John Kerry is still pushing the line that President Bush has instituted a "ban" on stem cell research (via OpinionJournal's Best of the Web Today):
"If you ever need to be reminded of why it's morally right to lift the ban on stem cell research, just listen to Beth [a paralyzed Kerry intern]," Kerry said in a statement. "She's more eloquent on this subject than any lobbyist or member of Congress."
As I showed back in August 2004 for Spinsanity, the Kerry campaign frequently repeated this line, which falsely suggests that all stem cell research is off limits:
The reality is that the President has actually allowed federal funding for research into embryonic stem cell lines that had already been created before August 9, 2001... Furthermore, privately-funded research can be conducted without restrictions in the United States. The only "ban" is on federal funding for new stem cell lines that were not included in Bush's original group...
Reasonable people can disagree about the merits of Bush's policy, but not Kerry's rhetoric - it's blatantly misleading.
Thanks for that additional info but now I'm a little more puzzled, why would Tony Snow say "That is a tragedy, but the President is not going to get on the slippery slope of taking something that is living and making it dead for the purpose of research." in Tuesday's press briefing if the president has apparenly already made camp on said slippery slope.
Briefing text here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060718.html
Posted by: Seth | July 20, 2006 at 10:04 AM