Yesterday’s announced breakthrough on stem-cell research is obviously good news for medicine, public health, and scientific advancements. The Bush White House, which has stood in the laboratory door for seven years, suddenly feels justified.

[N]ow that scientists in Japan and Wisconsin have apparently achieved what Mr. Bush envisioned, the White House is saying, “I told you so.”

Indeed, presidential aides were so proud of themselves yesterday, they insisted that Bush drove the breakthrough experiments by claiming some ambiguous moral standard. “This is very much in accord with the president’s vision from the get-go,” said Karl Zinsmeister, a Bush domestic policy adviser. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that the president’s drawing of lines on cloning and embryo use was a positive factor in making this come to fruition.”

Look, we should all be really pleased by yesterday’s news, and the scientific advancements offer hope for life-saving medical research. But for the White House to suggest that Bush deserves some kind of credit for the progress is nonsense. In fact, the opposite is true.

One of the researchers involved in yesterday’s reports said the Bush restrictions may have slowed discovery of the new method, since scientists first had to study embryonic cells to find out how to accomplish the same thing without embryos.

“My feeling is that the political controversy set the field back four or five years,” said James Thomson, who led a team at the University of Wisconsin and who discovered human embryonic stem cells in 1998.

Jack Cafferty points to a recent Colorado Supreme Court ruling allowing an anti-abortion group to collect signatures for a ballot measure that would define a fertilized egg as a person and asks his viewers to weigh in on it.

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The court approved the language of the proposal, rejecting a challenge from abortion-rights supporters who argued it was misleading and dealt with more than one subject in violation of the state constitution.

If approved by voters, the measure would give fertilized eggs the state constitutional protections of inalienable rights, justice and due process.

Is a fertilized egg a person? What do you think of an issue that has the potential not just to outlaw abortion, but could affect a woman's right to in-vitro fertilization and birth control, not to mention stem cell research, being decided by a referendum?

Watch this short segment about Bush's veto of the stem cell bill on Hardball and then you'll understand why our country is so divided. The press allows people like Deroy, who won't tell the truth and knows that they won't tell the truth to deceive and cloud important issues to this nation....Deroy Murdock of the NRO actually uses the "Snowflakes Project" as an argument against research...I mean, he is insidious.

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Murdock: But I don‘t think the way to address that disease and others is through the destruction of human embryos. These embryos are not destined to be thrown away. In fact, there is an organization called Snowflakes Adoption Agency in Orange County, California, and they have placed these embryos, which they have actually implanted in utero. And about 120 or 130 or so kids have been born and are alive and well, and are out playing hopscotch ---Well, there are 400,000. What I think we should do is encourage more of them to be adopted. The idea that these are going to be thrown away is not so—

See how easy that was? Notice the way Deroy delivers his false talking points? He would have made an excellent conman back in the good old west--selling bottles of "youth tonic" to unsuspecting settlers. They say the same things over and over again....You don't need a calculator to know the ratio factors between 120-130 and 400,000. The Christian community is not interested in adopting "snowflakes."

Going to the C&L archives, Bush used these Snowflake kids in a photo op back in '05 .Tony Snow called the research "murder" and Josh Bolton was on MTP to explain...A lot of federal money is being invested in the Snowflake Project since it was started with hardly any takers...

And Jon Stewart takes a look back at Bush's first veto on stem cell research and Tony Snow...

Following up on John's item from yesterday on Bush's stem-cell veto, I found Tony Snow's defense of the White House policy rather alarming.

“The President also has never declared it against the law to engage in embryonic stem cell research — he simply thinks it involves, as do many other people, the taking of a human life.”

See? Bush hasn’t banned murder, he’s just blocked some funding for taxpayer-subsidized murder. Privately-funded murder is still fine, and entirely consistent with the president’s values and commitment to a culture of life. Snow added:

“To the extent that there is embryonic stem cell research, it’s being done not because Bill Clinton made it possible, but because George W. Bush made it possible.”

Yes, moments after describing the research as “taking of a human life,” Snow bragged about Bush’s support for the research.

Is a little coherence too much to ask?

 CNN discussed the different types of lines there are for research so you can understand what we're talking about. And what Bush is trying to pawn off to the American public.

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Bush has vetoed funding the best lines of cells (totipotent) to pander to his extreme-conservative--religious base. Media Matters has a list of articles that give us background on "Stem Cell Research Misinformation"

Here's a brief clip of Michael J. Fox talking to Cooper about Stem Cell research.

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Fox: I have just one message and it's bi-partisan---and it's non-partisan, and it's just about hope. It's just about giving hope a chance.

 Bush gave a speech about his veto of the bill for Stem Cell research bill. He had a cute photo-op staged to show the world that cures can come from other stem cell lines which is correct. The problem is that the most promising lines needed for funding are not getting the money they need and he's turned his back on millions of Americans today.

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He falsely asked for Congress to stop politicizing Stem Cell research, but that's what he did today and took a ridiculous moral position. This is why we need separation of Church and  State. Religion cannot dictate Science. Here's the role call of the vote...Update: Fact Check Bush on Stem Cell via The Democratic Caucus's Senate Journal. 68 percent support funding, in the latest ABC/Post poll to measure views on the issue, in April.

Hillary Clinton: "This is just one example of how the President puts ideology before science, politics before the needs of our families, just one more example of how out of touch with reality he and his party have become. And it's just one more example as to why we're going to send them packing in January 2009, and return progressive leadership to the White House."

Nancy Pelosi: “Once again, the President has ignored the will of the American people, of leading medical researchers, and of a bipartisan majority of the Congress. His cruel veto says ‘no’ to the hopes of million of families across America. 

John Edwards: "President Bush had a simple choice today: direct the full force of American scientific ingenuity towards responsible, life-saving medical research or pander to a narrow segment of his political base.

Barack Obama: By vetoing funding for stem cell research once again, the President is deferring the hopes of millions of Americans who do not have the time to keep waiting for the cure that may save or extend their lives.

Reuters AlertNet:

The Democratic-led U.S. Congress defied President George W. Bush on Thursday and gave final approval to legislation to roll back his restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research.

But the 247-176 vote by the House of Representatives on the measure already passed by the Senate was short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised veto by Bush, who rejected a similar bill last year.

"If this bill were to become law, American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos," Bush said in a statement. "Crossing that line would be a grave mistake."

Thirty-seven of Bush's fellow Republicans joined 210 Democrats in voting for the bill.

In related news: Scientists use skin cells to create stem cells

  ...but Bush will veto it. Again. 

WaPo:

For the second time in nine months, the Senate today passed a bill that would loosen President Bush's restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research, but once again falling short of the 67 votes needed to override a promised veto.

The Senate voted 63 to 34 to pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which would allow federally funded studies of stem cells isolated from embryos slated for destruction at fertility clinics. Read more..

UPDATE: Roll call is here. I'm particularly surprised at Bob Casey (D-PA). The final vote was 63 YEA with three Democratic Senators not voting, which means we need only one NAY defector..

Will the wingnuts have a problem with these too?

Forbes:

Scientists on Sunday reported the discovery of a new source of human stem cells that have the capability to develop into many different types of cells, including muscle, bone, fat, blood vessel, nerve and liver cells.

[..]It's been known for decades that the placenta and amniotic fluid contain a large number of cells shed from the developing embryo. [..]Unlike "true" stem cells, however, these cells were predestined to grow into only one type of cell, or a limited type of other cells.

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CNN's All-Star panel (Carville, Begala, JC Watts, Bill Bennet) was discussing what impact the Missouri stem-cell amendment will have on the dynamics of the Talent-McCaskill race when Begala railed on Limbaugh for his Michael J Fox comments and how he became the face of the anti-stem cell movement in Missouri. This prompted Bill Bennet to step in and defend his good "drug-addled" buddy.

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Tracy Russo:

"As you may know, I had a run-in with a less than compassionate conservative. I guess I'm not supposed to speak with you until my symptoms go away, or maybe I'm supposed to go away, but I'm not going to go away and neither are the millions of Americans and their families who live with these diseases..."

Take that Limbaugh. Not that it matters to him.

Will Rush apologize to MJ Fox after he told Katie Couric that he was on his medication while filming an ad promoting embryonic stem cell research? Watching Fox's condition up close and personal is so sad to see and for Rush to mock him for a political agenda is tragic. Limbaugh will never apologize or honestly regret what he's done because it's part of a long term strategy to once again attack the messenger. Unfortunately for the country-- conservatives can say anything they want and never pay a price for their outlandish remarks so Limbaugh will escape unscathed.

Video-WMP Video-QT (Arlen Parsa sent the QT)

CBS:

His body visibly wracked by tremors, Fox appears in a political ad touting Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill's stance in favor of embryonic stem cell research. That prompted Limbaugh to speculate that Fox was "either off his medication or acting."

Fox told Couric, "At this point now, if I didn't take medication I wouldn't be able to speak."

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We're all just trying to watch a baseball game tonight. He's entitled to his views, but cloning? Is he serious?

Pro-life advocates in Missouri have prepared a response ad to one that actor Michael J. Fox has made in numerous states that contains misleading information about pro-life candidates and their views on stem cell research. The new ads feature St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan and stars Jim Caviezel of "The Passion of Christ."

Fox recorded an ad that aired during the first game of the World Series and St. Louis-area voters were falsely told that pro-life Sen. Jim Talent, who is in one of the nation's closest Senate races, does not support stem cell research.

"Amendment 2 claims to ban human cloning, but in the 2000 words you won't read, it makes cloning a constitutional right," Suppan says in the ad.

Suppan will be pitching for the Cardinals tonight and the ad is slated to be shown during the World Series.

If I'm a St Louis fan I'm not happy about it...Here's the Youtube of the ad. Looks like the administrator is keeping all negative comments off of the page. I wonder if Joe Buck will broach this subject during The World Series game since Suppan is the starting pitcher tonight and the ad is running on their network. The Limbaugh/MJ FOX post I did sure has created quite a stir.

White House press secretary Tony Snow apologized on Monday for suggesting that  President Bush believed stem-cell research amounted to "murder," saying he was "overstating the president's position...read on

He should apologize for the veto itself. Today he also told the gaggle that his job is to speak for the administration. I'll see if I have the video...

(h/t Huffington Post)