Stem Cells
Eric Earling is upset that stem cell research is being used politically. By Democrats.
Democrats Pitch on Stem Cell Research Stinks
I say that as someone who actually supports expanding federal funding to include embryonic stem cell research using excess embryos that would otherwise be discarded. I’m not too far away from the policy position Democarts are supporting on the campaign trail, but that doesn’t change the fact their tactics on this issue are deplorable.
Unlike Republicans, who when they make racist ads, he runs to defend them.
And, say it with me folks, “Democarts”?
Normally well behaved Congressman Rick Larsen has joined the shenanigans in his run for re-election in the 2nd Congressional District, utilizing the Democratic playbook that says if a Republican opposes expanding embryonic stem cell research beyond what President Bush has already authorized, then you should paint them against stem cell research, period.
Shenanigans? Was it Cow Days? But about Bush’s support for stem cell research: It’s like if the president said you could only have sex with a filthy whore. It would be OK to say he was against sex.
Over the past two weeks, Larsen’s campaign has sent out several glossy, multipage mailers — depicting somber little girls, anguished white-haired women and dejected men in wheelchairs — attacking Roulstone’s stance on the issue and accusing him of putting “politics ahead of science.”
It’s hard to see how aiding President Bush’s decision to veto a bill that would let science decide what’s hopeful as anything other than putting, “politics ahead of science.” You would think that if Earling supports the science, he would go out of his way to say goodonya!
“Doug Roulstone talks a lot about ‘courage’ in his advertising,” one reads. “But what kind of courage is shown by blindly marching in lock step with George W. Bush and denying hope to those who are suffering?”
Indeed. Powerful stuff Rep. Larsen.
Never mind if the Republican might strongly support other promising research on adult stem cells and stem cells from umbilical chord blood. Never mind if potential cures from embryonic stem cells are as yet unproven, and at best years away from being turned into usable therapies. Just label them an insensitive jerk standing in the way of soon-to-be-found miracle cures! Michael J. Fox just couldn’t be wrong, could he?
Well if he supports one thing over the other, instead of letting the scientists decide, he’s being anti-science. More so if he does strongly. But it’s funny that the only people putting a time table on science are the Republicans. And besides, the sooner we start looking for cures with embryonic stem cells, the sooner we’ll find them. It doesn’t matter what he may support, it matters what he opposes.
Of course, asking someone suffering from a disease without a cure what they think about expanding research is like asking the family of a murder victim what they think should be done with the accused perpetrator. The answer is entirely predictable, and not likely to be grounded in dispassionate analysis.
Yes, and asking someone who started a foundation to look for a cure from said disease what they think is also predictable. Ask someone who’s a spokesman for this foundation who he supports and he’ll tell you the one who’s more likely to find a cure. By the way, are we still talking about Rick Larsen?
In the case of Fox, he’s even admitted he hasn’t read the Missouri ballot measure on stem cell research that is the topic of much debate in that state. This despite his ad for Claire McCaskill that uses language in a way, whether he meant to or not, that injectes him into not just that state’s US Senate race, but into the debate about the stem cell-related ballot measure as well. It’s but an example of the shallow foundation from which Democrats are launching such attacks.
Dear Republicans,
Eric Earling thinks that if you haven’t read the initiatives, you aren’t allowed vote on them, talk about them, or even talk about similar things people running for office have mentioned. So if you haven’t read 933, no mention of how a candidate will vote on any property related issue. If you haven’t read 920, and you mention the estate tax, Earling will write a fuckton on what a jackass you are, even if he fake agrees with you.
Hugs!
Carl Ballard
PS, also, how many of the celebrities who did the other ad, the one actually about the initiative, do you want to bet read the initiative? I’m guessing it’s pretty close to zero. Where’s their bitchy post?
In Larsen’s case, the charges against Roulstone are smarmy, and totally unnecessary. Even Roulstone’s internal polls as reported in the article linked above show the race in ugly shape, with Larsen cruising to re-election. Yet, somehow he feels compelled to send out campaign mail implying Roulstone is callous to people suffering in wheel chairs. A classy choice this is not.
No, classy clearly comes from someone who thinks people with a disease should just shut the fuck up. It comes from a blog that can’t tell the difference between an elected official and a dictator if they are both black. It comes from people who go out of their way to defend a clearly racist ad in a state that ostensibly they don’t talk about.
Class clearly comes from a party that covers for sexual predators. Class is defined by being so crooked that you have 4 members of your party leave in a single session. It’s classy to mock a disease victim for speaking out about their disease. Class in fact, comes from putting up roadblocks for a cure for those diseases. Class comes from the people who deny gays and lesbians their full rights. It comes from the people who haven’t raised the minimum wage in a decade. Class means lying your way into an illegal oil war. It means fucking up an American city. Classy is turning Afghanistan and Iraq to shit. Clearly the classiest of class acts are the people who make racist ads and call people they disagree with names. Class is defined as, “choking your mistress.” This is why I swear so goddamn much: I don’t want any part of that kind of classy!
I used to consider Rick Larsen a respectable, hard-working member of Congress, regardless of his party affiliation. I might not always agree with him, but he had previously conducted himself with dignity, seemingly a lost art at times in modern politics.
I’m sorry, how does a campaign flier prove or disprove how hard someone works? If anything, it shows that he’s still engaging with the voters even when he’s got the election locked up. That sounds like it’s hard working to me.
That assessment may need some serious reconsideration.
I’ve said my piece about one sentence paragraphs before, but is there any reason in hell that this one deserves to be its own paragraph?
And of course to get to the actual substance, if President Bush hadn’t vetoed the bill, this wouldn’t be an issue. If President Bush hadn’t thought that he needed to throw a bone to his rabid conservative nutjob base that can’t tell the difference between babies and a clump of cells, Fox wouldn’t have made any of those ads. Hell he might have made one thanking some of the Republicans who supported it, like he did with Specter. Instead we’re given a lecture on the proper etiquette when we try to save lives!