Friday, October 15, 2004

Krauthammer rails against stem-cell demagogues

I referenced Charles Krauthammer in a previous post. Here's a link to his column today (hat tip to Instapundit), and here's a key quote about the depths to which both Kerry and Edwards will stoop:

In his Aug. 7 radio address to the nation, Kerry referred not once but four times to the "ban" on stem cell research instituted by Bush. At the time, Reeve was alive, so not available for posthumous exploitation. But Ronald Reagan was available, having recently died of Alzheimer's.

So what does Kerry do? He begins his radio address with the disgraceful claim that the stem cell "ban" is standing in the way of an Alzheimer's cure.

This is an outright lie. (Emphasis mine.) The President's Council on Bioethics, on which I sit, had one of the world's foremost experts on Alzheimer's, Dennis Selkoe from Harvard, give us a lecture on the newest and most promising approaches to solving the Alzheimer's mystery. Selkoe reported remarkable progress in using biochemicals to clear the "plaque" deposits in the brain that lead to Alzheimer's. He ended his presentation without the phrase "stem cells" having passed his lips.
It's a team effort, though, with Kerry's running mate also making appallingly outrageous claims. Krauthammer continues:
As a doctor by training, I've known better than to believe the hype -- and have tried in my own counseling of people with new spinal cord injuries to place the possibility of cure in abeyance. I advise instead to concentrate on making a life (and a very good life it can be) with the hand one is dealt. The greatest enemies of this advice have been the snake-oil salesmen promising a miracle around the corner. I never expected a candidate for vice president to be one of them.
How dumb do Kerry/Edwards think we are that we would believe these lies? I hope the majority of Americans prove to be much smarter than the Dems think they are.

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