GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE, PUTTING HIMSELF ON THE DEFENSIVE:

Kerry on Attack on Embryonic Research Issue: Bush Challenged on Science Front (Ceci Connolly, August 8, 2004, Washington Post)

Seizing an issue with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Kerry campaign is marking the third anniversary of President Bush's decision to limit federal embryonic stem cell research with a series of high-profile events this week that call into question the administration's commitment to science and breakthrough medicine. [...]

"This is an issue with legs," said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who has measured 70 percent support nationwide for embryonic stem cell research. He predicted that Kerry will attract support from disease sufferers and families who otherwise agree with Bush on public policy but feel "alienated" by his decision to restrict federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

"They may be a moderate conservative who doesn't agree with John Kerry on a lot of issues, but they have a relative with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, and they are going through the hammers of hell dealing with this situation and just say, 'This is so central and so personal to me, I can't understand how the president could do this.' "

The Kerry campaign just walks into one of these traps after another. Those numbers in favor of embryonic stem cell research reflect nothing more than ignorance, as demonstrated by the fact that an even higher number oppose cloning and abortion to harvest parts. By putting all their eggs in this basket they are positioning the Senator on the anti-human side of the issue and in opposition to public opinion (nevermind the Senator's supposed religion).

Meanwhile President Bush and conservatives in general are entirely supportive of adult stem cell research, which not only avoids some of the most troubling moral questions here but actually demonstrates more promise than the use of embryonic cells.

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Snake Oil: Ron Reagan’s dishonest presentation. (Robert P. George, 7/28/04, National Review)

Ron Reagan's speech Tuesday night at the Democratic convention was breathtakingly irresponsible. For example, despite the fact that no one knows whether embryonic stem cells will ever be effective in curing Parkinson's disease or any other grave affliction, Ron Reagan virtually promised Parkinson's sufferers that embryonic stem cells will provide a cure for them in ten years or so. "Sound like magic?," he said. Welcome to the future of medicine." But Ron Reagan has no idea — no one does — whether this is the future of medicine. He is engaged in a campaign of outrageous hype to persuade suffering people that a mere change of administrations in Washington will lead to cures for "a wide range of debilitating illnesses: Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, lymphoma, spinal cord injuries, and much more." Sound like snake oil? Welcome to the present of politics.

This was not, however, the low point of Ron Reagan's speech. What was most shameful about it was his dishonesty in eliding the distinction between human embryonic stem cells and the human embryos that are deliberately killed in the process of stem-cell harvesting. After promising to "do justice to the science," Ron Reagan described the process of obtaining embryonic stem cells in a way that left out the fact that the cloning process he described creates a human embryo which is killed in order to harvest its stem cells. Ordinary listeners who are unfamiliar with cloning technology — and, by the way, Ron Reagan was careful not to use the word "cloning," though that is exactly what he was describing — would be left with the impression that the process generated embryonic stem cells without generating an embryo! Indeed, by ambiguously referring to "these cells," in order to avoid revealing the fact that the cloning process generates a living human embryo which is then deliberately killed, Ron Reagan no doubt left some people with the impression that opponents of embryonic-stem-cell research consider embryonic stem cells, rather than the human embryos from which they are harvested, to be human beings. But this is the very reverse of the truth. No one believes that stem cells — embryonic or otherwise — are human beings. Those of us who oppose embryonic-stem-cell harvesting object to the practice because it necessarily involves the killing of human embryos. And human embryos are nothing other than human beings in the embryonic stage of their natural development. Ron Reagan refuses to face up to this fact. He suggests that it is a matter of "theological belief," when the truth is that it is a plain matter of scientific fact that can be verified by consulting any textbook in human embryology.

An easy political rule of thumb: the issues you're forced to obfuscate aren't those where the public agrees with you.

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One of the great comments ever:

"This is an issue with legs."

And that's the problem.

Posted by: Noel at August 7, 2004 06:05 PM

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 7, 2004 4:04 PM