004".

"Those groups will be crucial to the political fortunes of the Republican Party in 2006 and 2008," she added.

The ABC poll suggested only 19% of respondents believed that Congress was acting out of concern for Terri Schiavo.

By contrast, 67% thought Congress were trying to keep her alive for political advantage.