"You've got [Terri's] parents out there [Bob and Mary Schindler] who are just going through hellish agony," said Buchanan – a Roman Catholic who vehemently believes in the right to life. "I think the courts are all [divided] over it. The media is all arguing back and forth. Congress and the Legislature couldn't do anything."

He says when federal lawmakers passed a bill last week requiring the reinsertion of Terri's feeding tube while she was re-examined medically, Jeb Bush "should have just gone [to the Pinellas County hospice] with the state troopers, taken Terri Schiavo, had the tube reinserted, and let [Florida Judge George Greer] hold him in contempt."

Buchanan continued: "Everything that is natural about you says, look, if a woman is dying of thirst, you go give her some water."

The I-Man has often wondered aloud on his show why Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, won't just turn her over to the custody of her parents, who obviously want to take care of her. Buchanan made that same observation.

"The parents love her and they want to keep her alive," he told Imus. "If the governor had gone in there and done it, then held a press conference and said, 'Look, this thing is an imbroglio, but I've decided to take action, and I understand that the judge is gonna hold me in contempt, and I've got contempt for his decision, but I've got a constitutional obligation to defend the right to life of the citizens of Florida. And from everything I can see, this was wrongly decided, and the judge made a wrong decision and somebody's gonna die as a consequence, so I'm asserting executive authority in place of judicial power.' Then just let the chips fall where they may."

Greer, like the judges in a number of federal courts, has ruled that Michael Schiavo has custody over his wife and in that capacity can decide to remove her feeding tube. Schiavo claims Terri once told him she did not want to be kept alive in a permanent vegetative state.

Buchanan says the judiciary is not supposed to have the kind of power over state and federal legislative processes, or executive processes, that it is asserting in Terri's case.

As to Gov. Bush, "I think he's got a good heart," Buchanan said, "but I don't know why he has not acted, or did not act, a week ago."

Said Imus, "That was my next question – why he didn't do this."

"I think ... he feels the courts are the supreme law of the land," Buchanan answered, "and in my judgment, judges have been asserting power, taking it away from executives and legislatures for a long, long time. And it's got to be recaptured. We're a democratic republic."

Back on Terri herself, Buchanan said, "I think a lot of people are saying, 'What if that were my sister? What if that were my daughter?' I think that's what's tearing folks apart, because almost all of us are going to have to deal with a situation like this. I think we don't like what we're seeing, and we're not doing anything about it."

Editor's note: