RUSH: All right. Let’s review where we are. Michael J. Fox, apparently, now could be said to be another Democrat Party October Surprise. He’s running commercials accusing Republicans in Missouri, Minnesota, Maryland and Chicago, Illinois of being opposed to stem cell research, commercials in which he appears without his medication so that the people who see the commercial can see the ravages of someone suffering Parkinson’s disease. This is exploitative of a disease. It’s politicizing a disease. It is politicizing research into cures for the disease. It is typical of the Democrat Party. Fox is all over the place now, and he is in his commercials accusing Jim Talent in Missouri of opposing research on stem cells, or using stem cells.
“Both Senators Barbara Mikulski and Paul Sarbanes voted for this legislation. Ben Cardin wanted to politicize the issue instead of getting something done, so he voted against it. Marylanders deserve better than Congressman Cardin?s continued Washington double-talk, mistruths and sheer political gamesmanship on an issue as important as stem cell research.'” I just saw a little package. Major Garrett on Fox was doing a piece on the controversy now in Missouri over stem cell research because of comments made by me. So all guns are going to be aimed at this program starting with Inside Edition tonight. They’re doing a piece on this. I’m told other cable networks are preparing pieces. Reuters just called and wanted an interview. Inside Edition wanted an interview.
This is all over one thing I said yesterday. I said after viewing the commercial, Michael J. Fox is either off his medications or he is acting. I also said yesterday that this is a shameless attempt by the Democrats to exploit people who suffer from these diseases, and nobody is commenting on that in these packages. I said yesterday, it’s no different than what John Kerry and John Edwards did in the 2004 campaign, when Edwards — and we played the audio for you yesterday — said that if John Kerry is president, Christopher Reeve will walk someday, implying that George W. Bush doesn’t want people with paralysis to ever be able to walk, just as the Michael J. Fox commercials imply that Republican senatorial candidates do not want Parkinson’s disease sufferers to ever be cured.
Here’s what’s going on in Missouri, and Missouri is the greatest example of this, and this is going to be redundant for those of you who have been with us the whole program, but bear with me, because repetition is the simplest way to get this home to people. There is a constitutional amendment on the Missouri ballot called Amendment 2. It calls itself the Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. The Democrat Claire McCaskill favors it. The Republican, Jim Talent, opposes it. Amendment 2 appears by virtue of its title, Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative to put stem cell research in the Constitution and to ban human cloning, but the fine print creates a right to do somatic cell nuclear transfer which is the scientific term for cloning, the same method used to clone Dolly the sheep!
Jim Talent and other opponents of Amendment 2 are not touching stem cell research in any way. What they want to do is stop human cloning from becoming a new right in the Missouri Constitution. I also want to read to you a statement from Professor Robert George who was quoted in a National Review Online piece today by Katherine Jean Lopez. Professor George is at Princeton. He says: “I have great sympathy for Mr. Fox and other victims of Parkinson’s and similarly horrible diseases. I understand how desperately he hopes for a cure for what afflicts him and so many others. I have seen members of my own family suffer, and I too want to hasten the day when the great engine of science conquers the diseases that cause so much suffering.
“But the fact that Mr. Fox is a victim is not a license for him to mislead or manipulate the public. The truth ? the whole truth ? must be told. Those politicians who, for political gain, have run these ads in which the truth is distorted and people are misled deserve the most severe of reprimands. Win or lose, they have brought upon themselves disgrace.” Now, what is happening, ladies and gentlemen — as I said yesterday and it was totally ignored by the Drive-By Media which selected one line on which to base all of their reporting that happened today and will probably occur tonight. What I also said yesterday is that this attempt to politicize illnesses is reprehensible. It’s like the environmentalist wacko movement when they talk about dirty water and dirty air.
They set themselves up as wanting the most basic things, clean water, clean air. If you oppose them, you want dirty water and dirty air which is absurd because nobody does. Nobody wants dirty water or dirty air. At the same time, nobody wants to not cure diseases, but now we’re politicizing illnesses. Somehow you’re for them or against them if you don’t buy into a liberal cultural agenda. If you don’t buy into whatever they want to do, regardless of the cultural impact to cure a disease, then you’re not for curing diseases. Sorry, I don’t play to their script. I don’t buy into their script. I think the Fox commercials are damaging what has traditionally been a bipartisan effort at addressing and curing illnesses.
They are politicizing diseases and illnesses, claiming that if you don’t embrace their political and cultural agenda, then you are for Parkinson’s disease or you are for paralysis or what have you. And of course that’s absurd. In the meantime, Michael J. Fox commercials are running for Tammy Duckworth, a personal appearance for her in Illinois, running in Missouri, running in Maryland, and running in Minneapolis. It appears that the Democrats are using Michael J. Fox as yet another October Surprise, as the legs on the Mark Foley story are diminished and about gone. One more time, Ben Cardin voted against stem cell research. Michael Steele announced it today, official campaign statement:
“There’s only one candidate in the race of Michael Steele versus Ben Cardin who voted against stem cell research and its Congressman Cardin. Cardin had a chance to support stem cell research that would not destroy human embryos. He voted against it not because of his beliefs on the issue but as a transparent political stunt. Senators Mikulski and Sarbanes voted for the legislation. Cardin wanted to politicize the issue instead of getting something done so he voted against it.” Meanwhile, a commercial is running in Maryland by Michael J. Fox claiming that it is Michael Steele who wants to criminalize and has voted against or will vote against stem cell research. The only candidate in Maryland who has is the candidate for whom the commercial is running, Benjamin Cardin. Welcome to the next Democrat October Surprise.
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