Schneider: Schiavo case 'being made very political'
 |  CNN political analyst Bill Schneider |
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|  VIDEO |
 Sadly, the Terri Schiavo case is not the first of its kind.
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 Passions are running high in the Terri Schiavo case.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Anti-abortion activists are among the people who have rallied around Terri Schiavo's parents in the fight to reinsert their daughter's feeding tube.
Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, who is acting as a spokesman for Schiavo's parents, warned Republican lawmakers Thursday there would be "hell to pay," if she dies and said, "There will be people that might just lose their jobs when this is over."
Senior political analyst Bill Schneider discusses the potential impact of the case with CNN's Carol Lin.
LIN: What are the plans by these right-to-life groups to translate the Terri Schiavo story into political action?
SCHNEIDER: Well, look, I'm not privy to their plans, but they are making very serious threats. Which is what we just heard from Randall Terry. Our polling shows that even white evangelical voters are divided on this issue. Many of them think the government should not be involved.
Feelings are running very high right now. If this woman is allowed to die, there's no question there will be a big backlash, that these groups who feel that some people who are responsible for her death should be held to account.
They're going to blame politicians. This is being made very political. And everybody's blaming everybody else for making it political. The critics say the courts are making it political.
LIN: I thought that popular opinion on this case, the polling indicates that the general public did not support congressional action in this very private matter.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. What the polls show is people want politics out of it. They consider this a private family matter, and anyone who appears to make this political is being held to account. The public is very angry at them.
That includes President Bush. We've seen his ratings decline, perhaps because of his involvement in this case. It includes Congress. It includes the governor of Florida. The conservatives say the courts have been political in this and that's why they're attacking them. They say this is a case of judicial activism where the judges are interfering. Everybody in this case seems to have some kind of political agenda and it's hurting them all.
LIN: So how effective can Randall Terry and his followers be?
SCHNEIDER: Well, these people are likely to remember this case long after others have forgotten it. And they're likely to carry this cause for quite some time. Possibly into the midterm elections next year, which is exactly the threat that he's making. Point is that whoever nourishes this issue, carries this case forward, remembers it, and makes it a political cause, is likely to have the biggest impact.
