TERRI SCHIAVO AND THE LIMITS OF CYNICISM….Via Think Progress, here’s a fascinating ABC News poll about the Terri Schiavo affair. It turns out that not only do large majorities favor removing her feeding tube and oppose federal intervention in her case, but huge majorities know perfectly well that Tom DeLay and his crew are in it solely for political advantage. When you drill down into the numbers, it becomes obvious that even people who support DeLay’s position don’t believe he has any actual concern for Terri Schiavo.

Now, I realize that in one sense this doesn’t matter. This whole thing isn’t about majority support, it’s about pandering to one specific segment of the GOP base. But here’s the thing: even evangelical Christians don’t support congressional intervention. Apparently the DeLay/Frist/Bush axis has dealt with this so cynically that even the people they’re pandering to are uneasy about being treated with such open condescension.

This is not an issue that will last in the public mind for more than a few days, but it’s still nice to see that even Bush’s own supporters see through him from time to time. Even the pandering cynicism of the modern Republican party apparently has its limits.