Who’s the bigger liar, Michael J. Fox or James Talent?

Everyone who doesn’t have their head buried in the sand is probably aware of Rush Limbaugh’s recent criticism of a political ad by Michael J. Fox in which he accused incumbent Senator James Talent of Missouri of attempting to criminalize stem cell research. Initially Limbaugh’s accusations were towards Fox for not taking his Parkinson’s medication, which he blamed for the erratic movements Fox made during the ad:

“[Michael J. Fox was] is exaggerating the effects of this disease. He was moving all around and shaking […] and it’s purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has […] this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn’t take his medication or he’s acting, one of the two.”

When it was later revealed that the erratic movements were side effects of the dopamine antagonists which Fox took in order to control his Parkinson’s, effects which occur due to malfunctions in his basal ganglia which are incredibly hard to fake through “acting”, Rush recanted. Both of his hypotheses were proven wrong, so much like the Bush Administration when they were caught with their pants down after their WMD hypothesis was empirically proven wrong, he pursued a different course of attack. Okay, his medication made him move like that, not the lack thereof, and it wasn’t acting, so what could be said?

Rush decided to save face by focusing on the specifics of Fox’s wording. Fox claimed that Senator Talent had tried to criminalize stem cell research. That’s a lie! Senator Talent, although an adamant pro-lifer who opposed stem cell research, had never attempted to criminalize it, but merely withhold taxpayer funding. Michael J. Fox overembellished a political statement. That was how Rush chose to save face when he came out and attacked a victim of a degenerative nerve disease for showing symptoms.

While it is true that James Talent has never actively attempted to criminalize stem cell research, that hasn’t stopped him from blatantly lying to prevent the passage of amendments designed to protect it. He had this to say about Missouri’s Amendment 2, which would provide protections for stem cell research in the Missouri state constitution:

“I personally cannot support the initiative because I’ve always been opposed to human cloning and this measure would make cloning human life at the earliest stage a constitutional right. I would encourage every Missourian to study the initiative carefully and make up their own minds on this very difficult moral issue.”

Here, Talent makes the issue out to be human cloning, not stem cell research. This would perhaps be a valid criticism, except the amendment also explicitly bans human cloning!

Have a look at an excerpt of the text of Missouri’s Amendment 2:

To ensure that Missouri patients have access to stem cell therapies and cures, that Missouri researchers can conduct stem cell research in the state, and that all such research is conducted safely and ethically, any stem cell research permitted under federal law may be conducted in Missouri, and any stem cell therapies and cures permitted under federal law may be provided to patients in Missouri, subject to the requirements of federal law and only the following additional limitations and requirements:

(1) No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.

James Talent has asked his constituency to oppose this amendment to guarantee a basic set of rights for stem cell researchers on the basis that it would allow human cloning, when this is the very first provision outlined in the proposed amendment. The interpretation he gave to the voters of his state directly contradicts the text of the bill. It is both a strawman and red herring: he has informed the voters of Missouri that the bill would constitutionally guarantee the right to human cloning when it does precisely the opposite, and furthermore introduced the irrelevant detail of human cloning to a bill which is explicitly about guaranteeing rights to stem cell researchers.

If Rush Limbaugh’s real problem is with Michael J. Fox misrepresenting the position of his political opponent, then certainly he would be critical of James Talent of lying about an amendment in order to prevent its passage. But that’s not what Rush Limbaugh was doing at all, it was all a vain attempt to save face after criticizing a victim of one of the worst afflictions known to mankind of displaying his symptoms. Fox’s statements are not too far off from Talent’s actual position, while Talent’s statements are the diametrical opposite of the bill he decided to criticize. James Talent may not explicitly work towards criminalizing stem cell research, but he’s certainly willing to lie to ensure it doesn’t receive legal protections.

I think the real issue here is that the Rush Limbaughs and James Talents of this country are feeling guilty because the ad actually shows the suffering they are allowing to continue by trying to push their religious morals onto the rest of the population. Victims of Parkinson’s, spinal injuries, and a host of other debilitating afflictions need those stem cells more than week old embryos do.