Bush (STILL) Opposes Using Embryos for Research (Says Pickles)

[Khephra]

June 9, 2004, 8:44 AM EDT


SEA ISLAND, Ga. -- Ronald Reagan's death from complications of Alzheimer's disease has not changed President Bush's stand against using embryos for stem-cell research, Laura Bush said Wednesday.

snip.......

"We need to balance the interest in science with moral issues," Mrs. Bush said on NBC's "Today" show, adding that there's going to be an increasing number of people suffering from the disease as the baby boom population.

snip...............

"We have to be really careful between what we want to do for science and what we should do ethically and the stem cell issue is certainly one of those issues that we need to treat very carefully," Mrs. Bush said on "The Early Show" on CBS.

On ABC's "Good Morning America," Mrs. Bush referred to alternatives to "abusing embryos" in research. "There are stem cell embryos ready that people can use for research, but it's a very delicate line," she said.

more...........

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-laura-bush-stem-cells,0,30357.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[trotsky]

1. Well of course.

Otherwise that would be a flip-flop, and we know Bush* never flip-flops.

Unless it's for/against creating a Homeland Security Department.
Or for/against steel tariffs.
Or for/against allowing Condi to testify.
Or for/against nation building.
Or...

[sallyseven]

2. bush has no ethics

The drug cos. don't want the stem cell research. What would happen if there were many cures such as diabetes and you wouldn't have to have insulin, pills, strips, lancets. Just one disease and it is worth billions to them. Ethics has nothing to do with it.

[ze_dscherman]

4. Don't think so

Biotech and pharma industry are lobbying FOR stem cell research. There are billions to be made by developing these cures. It's already becoming a big business.

The prohibition on embry research is an ethics/religion issue.

[bluedog]

3. caring person?

think not..I believe her father dies of this disease.....and if it were me.I would try to nudge him into expanding the research.

[DaveSZ]

5. He can't win the Fundie vote without taking this stand

This is good for Kerry.

He can invoke REagan and talk about stem cell research.

[crossroads]

28. Great for Kerry!

:dem:

[THUNDER HANDS]

6. this presents an interesting battle

Between two sides of the Republican brain.

On one side is the social/religious conservatism that says this is morally wrong.

On the other side is the big business/capitalist conservatism that says nothing regarding money is morally wrong.

Should be fun to see which side wins out in the end - because both can't be pleased.

[gulliver]

22. Aging boomers too.

Money _and_ self-preservation enter into the equation. With Reagan dying of Alzheimers so conspicuously and boomers starting to feel their age, I don't see how Bush can stay on top of this.

[bluedog]

7. they scrubbed the WH page

I found it Monday and went back to grab the whole speech about it and puff its gone.....


check it out:http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/03/20040...

[kskiska]

8. I wonder how Nancy Reagan will feel

having Junior invoke her husband's name while campaigning for a second term, while refusing her request regarding stem cell research? I doubt she'll be quiet about it.

[lebkuchen]

11. She'll feel like not endorsing him for the WH.

[ronnykmarshall]

18. I don't see Nancy Reagan getting envolved.

The last thing on her mind is W's election.

[crossroads]

26. I feel her passion *for* the cause has died... n/t

:shrug:

[progressivebydesign]

15. Then it's completely WRONG for HIM to give a eulogy!

It's so hypocritical and political for Bush to give that eulogy, when he refuses to support something so dear to Nancy Reagan's heart. It's wrong, wrong, wrong.

[ElectroPrincess]

17. Nancy's tough and not easily controlled ...

I love Nancy's feisty and independent nature. Despite a few negatives, Nancy was one hellofva dedicated wife to Ronnie. When he was in office, the handlers we're ofting peeing all over themselves because they were unable to control Nancy.

She's a tough and well-spoken woman ... she'll keep getting her message out (stem cell research saves lives) as long as she can draw breath. Love that aspect about her and her devotion to Reagan.

[salin]

9. I still don't get their "high ground" on this issue

if they don't want to "throw away" life (ala use of frozen eggs) - then go after fertility clinics where "life" (as they see it) is created and the extras are thrown away. This seems to be a perpetual phoney and inconsistent argument for the anti-arbortion crowd.

[0007]

21. I don't either, and I like the way you use the term "anti-abortion"

The term "pro life" is a joke.

[salin]

23. the anti-abortion folks won a battle when they renamed

themselves. A number of years ago (okay... more than a decade... okay... back in the Reagan years... that was the primary reference term for those who opposed abortion.)

[Malva Zebrina]

10. abusing embryos

that is really the next catch word big idea of Rove and Hughes.

Abusing embryos. LOL Is this the pre-curser hint that women who choose abortion will be arrested and prosecuted for murder as well as any who donate an embryo for research?

[arwalden]

13. But, but, but... It's A BABY... It has FEELINGS... and a SOUL

even though it looks like a seahorse.

[saigon68]

12. BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Reagan is a clueless sock puppet needing a diaper change because the fundies for RELIGIOUS REASONS don't want SCIENCE to search for a cure. That's why they WANT TO SHUT UP ronnie's widow.

Copernicus had to contend with this same bullshit when he proposed the earth was not flat but round.

I hope those mother fuckers live out there last days in a cheap nursing home having their DIAPER changed once a day.

LOL

[Dulcinea]

14. A moral issue, huh?

What's more moral than using stem cells from embryos to help the lives of people already here? Those embryos may or may not turn into babies. Not all embryos do! How can anyone call themselves "pro-life" & not care about the suffering of Alzheimer's or diabetes patients? I have one of each in my family, so don't tell me their lives are worth less than a bundle of cells!

[progressivebydesign]

16. Pro life only applies to white babies... and embryos.

NOT the death penalty, war, mercenaries, etc. It's all about morals, don'tcha know?

[bluedog]

19. if it runs in families

Pickels will get it.seeing her dad had it.and then bush may see he was wrong.but I doubt it

[saigon68]

20. NO LOSS THERE

there isn't a brain there to go downhill

LOL

[koopie57]

32. pickles is already so loopy

how would anyone notice if she became afflicted with it?

I think bush must have some sort of sociopathic disorder cuz a healthy person could not watch the suffering of Alzheimer's patients and not work on at least a compromise to allow research. Has he ever watched someone he loved suffer with illness? I can't recall anything like that in his past. Maybe no one dared get sick in his family for fear they would be suicided if they bothered Babs' beautiful mind.

[Wind Dancer]

24. So * has Stepford out in the media doing his dirty work!

This is so typical, I feel like we have stepped back in time 50 years. GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[David Zephyr]

25. Laura Bush Criticises Nancy Reagan As The Widow Buries Her Husband!

God damnit!

What utter fucking disrespect!

The widow of the President was accompanying the coffin bearing her late husband across the United States and this redneck, Midland Cow can not contain her jealousy at the outpouring for the man that dwarfed the Bush family.

The Bush Family is Shit. Pure Shit.

[saigon68]

29. She is a cow

although with due respect to those fine dairy animals--the word slug would be more appropriate.

[susu369]

31. I find irony that Pickles and Georgie love "calf fries"

Yum, calf testicles "the younger the better."

:evilgrin:

[robbedvoter]

30. Now this is the headline I'd like to see - you summed it up

Why does W think that hiding behind his "lump in the bed' will make this any less despicable?

[crossroads]

27. A sane voice of reason... suggested those opposed to the cause...

simply *opt* out...ya know, sign letters of waiver... to insure they are not *subjected* to this form of cruelty in their future... just to make sure they don't *ever* change their minds...ya just never know... might make them think about it... could have some regrets in the long term...hmmm...
:eyes:

[klook]

33. Stem Cells An Unlikely Therapy for Alzheimer's

According to the Wash. Post article excerpted below, stem cells probably won't do much for Alzheimer's patients. However, wouldn't be a fitting tribute to Reagan if we tried to help people with Parkinson's, diabetes, cancer, etc.?

Stem Cells An Unlikely Therapy for Alzheimer's
Reagan-Inspired Zeal For Study Continues
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 10, 2004; Page A03

Ronald Reagan's death from Alzheimer's disease Saturday has triggered an outpouring of support for human embryonic stem cell research. Building on comments made by Nancy Reagan last month, scores of senators on Monday called upon President Bush to loosen his restrictions on the controversial research, which requires the destruction of human embryos. Patient groups have also chimed in, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday added his support for a policy review.

It is the kind of advocacy that researchers have craved for years, and none wants to slow its momentum.

But the infrequently voiced reality, stem cell experts confess, is that, of all the diseases that may someday be cured by embryonic stem cell treatments, Alzheimer's is among the least likely to benefit.

"I think the chance of doing repairs to Alzheimer's brains by putting in stem cells is small," said stem cell researcher Michael Shelanski, co-director of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, echoing many other experts. "I personally think we're going to get other therapies for Alzheimer's a lot sooner."

Stem cell transplants show great potential for other diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes, scientists said. Someday, embryo cell studies may lead to insights into Alzheimer's. If nothing else, some said, stem cells bearing the genetic hallmarks of Alzheimer's may help scientists assess the potential usefulness of new drugs.

But given the lack of any serious suggestion that stem cells themselves have practical potential to treat Alzheimer's, the Reagan-inspired tidal wave of enthusiasm stands as an example of how easily a modest line of scientific inquiry can grow in the public mind to mythological proportions.

It is a distortion that some admit is not being aggressively corrected by scientists.

"To start with, people need a fairy tale," said Ronald D.G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "Maybe that's unfair, but they need a story line that's relatively simple to understand."
<more>

[gauguin57]

34. "nightline" tonight: stem-cell research

Nightline Daily E-Mail
June 10, 2004


TONIGHT'S FOCUS: Will Ronald Reagan's funeral, and Nancy Reagan's public support of stem-cell research, turn the political tide that is building for President Bush to overturn his 2001 policy restricting medical research in this field? A majority of the Senate now opposes the Bush stem cell policy, as do scores of scientists. But will any of that mean that Bush will make what amounts to a political about-face?


In late summer 2001, President Bush announced a policy that at the time, pre-9/11, seemed as if it might be the most controversial and politically heated issue of his presidency. My, what a difference three years make. In light of terrorism and war, the stem cell debate has been effectively pushed off the front pages.

But medical research does not pay attention to terrorism or war. The 2001 Bush policy significantly restricted the ability of federally-funded scientists to study the potential promise of stem cells. His executive order limited the use of federal funds to a small number of cell colonies already extracted from embryos, avoiding a scientific climate that might "encourage further destruction of human embryos."

In the last three years, criticism of the 2001 policy has been steady from a range of scientists, doctors, and advocates for a slew of diseases for which stem cells might hold therapeutic promise. But the subject now appears to be gaining significant political momentum - and support from perhaps unlikely places.

In recent years, as she watched her husband suffering in the final stages of Alzheimer's disease, Nancy Reagan has become involved in stem cell research advocacy. She has been cautious not to challenge the White House publicly, but she reportedly wrote President Bush a letter in 2001, as he contemplated his stem cell policy position. And just last month, in an unusual public appearance at a dinner sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, she spoke in favor of stem cell research, saying: "Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him. Because of this, I'm determined to do whatever I can to save other families from this pain. I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this."

Late last week, just before President Reagan's passing, 58 Senators sent a letter to President Bush urging him to reconsider his position on stem cell research. It was a rare bi-partisan majority.

Will this mounting political pressure change the President's position? During an election year, which could be more damaging to the President - reversing himself or staying the course?

Nightline's John Donvan will report on the political firestorm surrounding this microscopic study. And Chris Bury will talk to guests on both sides of this heated debate.

We hope you'll join us.

Sara Just and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices
ABCNEWS Washington D.C.