The Stem Cell Debate Gets Filthy
Posted by Parita Shah October 25, 2006
Biopolitical Times
Do one million viewers of a You Tube video clip parlay into political relevance? Well, it seems so in the case of Michael J. Fox's latest campaign advertisement in Missouri. The ad has catapulted stem cells back into the political and media limelights just two weeks before election day.
Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh accused Fox of "exaggerating the effects of [his] disease" for political gain in an advertisement supporting Missouri Senate candidate Claire McKaskill (D). Today, opponents of the initiative launched their own celebrity-laden ad, employing such big names as Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Kurt Warner (NFL quarterback), to send their message.
This mudslinging has crossed a new line in the stem cell debate. Both sides have made outrageous claims - one side understates the potential of embryonic stem cell research and the other side overstates it. In doing so, each side is feeding the hyperbole of the other.
Limbaugh's comments, besides being utterly offensive, are among the politically charged and polarizing comments being made by both sides of the debate all over the country. They are muddying the waters to the point where we can no longer see clearly in the ongoing stem cell debate.
Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh accused Fox of "exaggerating the effects of [his] disease" for political gain in an advertisement supporting Missouri Senate candidate Claire McKaskill (D). Today, opponents of the initiative launched their own celebrity-laden ad, employing such big names as Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Kurt Warner (NFL quarterback), to send their message.
This mudslinging has crossed a new line in the stem cell debate. Both sides have made outrageous claims - one side understates the potential of embryonic stem cell research and the other side overstates it. In doing so, each side is feeding the hyperbole of the other.
Limbaugh's comments, besides being utterly offensive, are among the politically charged and polarizing comments being made by both sides of the debate all over the country. They are muddying the waters to the point where we can no longer see clearly in the ongoing stem cell debate.