Text 3560, 110 rader
Skriven 2004-10-16 06:25:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
     Kommentar till en text av Alan Hess
Ärende: Krauthammer pissed at Edw
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AH>and Kerry.  But he does get Edwards' quote right.
AH>******

AH>     
AH>Marriott Hotels and Resorts
AH>washingtonpost.com
AH>An Edwards Outrage

AH>By Charles Krauthammer

AH>Friday, October 15, 2004; Page A23

AH>After the second presidential debate, in which John Kerry used the
AH>word "plan" 24 times, I said on television that Kerry has a plan for
AH>everything except curing psoriasis. I should have known there is no
AH>parodying Kerry's pandering. It turned out days later that the Kerry
AH>campaign has a plan -- nay, a promise -- to cure paralysis. What is
AH>the plan? Vote for Kerry.

AH>This is John Edwards on Monday at a rally in Newton, Iowa: "If we do
AH>the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do
AH>when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going
AH>to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again."

AH>In my 25 years in Washington, I have never seen a more loathsome
AH>display of demagoguery. Hope is good. False hope is bad.
AH>Deliberately, for personal gain, raising false hope in the
AH>catastrophically afflicted is despicable.

AH>Where does one begin to deconstruct this outrage?

AH>First, the inability of the human spinal cord to regenerate is one of
AH>the great mysteries of biology. The answer is not remotely around the
AH>corner. It could take a generation to unravel. To imply, as Edwards
AH>did, that it is imminent if only you elect the right politicians is
AH>scandalous.

AH>Second, if the cure for spinal cord injury comes, we have no idea
AH>where it will come from. There are many lines of inquiry. Stem cell
AH>research is just one of many possibilities, and a very speculative
AH>one at that. For 30 years I have heard promises of miracle cures for
AH>paralysis (including my own, suffered as a medical student). The last
AH>fad, fetal tissue transplants, was thought to be a sure thing.
AH>Nothing came of it.

AH>As a doctor by training, I've known better than to believe the hype
AH>-- and have tried in my own counseling of people with new spinal cord
AH>injuries to place the possibility of cure in abeyance. I advise
AH>instead to concentrate on making a life (and a very good life it can
AH>be) with the hand one is dealt. The greatest enemies of this advice
AH>have been the snake-oil salesmen promising a miracle around the
AH>corner. I never expected a candidate for vice president to be one of
AH>them.

AH>Third, the implication that Christopher Reeve was prevented from
AH>getting out of his wheelchair by the Bush stem cell policies is a
AH>travesty.

AH>George Bush is the first president to approve federal funding for
AH>stem cell research. There are 22 lines of stem cells now available,
AH>up from one just two years ago. As Leon Kass, head of the President's
AH>Council on Bioethics, has written, there are 3,500 shipments of stem
AH>cells waiting for anybody who wants them.

AH>Edwards and Kerry constantly talk of a Bush "ban" on stem cell
AH>research. This is false. There is no ban. You want to study stem
AH>cells? You get them from the companies that have the cells and apply
AH>to the National Institutes of Health for the federal funding.

AH>In his Aug. 7 radio address to the nation, Kerry referred not once
AH>but four times to the "ban" on stem cell research instituted by Bush.
AH>At the time, Reeve was alive, so not available for posthumous
AH>exploitation. But Ronald Reagan was available, having recently died
AH>of Alzheimer's.

AH>So what does Kerry do? He begins his radio address with the
AH>disgraceful claim that the stem cell "ban" is standing in the way of
AH>an Alzheimer's cure.

AH>This is an outright lie. The President's Council on Bioethics, on
AH>which I sit, had one of the world's foremost experts on Alzheimer's,
AH>Dennis Selkoe from Harvard, give us a lecture on the newest and most
AH>promising approaches to solving the Alzheimer's mystery. Selkoe
AH>reported remarkable progress in using biochemicals to clear the
AH>"plaque" deposits in the brain that lead to Alzheimer's. He ended his
AH>presentation without the phrase "stem cells" having passed his lips.

AH>So much for the miracle cure. Ronald D.G. McKay, a stem cell
AH>researcher at NIH, has admitted publicly that stem cells as an
AH>Alzheimer's cure are a fiction, but that "people need a fairy tale."
AH>Kerry and Edwards certainly do. They are shamelessly exploiting this
AH>fairy tale, having no doubt been told by their pollsters that stem
AH>cells play well politically for them.

AH>Politicians have long promised a chicken in every pot. It is part of
AH>the game. It is one thing to promise ethanol subsidies here, dairy
AH>price controls there. But to exploit the desperate hopes of desperate
AH>people with the promise of Christ-like cures is beyond the pale.

AH>There is no apologizing for Edwards's remark. It is too revealing.
AH>There is absolutely nothing the man will not say to get elected.

He is absolutely correct.  The democrats will say anything to get 
elected.  I only hope others realize this too.


Jeff

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