Two days ago, the US House of Representatives, by a 238-194 margin that included 50 Republicans, voted to repeal Bush-imposed restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research. According to every poll I've seen on the issue, stem cell research for the purpose of curing human diseases like cancer, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Juvenile Diabetes, and heart disease is supported overwhelmingly by the American people. Even among Republicans, a recent poll by the Republican Main Street Partnership showed majority support, 55%-38%. So why is this not law yet, and why is President Bush vowing to veto the bill if it passes the Senate in coming days?
Two answers. First, Bush is terrified of offending the extreme right wing, "Christian Taliban" part of the Republican Party. Dubya remembers what happened to his dad, "Bush 41," when conservatives turned on him for being too moderate and reasonable, and he doesn't want to make that mistake again. Second, people like Bush - and George Allen, and the other Republicans who oppose doing research on 5-day-old blastocysts which would be thrown out anyway -- are, frankly, heartless boneheads. Here are some comments from fellow Republicans on the issue:
* "There are so many, diseases that can be cured, or at least helped that we can?t turn our backs on this.... We have lost so much time already. I just really can't bear to lose any more." -- Nancy Reagan, wife of President Ronald Reagan
* "I do believe, very strongly, that it is possible to be both antiabortion and pro-embryonic stem cell research. I believe that pro-life means caring for the living as well."
* "I do not believe that life begins in a Petri dish and, like many others, hope that these excess embryos can benefit mankind. ? For me, being pro-life means helping the living." -- Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
* "I'm 100% pro-life. This is an issue of life to me. I don't want another 6-year-old to die" of juvenile diabetes." -- Randy Cunningham (R-CA), choking back tears as he spoke on the House floor.
* [The Republican Party] "has gone so far in adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a religious movement." It should not "punish people who believe it is their religious duty to use science to heal the sick." -- former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO)
* "I'm very much interested in stem cell research. I support it 100 percent, '' the governor said...I hope that [Proposition 71 to support stem cell research with $3 billion in state money] will win, so that eventually, 10 years from now, people will be saved from those terrible illnesses.'' -- Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA)
* "Dear Mr. President: We write to urge you to expand the current federal policy concerning embryonic stem cell research. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to be used to treat and better understand deadly and disabling diseases and conditions that affect more than 100 million Americans, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, and many others." -- John Warner, Trent Lott, John McCain, Ted Stevens, and 54 other U.S. Senators
* "I think history will be extraordinarily unkind to a veto that will be based on ideology and not on sound ethics or sound science. This shows that their ideology has gotten them out of the mainstream of the American people."
"I think it's time we recognized the Dark Ages are over. Galileo and Copernicus have been proven right. The world is in fact round; the Earth does revolve around the sun. I believe God gave us intellect to differentiate between imprisoning dogma and sound ethical science, which is what we must do here today." -- Chris Shays (R-Conn.)
What do all these Republicans know that President Bush, Tom DeLay, George Allen and Jerry Kilgore don't know? A great deal, apparently. Perhaps they have had a family member or friend get sick and die from a disease that could be cured by stem cell research? Perhaps they're not beholden to the tiny minority -- 20% of Americans -- who support President Bush's 2001 decision to restrict federally-funded embryonic stem cell research? Perhaps they're just not heartless boneheads like many on the hard right wing of the Republican Party?
Fortunately, most Americans are not a bunch of a heartlesss boneheads or Republican right-wing extremists. On stem cells, Americans know that the issue is a matter of life or death for themselves, their friends, and their families. And the overwhelming majority of people in this country understand that stem cell research is about curing terrible diseases -- cancer, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, diabetes, heart disease -- at the minor cost of a 5-day old conglomeration of cells known as a "blastocyst."
Unfortunately, people like George W. Bush, Tom Delay, George Allen and Jerry Kilgore just don't get it. Either that, or they just care more about pandering to "the base" (and their precious political careers) than about what the vast majority of people want, and also about what is right ethically and morally.
Any way you look at it, these people -- Bush, DeLay, Allen, and Kilgore -- are not fit to lead our country, or our state. This November and next, we'll have our chance to tell them just what we think about their opposition to stem cell research, their view that the world is flat, and their opposition to basic human progress in general. (Hint: "na na na na, hey hey, goodbye!")