Biden Stem Cell Low Blow
Dumb move: Senator Joe Biden has implied that Sarah Palin doesn't care as much as he does about special needs children because she does not support embryonic stem cell research. From the story: "I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy...and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect," he said. "Well, guess what folks? If you care about it, why don't you support stem cell research?"
The Obama campaign denied that Biden's barb was aimed at Sarah Palin, but who else gave a speech mentioning special needs kids in the last two weeks?
The McCain campaign struck back: "Barack Obama's running mate sunk to a new low today launching an offensive debate over who cares more about special needs children," McCain-Palin spokesman Ben Porritt said. "Playing politics with this issue is disturbing and indicative of a desperate campaign."
We haven't heard much from the CURES!CURES! CURES! crowd in this campaign, primarily I think, due to the success of IPSCs and the failure to obtain FDA approval for human trials using traditional ESCRs due to the danger of tissue rejection and tumor formation. Indeed, at least for now, I believe the issue has lost all resonance.
Had such a slime ball been hurled a year or two ago, it might have been different. But this kind of "you don't care about suffering people if you oppose federal funding of ESCR" demagoguery is long past its shelf life. Talk about the need for change!
Labels: 2008 Presidential Campaign. Sarah Palin. Joe Biden. ESCR. Special Needs Children.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 3:22 PM
13 Comments
13 Comments:
I think you're missing the main impetus behind the Left's ire & suspicion over the Palin nomination. After eight years of Bush-Cheney, marked by a largely reckless foreign policy, constitutional breaches, and an exceedingly dangerous politicization of the justice department, (and least we forget,. a half-TRILLION dollar war that has lasted longer than any other war in US history, has killed over 140,000 people, and hasn't reduced the number of terrorist attacks on American targets)-- liberals are justifiably concerned when they see a potential veep who appears to embody some of the worst qualitites of Mr. Bush -- poor understanding of int'l issues, pride in how her religious beleifs inform her political decisions, a reflexive obedience to the interests of the oil industry and other special interests, etc.
After 8 years of George W. Bush, any nominee that doesn't appear to have be highly intelligent and possess the requisite ability to exercise rational judgment shouldn't pass the 'smell' test for high nat'l office.
How can Dems be accused of sexism when their other nominee WAS a woman who garnered nearly half of the party's votes?
No, the attacks on Palin aren't about about her gender or about Trig (about whom the majority of ALL Americans admire the Palins' decision). It's about politics, plain and simple, and the belief that Republicans are not the best party in '08 to correct the litany of errors committed by their fellow incumbant Republicans.
Hello Okakura.
Maybe you should read Kristan Powers observations and get a better feel for how a Smart Democat like her has apporoched this issue of Politics and a very good example of a woman(Palin) that has mastered the goals that were unattainable not that long ago for women.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09092008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/how_obama_blew_it_128132.htm
Kristan Powers who can see the hand writing on the wall. The Democrats have disse the people they need the most. The working class moms, the blue color workers, the conservative democrats and the Religious Faithful who are all classed as foolish red necks in small town America or the suburbs by the Gloria Stienems and ultra left of the Democrats. I always enjoyed Kristan Powers for her intelligent defense of Democrats. I must say I now respect her for her astute smarts in pointing out why the forceful hate mongering left that ridicules the people they need the most isn't all that smart.
Kristan; "challenge has always been to connect with working-class swing voters. So attacking the poster child for small-town values, Sarah Palin, was a bad strategy.
No, Obama didn't engage in the mass sneering at Palin - but he did fall into the trap of disrespecting her. When McCain chose her, the Obama campaign's first response was to ridicule the size of her town. Then the candidate himself began referring to her as a "former mayor" when she is in fact a sitting governor."
Or this quote: Meanwhile, the media lit up in all their cultural-elite splendor.
Alaska? they sneered. It has the population of Las Vegas! Funny how the coastal elite only sneers at red states with small populations. Howard Dean hailed from a blue state with almost the same population as Alaska and was a national phenomenon and front-runner for the presidency. Joe Biden's Delaware has a similarly small population - but no mocking was forthcoming there.
Evangelicals will never vote for a woman who works! they declared. This from people who've likely never met an evangelical in their lives. They could barely contain themselves when they found out Gov. Palin's daughter was pregnant, so sure were they that evangelicals would hang her from the highest tree. When evangelical leaders expressed support, there was a palpable disappointment that Palin or her daughter wasn't branded with a scarlet letter.
And guess what. Joe Biden's shot is a continuance of that same lunacy. Maybe he is upset because they aren't using Trig's Stem cells for research since he actually left a Birth Canal. Yes my tongue is in my cheek upon my last comment but Biden should have kept his shot as unfired.
Um, Wesley's post was about Biden's cheap shot. I'm not sure what "oil interests" could possibly have to do with that.
Wesley has an excellent point: Aside from anything else, Biden is working from an outdated script. ESCR is not delivering, and adult stem cells are. Apparently Joe B. didn't get the memo.
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Tweet! Let's comment about the comment, not the man generally. Or the other issues of the campaign generally.
Merci. Gracias. Carry on.
donnie: you're talking about connecting with certain groups of voters; I'm talking about prerequisites for competent federal leadership. No doubt Republicans know how to win elections and "connect" with a variety of groups. They've even perfected the ironic tactic of painting an opposing candidate as "too smart" (I.e. "elite" thus untrustworthy) which would be funny if it didn't yield such destructive results. After all, in what other skilled profession do we rationally disparage knowledge or IQ? In our surgeons? Accountants? Attorneys? Pilots? A Harvard Law professor at 33? Brilliant? Nah, he's merely aloof.
One more question: whty can't anyone in a conservative forum simply refer to "Democrats" or "the Left" without reflexively tagging it with adjectives like "hate-mongering"? Do you realize how hateful YOU sound when you express yourself in that manner? Do you care?
Surely you would acknowledge an equal amount of detestable, unethical folks & behaviors on your side of the aisle. So why the unbridled animosity? Hell, I live in the heart of red-state, Bible-belt America and have for over 32 years. More than half of my friends are evangelical Christian Republicans, including some of my closest ones. Not a one is evil, hate-mongering, or vile. They simply adhere to a different political world view than me.
WAY past time to tame the rhetoric in our country and concentrate on the issues instead of the other-ascribed motives behind ur differences.
Very easy to point out my reasons Okakura. I have been the subject of such hate mongering as a hunter, trapper animal farmer and pro use of natural resources person that has great Faith in God. Please note that I treat people on this blog with respect because they are not hate mongers. I have been subject to some very vile hate mongering because I support animal research, trap, hunt, go to Church on Sunday and those folks even told me they hate me for my values. What else can I say? BTW, I do not hate them for them telling me how they want me and my family to die a horrible death. I actually feel sorry that they are so shamed and bitter about the laws of God or nature.
Lydia: my initial post was a liberal opinion on what I feel is a widely held misperception on these boards as to the Left's criticism of Palin in general, I.e. that it more about cultural/personal issues than political competencies. It's more like what the Right (and some of the Left) has been throwing at Obama with full force since the very start of the primaries - experience & readiness to lead. What's good for the goose...
I am a politically active Democrat and simply disagree with the operating assumption that is apparantly behind most of the recurring & overlapping SHS posts about Gov. Palin and her detractors.
Also says a lot about our collective political attention span that we are so easily distracted by the botom halves of the tickets and non-political story lines instead of Obama & McCain themselves and the hugely important issues currently facing our country. This is not a good trend for our country.
BTW , it wasn't a Republican that wrote Kristan's view on why Obama is failing because of their attacks and she is 100% Democrat trying to correct her parties rhetoric.
Donnie: Fair enough and thanks for sharing. Anyone who treat another person in such a manner is beneath contempt and no friend of mine regardless of which party he says he supports.
I live in the deep South and am happily married (for 23 yrs)to a middle eastern woman of a different religion than my own. Our two children are biracial.
As you might imagine, I am no stranger to the prejudice of race and religion. The bigots and racists that I have encountered in my life are not reflective of conservatism or true GOP ideals (though virtually all of them claim to be conservatives). They're just terribly misinformed, selfish & fearful people.
Here's more from Biden's Spokesman from CNN's Political Ticker.
"Biden spokesman David Wade insisted Tuesday the Delaware senator's comments were not directed at Palin.
"This is a clash of policies, not a clash of personalities," Wade said. "We've heard not a dime's worth of difference between the McCain-Palin ticket and the Bush Administration on medical breakthroughs that millions of parents and doctors believe could save lives and transform the quality of life for countless Americans."
For me , I feel that the day of the lab rat is just beginning. The farther we carry the human gene into the biolab research, the more likely it is that we will be implanting mice/myriad of animals with human specific characteristics. Eventually leading to a goal where animals will grow human organs such as ears and the human spinal cord. They will also be more apt to find cures for various old diseases & what ever new ones that come down the pipes. Those breakthroughs are already moving forward quite nicely.
Neat thing for me Okakura. I am an Elder in the Presbyterian Church of Canada and married to a wonderful Roman Catholic woman for 35 years. We both center our lives in Christ. As me or her what Religion we belong to and we will say Christian. I used to live in a very bigoted community where the other Religions were castigated. Imagine how I feel these days when I speak in a Roman Catholic Church/United Church or Presbyterian Church and am thanked for sharing my Faith with any of those Congregations. You and I will disagree a lot, but I will never hate monger you for your opinions. BTW congratulations on marring the woman you could value so highly under the circumstances of your own life. I embrace the many commonalities we humans have in our lives that are a reward of being human. I also respect the differences of skin, Religious choices and political choices. I would have no problem with a Black woman as Prime Minister of Canada as long as she stays on the track of making sound policy with the conviction to do what she believes is best for her nation and the people she serves. Tony Blair, Stephen Harper, John Hawkes and President Bush felt that Terrorism must be stemmed. They payed for their view by being maligned in the press and their respective countries National Polls. I don't think that makes them any less worthy as leaders because some choices for a nation might just cause their own Political demise. History books will tell the final outcome and I hope it is the end of Terrorism. I assure you ,I feel more comfortable to have the personal choices offered on this side of the Atlantic then I would in the Middle East.
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