Laura Bush Defends U.S. Stem Cell Policy

[Khephra]

LANGHORNE, Pa. -- First lady Laura Bush defended her husband's policy on embryonic stem cell research Monday, arguing that it is an ethical and moral issue "that must not be treated lightly" by political critics.

On the third anniversary of President Bush's decision to restrict research to 78 embryonic stem cell lines in existence, the first lady suggested that his opponents, including the son of former President Reagan, have overstated its potential benefits.

"I hope that stem cell research will yield cures," the first lady told the Pennsylvania Medical Society. "But I know that embryonic stem cell research is very preliminary right now and the implication that cures for Alzheimer's are around the corner is just not right and it's really not fair to people who are watching a loved one suffer with this disease."

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-stem-cell-politics,0,5992981.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[madmax]

1. Ah, Laura - go back to bed dear. n/t

[WI_DEM]

2. The Stepford wife steps up again

Has she even studied the issue the way Nancy and Ron Reagan have?

[Ediacara]

3. Jesus Christ...

I have had it up to here with these born-again creationists telling us what science and medicine will and will not find!

GEORGE W BUSH IS A CREATIONIST!

HE REJECTS SCIENCE!

ANYTHING HE SAYS ABOUT SCIENCE SHOULD BE REJECTED WITHOUT FURTHER SCRUTINY BY THE AMERICAN PUBLIC BECAUSE HE CHOOSES TO TRUST LIARS WITH A NICE STORY RATHER THAN TRUTH-TELLERS WITH A STORY THAT IS SLIGHTLY MORE COMPLEX THAN GOOD-EVIL, RIGHT-WRONG, AND BLACK-WHITE!

[arwalden]

4. Creationist, "Armegeddonist", "Raptureist"...

what more could a fundy freak want?

-- Allen

Oh... almost forgot... deities talk to him. Honest! He hears them telling him what to do and say.

[Cronus Protagonist]

20. You are SORELY mistaken

None other than the Almighty God speaks through Bush...

[Ilsa]

21. You are right, but like the hypocrites they are,

how much do you want to bet that they'll jump right into getting whatever medical assistance they need when they or one of their loved ones is suffering? Of course, they'll reject the notion that it is science and simply call it a "miracle".

I have given Pickles a break, up until now. She is one stupid Bitch, and now she is FAIR GAME for criticism in this campaign.

[saracat]

32. Guess What?

Laura's father died of AL and remeber that the very day of Regan's funeral she was deputised to do the talk shoe circuit stating that Nancy was "not herself" and tha she (Laura )would not have allowed any innocent life to be sacrificed in puruit of false hope and unproven science? She would allow one of her own to be toast to defend Bushco.I guess she is beneath contempt but not a hypocrite.On the other hand, her father WAS dead, so maybe the hell with everyone elese's Dad!

[Ilsa]

33. Thanks. Perhaps her father was too far gone

to be assisted by any future stem cell research. And I think it is easier to say they wouldn't avail themselves of the science when the cure hasn't been developed yet.

My point is that if the means are there for her to benefit, I think she will take it if it were her child that needed the science. Talk is cheap when the research is incomplete.

[clydefrand]

5. My question is this...Why don't the people who hear this crap

ask her how much she has studied the issue? Where does she get her information? Nobody has the guts to do that. That's what I hate about the media--no guts to ask the hard questions. If I were a reporter covering their events/whatever, I'd ask them in a NY minute.

[central scrutinizer]

6. this is yet another reminder of August, 2001

When Bushco should have been reading and acting on the August 6 PDB, he was trying to figure out a way to appease the fundie Xtians on this issue.

[KC21304]

7. How is it ever to be right around the corner if we do not have

enough material for research ?:silly:

[xxqqqzme]

8. '...have overstated its potential benefits...'

god, that IS rich...And she would know this because.........?

How in the hell would she know what is or isn't just around the corner? How many loved ones has she watched suffer? The polyester pantsuit princess needs 2 STFU!

[calico1]

9. She is disagreeing with

doctors and scientists. She really should stop stating her opinions on the issus. I think all that alcohol damaged her brain.

[Love Bug]

10. Should she or any of her loved ones be "blessed" with ...

Alzhemer's, Parkinson's or any other disease that stands to benefit from this research I fully expect them to refuse all treatment associated with stem cell research.

[DaveSZ]

12. This just in from MSNBC:

59% of Republicans support stem cell research.

Bush is an extremist within his own party.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Where did Laura Bush get her degree in Bioethics?

Or is it Bioengineering? No wonder Nancy Reagan is pissed.

[Fovea]

13. Piss off, Bitch!

I suffer every day waiting for a possible breakthrough for the brain damage that makes my every day painful. Piss off and STFU, why dontcha?
I got your compassionate conservatism right here!

[noahmijo]

15. And now your daily Bronx greeting

LoL

[enki23]

14. one one hand, some people *do* oversell the uncertain future

of stem cell research.

on the other, much more important hand, it seems to hold *vast* potential in treatment of a wide array of health conditions. and we owe it to ourselves, those who suffer and those who will, to do this research. banning stem-cell research to protect a thoughtless blob of undifferentiated cells is *completely* disproportionate to the suffering that might be alleviated by allowing it.

in other words: only the most rigid ideologue, with absolutely no sense of proportion would deny us this possibility. even if it *is* only a possibility.

[noahmijo]

16. What the hell makes her qualified to speak about anything?

Other than sewing *'s clothes or ironing them like a good little stepford wife?

[Divernan]

17. The Pennsylvania Medical Society has endorsed Bush

according to this article. That must have been because of their opposition to "trial lawyers". Nevertheless, her vacuous comments must have sounded like fingernails on a blackboard to all those trained scientific/medical minds in her audience. As I recall, the medical licensing board of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has one of the lowest rates in any state for stripping licenses from malpractising doctors. These same small number of doctors account for a large percentage of med malpractise, which is what drives the cost of med mal insurance in Pennsylvania so high.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

18. THANK GOD!!!

Because, you know, on all issues relating molecular genetics, I always try to obtain the opinion of former junior high school librarians.

Laura? Sweetie? Shut the fuck up!

[truthisfreedom]

19. pic of shrublett cowering behind laura

[pinniped]

22. That picture is pure evil. Look at that sick smirk.

But the most evil pic I've seen of that bastard is the one where the asshole is hugging the young girl who lost her mother at the WTC. It may take a couple years before she knows the devil hugged her.

[Disturbed]

24. A liar.

She is a blatant liar. Ron Reagon said that this research would not help Alzheimers in the near future, if at all. His promotion of the research did not come from his father's condition but the help it would most likely bring other diseases. The Neo Fascists trot her out to spread false info. because she seems to be sincere and fools the base. She is a fool and a tool.

[Chelsea Patriot]

26. Two Cold-Blooded Killers!

[MaineDem]

27. Replied to the wrong post

Sorry

[tlcandie]

23. By the same reasoning then, * and his regime's constant harking

of, "the recovery is just around the corner," or ,"we are turning a corner," are every bit as wrong and uninformed!

Snipped from the originally linked article...

<snip>
"...implication that cures for Alzheimer's are around the corner is just not right and it's really not fair to people who are watching a loved one suffer with this disease."
<snip>

[MallRat]

25. I like this part.

"We don't even know that stem cell research will provide cures for anything -- much less that it's very close" to yielding major advances, Bush said.

===============================================================

In other news, Louis Pasteur abandoned his study of infectious agents, saying, "we don't even know that sterilization will prevent post-operative infection."

The Wright Brothers of Ohio set aside their work on a flying machine earlier this afternoon. In a press release, the brothers noted, "we don't even know that a man-made machine will ever fly -- much less that it has any commercial applications."

Also, word came from Menlo Park, New Jersey that Thomas Edison will set aside further development of the "incandescent bulb." An exasperated Edison noted, "we don't even know that an electric light will provide any benefit to society."

:eyes:

[phantom power]

31. Isn't that statement flat-out wrong? I've read about demonstrations

of cures, at least in mouse-models. And aren't there also therapies already used in humans?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

28. An empty head supporting an empty policy.

[SKKY]

29. What is her degree in???

She has a master's degree in "Library Science"??? WTF is Library science, and more importantly, what could someone with a masters in Library science possibly know about stem cell research?

[MaineDem]

30. THis was a campaign speech I'm assuming?

THe podium displayed a Bush/Cheney sign. I sure hope the campaign picked up the cost and that she wasn't there in an official First Lady position.