Bush used his first veto today, and it’s a good one. There is no way that the Federal government should be paying for the destruction of embryonic stem cells when there are many who are deeply against it for moral and religious reasons. Of course the left is trying to spin this as Bush stepping in the way of science when the fact is that there is no ban on this research. If the private sector thought this science was good science they would be falling all over themselves to get in on the action. Fact is, this is unproven science.
As usual The Anchoress nails it:
The other intellectual dishonesty the press indulges in, is neglecting to mention that nothing the president has done will stop PRIVATE funding of such research.
I’m sure I’ll hear, “Anchoress, you’re so mean! What about if someone can be cured of diabetes thanks to Embryonic research?” Really? Is it worth it? As I wrote here, we’ve lost touch with the idea that maybe we’re supposed to play a hand we’re dealt and grow from it. We don’t want to know, anymore, from suffering. Which means we don’t want reality in our lives. I think John Paul II was really trying to teach that to us, in his later years. Contrary to the collective wisdom, there is power in, and value to, suffering. It actually may be more important to “be” than to “do.”
And I say that as a woman dealing with a chronic blood illness, and waiting to hear – finally – about a diagnosis that has taken a great deal of time to pinpoint. Both health issues are being looked into with ADULT stem cells, and that’s good news…I wouldn’t want any treatment derived from EMBRYONIC stem cells.
Given the choice, I’ll take the harder road, and keep faith with the Creator. If you think I’m a fool, then so be it, I’ll be a fool. I won’t live my life at the expense of a life not allowed to live. Maybe – as this 16 year old has figured out, the time I get is all the time I’m supposed to have.
To me, it speaks volumes that the proponants of ESC research, in the press and elsewhere, are so willing to mischaracterize moments like these. Seems to me if you cannot be upfront about the thing you want, if you need to dance around it, then there must be a reason why. Maybe it’s because you know the thing you want, you probably shouldn’t want.
Whether you agree with the research of embryonic stem cells or not, the fact that the left wants to tell the American people that their beliefs do not matter is arrogant and typical. Typical of the left to have the mind numbing gall to believe every tax payer should fund this destruction of human life.
I will leave the last word to Tony Snow:
Transcript:
Q But it often appears in some of the reporting and some of the discussion out there that the President is holding back scientific progress.
MR. SNOW: Wrong.
Q How do you —
MR. SNOW: You’re just flat wrong. Just flat wrong. I mean, that is basically an attempt to substitute an insult for an argument. I’ve given you the argument and I’ve rebutted the insult.
Q Can I follow up on that?
MR. SNOW: Yes.
Q I mean, you got a lot off your chest there, but he asked you a political question, and that is, you know, Democrats clearly feel that there’s support in the country for this bill, so therefore why won’t it hurt Republicans in the fall?
MR. SNOW: I just don’t think it will. I think a President acting on conscience — a President who, again — Bill Clinton, as President, didn’t authorize any of these lines. This is a President who’s spent more money on embryonic stem cell research and stem cell research generally than any President in American history. He’s got the track record. What’s happening now is that people are trying to politicize it by accusing him of standing in the way of science, when he’s the guy who’s made it possible to open up the way to science.
Furthermore — getting me warmed up here — for those who are engaged in embryonic stem cell research, there’s no legal prohibition against their doing it. What they don’t have access to is federal funding. And so the idea that the President is standing in the way of science seems to indicate that the only way you do it is through a federal grant. And there is a burgeoning business — as you know, a lot of people getting rich already — in this kind of medical research. So I would argue that the President is the recipient of a bum rap, and for that reason people, when they do get a chance to judge the facts, are going to draw the same conclusion.
Q Okay, now to follow up, the Democrats clearly are going to be hammering away on this. The President really has spoken on stem cell research really when it’s come up at various points, but not too consistently, I don’t think. Is he going to be talking about this in the fall campaign? Is he going to be making his case?
MR. SNOW: No. The President has made his case. If you take a look back at what happened in 2001, he laid out a position on stem cell research, and guess what, the rest of the world, for the most part, followed. If you take a look at the kinds of conditions that are being applied in Europe and elsewhere, they generally tend to follow the path that was laid down by the President. The people who are Johnny-Come-Latelys to this debate are people who decided, well, let’s try to whip this up for a political year. I would argue that the ones who are bringing it up and speaking on a sporadic basis are the critics and not the President, who has been promoting these policies now for going on six years.
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I respectfully disagree. 70% of the American public supports stem cell research. As a proud Liberal I think we need to spend some time thinking about the costs of not funding research. I personally believe that the plasticity of embryonic stem cells will result in treatments that were unimaginable even 10 years ago. You as an individual are perfectly free to choose not to accept an ESCR derived treatment. Visit Left in the Heartland for an alternate perspective.