America/Conor O'Clery: Did the Republicans miscalculate in rushing through the Bill to refer the Terri Schiavo case to the federal courts?
Most Americans think Congress did overreach itself, and that the House and Senate had no business interfering in a heart-wrenching family tragedy which had been judged in a state court.
More than two-thirds of people who describe themselves as evangelicals and conservatives disapproved of the action of Congress and President George Bush, who rushed back from Texas to Washington to sign the Bill in the middle of the night.
A CBS News poll found that four out of five people opposed the federal intervention (and that Bush's approval rating had slumped to 43 per cent from 49 per cent last month).
This is not to say that most Americans don't feel deeply for family members on both sides, or that they are not conflicted about the issue.
A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll showed that more than eight out of every 10 people felt sympathy for Bob and Mary Schindler, the parents of the brain-damaged woman, who fought to keep her alive, and seven out of 10 said that they felt sympathy for the husband, Michael Schiavo, who says that she should be allowed to die.
The opinion polls also revealed widespread cynicism about the motives of the Republican leaders who are promoting the Schiavo case most loudly. In the US Senate, a "talking points" memo was circulated among Republicans emphasising that the case was a "great political issue because (Democratic) Senator (Bill) Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a co-sponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats". It was also an important moral issue, and the "pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue".
When the memo was leaked, House majority leader Tom DeLay dismissed it as "disgusting". But on Wednesday, a tape of remarks Mr DeLay delivered to the Family Research Council surfaced in which he said much the same thing as the memo.
He was overheard telling the conservative group that God had brought them Terri Schiavo "to help elevate the visibility of what is going on in America". He went on: "This is exactly the issue that is going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others."
The attacks against the majority leader in recent days have, however, little to do with pro-life issues.
Mr DeLay has been censured three times by the House ethics committee over fundraising in Texas, and he is now under fire for a trip to South Korea he took from a group registered as a foreign agent, which is forbidden under House rules, and for changing the rules of the ethics committee to make it impossible to investigate him without a break in Republican ranks.
Commentators with long memories also recall that when President Bush was governor of Texas he signed legislation permitting hospitals to withdraw feeding tubes and other forms of care in certain cases, even over the objections of family members and when the patient was fully capable of speech and feeling.
Some critics also pointed out that the proposed Republican budget would cut $20 billion from Medicaid, which provides some health insurance for poor Americans, and that the lack of a national health care scheme means some 18,000 Americans die every year due to lack of medical treatment, with no sign of a midnight Bill being rushed through for their benefit.
Democrats ran scared on the Schiavo issue - not turning up in the Senate to oppose the Bill for fear of being tarred as anti-life. But not all Republicans are happy at Congress using its majority to reopen a case which had been decided 19 times by Florida judges and appealed to the Supreme Court three times.
Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia opposed the Schiavo Bill, saying it was a fundamental principle of federalism that "you've got to separate your own emotions from the duty to support the constitution". Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, one of five House Republicans to vote against the Bill, said that "this Republican party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy" and warned of repercussions from people "who feel that the government is getting involved in their personal lives in a way that scares them".
The reason for a split in conservative ranks is that the Republican party has always advocated the limiting of the powers of the federal government over states.
Well, actually, not always.
In 2000, Republicans managed to persuade the Supreme Court to overturn another Florida court ruling - the one ordering a recount of the vote in the presidential election which gave the White House to George Bush.
It used to be that the St Patrick's Day breakfast in south Boston brought together the top Irish-American politicians running the city and state to "roast" each other in a spirit of fun. Not any more.
For the first time anyone can remember, no Irish-American leads the Massachusetts Senate or House of Representatives, nor have they control any more of the governor's mansion or the mayor's office. The Boston mayor and the Massachusetts Senate president and speaker are all Italian-Americans and the House speaker is a Haitian-American.
John Kerry didn't turn up this year - but then he isn't Irish-American either, despite the name. Democratic representative Brian Wallace from South Boston read a poem: "Where Have All the Irish Politicians Gone?"
The main target of the roast, held in the south Boston convention centre last Sunday, was Republican governor and noted brahmin Mitt Romney, who travels the US these days to promote his 2008 presidential ambitions.
Romney had fun poking fun at his frequent absences. "Well, it's great to be here in Iowa this morning," he said. "Whoops, wrong speech! Sorry about that. Seriously, it's good to be here in Massachusetts. I'm visiting for a few days."
Romney had this to say about the gay marriage controversy: "I have to admit that, as a Mormon, I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman . . . and a woman and a woman."