Talk:Debbie Wasserman Schultz

LED opposition to Schiavo?

I respectfully disagree with an anon's edits saying Wasserman Schultz has LED the opposition to the Schiavo case in Congress. I am a congressional reporter on Capitol Hill and I can tell you that she has not LED the opposition -- a freshman does not LEAD much of anything. Anyway, that being said, this anon clearly feels that she has, so I'd like to see proof that she has LED the opposition. I don't want to get into an edit war with anyone, but if the anon can't prove their statement I will once again change the edits. Katefan0 16:19, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)

If not for the trio of South Florida representatives: Wasserman-Schultz, Davis, and Wexler, the measure to provide relief for Mrs. Schiavo would have passed by unamious consent. Wasserman Schultz decided to stand up and say NO. At the press conference on capitol hill, she was the second one to talk. She was the second speaker on the house floor to speak on her side. She was also the second-to-last speaker for her side, the last to speak before Whip Stoyer spoke. As a state legislator, Wasserman-Schultz had to deal with this case. Therefore, she provided fellow Democrats with appropriate evidence pertaining to the case. She impressed many, many democrats on message boards with her convincing remarks. She was the first representative to point out the hypocrpicy of the other side, by showing that when Bush was Gov. of Texas, he signed a law allowing for termination of life, even over the objections of parents.

I know she's a freshman. That's what made her actions to lead the opposition so memorable. She was on all three news networks speaking. Debbie Wasserman Schultz had the courage to lead the fight against DeLay's measure when most were afraid to do so. justy329

• (Looks like Justy329 is the same as the anon user.) Respectfully, once again, this does not prove that she was the LEAD. There were many people who spoke against the bill, many people who issued press releases and held press conferences (who were more senior than her) and spoke about the issue. I am unconvinced. I also question how unbiased you can be about this article, since you have inserted several POV statements (which I have removed), not to mention these two links to movie files of her speaking that you added today. Katefan0 20:10, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)
  • I have added a Request for Comments from other Wikipedia users on the RFC page. Katefan0 20:46, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)

This article shows how Debbie led the fight against Congress' tactics to intervene in Schiavo case: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cwasser22mar22,0,5767540.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla I kindly request you remove npov tag. Thanks

• • That's better than nothing, but I am still not convinced. The Sun-Sentinel is covering this story as a local paper would. Papers without a national reach often play up the involvement of their local delegation because that's what their readers want to read about. Show me a national story that says she led the opposition and I would remove my objections. Also, can you please sign your comments? It's easy, just type the tilde sign four times and it will fill in everything for you. Thanks. Otherwise it gets confusing. One more thing -- you never answered me, but are you on her staff or otherwise involved with her office? Katefan0 21:48, Mar 22, 2005 (UTC)

• • Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been the face of the few Democrats willing to stand up against DeLay's tactis. She has been on Today, FoxNews, CNN, and MSNBC. Debbie was the only speaker except for those managing the debate to SPEAK TWICE DURING THE SPECIAL SCHIAVO SESSION. Is the Miami Herald a "national newspaper?" http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11196972.htm

Read this: "Sitting in the drive-through lane of a McDonald's in Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was still fuming Monday over Congress' intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo.

During three hours of debate late Sunday night, the freshman Democrat distinguished herself by repeatedly challenging those who tried to misstate the facts surrounding Schiavo's health."

Debbie has been one of the few Democrats quoted in the New York Times about this matter. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/national/22bush.html

I do not work for Debbie or her staff. I just happen to be a political junkie. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a rising star. History will remember it was her leadership, knowledge and "chutzpah" during the Schiavo affair that catapulted her fame and influence. --24.184.16.201 23:03, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Normally I'd say yes, Miami is a national paper, but since this is happening in Florida I'd say in this instance, not really. Would prefer to see a big non-Florida paper that refers to her as "having led the opposition." I agree that she's been a strong VOICE in the debate, but the leading one? Her fuming in the drivethru, speaking twice during the session, being quoted in the NYT etc., doesn't make her the lead on the issue, because other people have done the same. Anyway, but I would support a sentence something like: "WS was heavily involved in protesting Congressional involvement in the Schiavo case, including..." and then cite some of the things she did that are pretty ballsy for a freshman. Can you live with that? Katefan0 23:10, Mar 22, 2005 (UTC)

• • I added this quote from the Miami Herald, "During three hours of debate late Sunday night, the freshman Democrat distinguished herself by repeatedly challenging those who tried to misstate the facts surrounding Schiavo's health." If you wish, you may remove the word "led" and remove the NPOV tag. Make I ask why you are so commited to this Debbie Wasserman Schultz page? --24.184.16.201 23:14, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

• • • Beyond a general desire to have Wikipedia be the best, most trustworthy source of information it can be, I suppose because I'm the one who created the page originally. I'm also a reporter who covers Congress for a living so this is my bread 'n butter. Thanks for being a good sport while we've debated. I agree that WS so far has been impressive for a freshman, but I am committed to the article remaining unbiased. Also if at some point you come across some source material that says she led the debate, I'd want the page to reflect that. Katefan0 23:20, Mar 22, 2005 (UTC)

• • I thank you for contributing to this site. I actually set up a whole page devoted to Debbie, also. I thought her real name was "Debra." So, if you check the history, you will find a few months ago that LOTS of information was added to merge the two article into the correct one we have today. In any event, I will go ahead and make the changes we agreed on. --24.184.16.201 23:26, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Two Small changes

I made two small changes. The first is to the photo. I have went to her House site and found one that is better. I have also replaced Jewish Bible with Tanakh, since the latter could be offensive to Jewish people. See [1] on what to call the OT/HB/Tanakh/Tanach. - Hoshie/Crat 06:56, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Thanks Hoshie. Katefan0 16:46, Mar 22, 2005 (UTC)

30 something working group

Instead of a text dump from their website (which could be considered a copyvio), I added a link to the site for anyone interested enough to find out more on their own, and paraphrased what the working group is about. Katefan0 17:16, Mar 24, 2005 (UTC)

• • Thanks for that. I just corrected that the 30 something group is more about just Social Security, it talks about issues facing younger people in general. --24.184.16.201 17:57, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • I don't mean to sound like a bitch, but almost every substantial addition you make to this article seems to have some sort of POV problem; I think you are too close to this person to be neutral perhaps. Just something to think about. I have an issue with this statement:

"She fought for legislation protecting women, seniors, and children"?!

Some of her opponents could well have said she fought against these people with the bills she pushed. This needs more neutral language. I'd change it myself but I seem to change almost everything you add and I don't want you to think I'm doing it to be antagonistic. Also, can you please sign in to make changes and etc.? Wikipedia has a semi-policy that states you should sign up for an account before making substantial changes to existing articles. It's easier to communicate with a discrete identity than with an IP. Katefan0 19:07, Mar 24, 2005 (UTC)

• • Hi. It's me. I will use this account from now on. I was not aware of that policy. I will not take it personally if you feel a need to make my language more neutral. How 'bout: As legislator, her legislative goals were mainly aimed at protecting women, seniors, and children. I understand you are a reporter. I will not object to you changing the language of information that I may add. --Justy329 19:41, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Excellent, thanks so much. I think that would be fine, or even something as simple as just changing the verb "fought," that word as a verb is fraught with a certain meaning ... it could be as simple as changing it to "She was involved with ...... blah blah blah issues." Katefan0 16:23, Mar 25, 2005 (UTC)

" Veiled negative references to Wasserman Schultz's Judaism. "?!

This piece says "her opponent Margaret Hostetter made veiled negative references to Wasserman Schultz's Judaism. "

But what exactly were those 'veiled references'?? You know, it wasn't too long ago that a Washingtonian got fired for making racist comments when all he did was use the word 'niggardly'!!

You should either SPELL OUT the supposed anti-semetic comments and let the reader decide or leave this charge out. It seems very 'smeary' to Margaret Hostetter, not entirely relevant to the article and lacking any verifiability.

Bringing Balance

Since this article almost reads like campaign literature, to add balance I'm inclined to include what Randall Terry feels about Wasserman Schultz's involvement in the Schivo case. It is the concerted opinion of MANY that Wasserman Schultz was a villain in this case, yet that view has been ERASED from this article. Big Daddy 04:55, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

For example, The Concerned Women of America, a woman's group that dwarfs NOW in size says that Wasserman is known for her "hostility to a culture of life."

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:zDgIIp-Y7dkJ:www.cwfa.org/articles/7711/CWA/life/+Wasserman+Schultz+schiavo&hl=en&client=firefox-a

"The proposed sentance is not NPOV ("dwarfs"). The comparison in size to an uninvolved third party is also irrelevent. Hipocrite - «Talk» 12:16, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

1) Quit stalking me. 2) That wasn't the proposed sentence, so you are in violation of AGF.I merely mentioned their size to support usage of a quote from them as a legitimate source for this article. 3) The proposal was to bring balance to this article by providing quotations from some who don't think she's a 'rising star.' You know, kinda like they do at EVERY conservative site which interjects slams to praise at a ratio of 9:1? How come, for this liberal democrat, that ratio is reversed? Hmmm...no POV here. NO sir. 4) Calling NOW an irrelevant 3rd party is factually inaccurate, if you did your research, you'd know that Wasserman is a LONG TIME MEMBER of NOW. 5) Repeat step one.

Big Daddy 14:16, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

"Wasserman Schultz's Controversial statements

Wasserman Schultz seems to be very, very liberal. Some of her comments ought to be included to give people an understanding of what she's all about.

For example: "WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: What Congress is doing right now is taking this country so far to the right that we are going to go completely over the edge." http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:aL6PMxIJ5IIJ:www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7517565/+Wasserman+Schultz+schiavo&hl=en&client=firefox-a

""It is particularly hypocritical when you have people who say they advocate on behalf of the defense of marriage, to now insert themselves in between a husband and his wife."

This quote may not seem that 'controversial', but it affirms the template of her as a strident Barney Frank type Democrat (in fact her and Frank were like peas in a pod during the Schiavo debate.) Calling republican's 'hypocrites' is boilerplate stuff, but negatively conflating opposition to gay marriage with sympathy for a disabled woman in the shiavo case is kinda nutty.Big Daddy 05:33, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

"My opponent proudly supports the fundamentalist conservative agenda of the right wing of the Republican Party, "http://asp.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/CandidateProfile.aspx?ci=1934&oi=H

2000 Presidential Elections "What is really disconcerting is that the Republicans don’t seem to care that there are thousands of voters' votes that have not been counted, and if they are not counted, it will be their fault." http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:b1HXaG6YodMJ:www.cnn.com/chat/transcripts/2000/11/29/fasanoschultz/+Wasserman+Schultz+&hl=en&client=firefox-a

2000 Presidential Elections"The Florida Legislature forced what it wanted, rather than listening to the people on Election Day." ibid

"The President demonstrates yet again how out of touch he is with mainstream America."http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:yBmSteNArJUJ:www.planetwire.org/details/5375+Wasserman+Schultz+&hl=en&client=firefox-a

Didn't like the way she was greeted in Congress; “What happened today... was a silencing of Democracy in America,” http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:E_4AqSlvHzMJ:www.rhcomic.com/+Wasserman+Schultz+&hl=en&client=firefox-a Big Daddy 06:11, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

"Wasserman Miscellany

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan called Wasserman Schultz's remarks about President Bush "uninformed accusations."

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:3Vkt7HZLOa4J:www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php%3Fid%3D1920+Wasserman+Schultz+&hl=en&client=firefox-a Photo of wasserman (pre-blonde) http://www.cnn.com/chat/transcripts/2000/11/29/fasanoschultz/schultz.wasserman.debbie.jpg

Big Daddy 06:11, 14 September 2005 (UTC)