Beating a Dead Persistent Vegetative State ...

Jeb Bush has mercifully yanked the feeding tube from the Terry Schiavo case, albeit after his state attorney indicated that there is absolutely no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of Michael Schiavo.

A June 30 letter from Florida Attorney Bernie McCabe to Gov. Bush notes there is no need to pursue a criminal probe. Of course, the letter wasn't released by the governor's office until yesterday ... perhaps waiting until a big ol' media event -- like, say, terrorist bombings in London -- to ensure that the letter would fade into the ether?

AP reports that Bush is now dropping the matter:

"In asking McCabe to look again into how Schiavo slipped into a persistent vegetative state, Bush had cited an alleged gap between when Schiavo's husband Michael found her and when he called 911. The governor had said the issue remained unsettled.

"McCabe said, however, that while such discrepancies may exist in the record, Schiavo's statements that he called 911 immediately had been consistent.

" 'This consistency, coupled with the varying recollections of the precise time offered by other interested parties, lead me to the conclusion that such discrepancies are not indicative of criminal activity,' McCabe wrote in a letter to Bush accompanying his report."

And so ends one of the sorriest and most exploitive episodes in the on-again, off-again miniseries we call the "Culture Wars."