Scott Tibbs

Hoosier Review, September 29th, 2004

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Leftists exploit tragedy for political gain

Christopher Reeve, who is best known for playing the title character in the Superman movies, passed away in the early hours of October 11, 2004. Reeve suffered a spinal chord injury while riding a horse, paralyzing him.

Reeve crusaded for federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. John Kerry invoked Reeve's name in the October 8 debate with President Bush in support of stem-cell research. When I read that Reeve had died, the first thought that popped into my mind was that the Left would exploit his death for political gain.

The folks at DemocraticUndergound.com wasted no time living up to my low expectations.

  • Randi_Listener wrote: "This needs to be used to drive home the point and ass fuck Chimp Shit".
  • DaveofCali wrote: "How many more people have to die for Bush?... Chimpy doesn't support stem cell research that could save people like Christopher Reeves from complications like this!"
  • TaleWgnDg wrote: "GWBush is too rigidly fixated on the means (religion-into-law) to obtain and maintain his own power trip. As a result GWBush personifies and extols junk science -- many suffer as did Christopher Reeve."
  • malatesta1137 wrote: "Bush is too to blame. Reeve let go, the fact that stem cell research was being blocked by Bush took hopes from Mr. Reeve. Once you lose hope, there's little left. Your body becomes weak, infection takes over, your heart fails."

Thankfully, several other posters at DU showed some common decency, asking the radicals to refrain from politicizing Reeve's death.

John Kerry could not resist invoking Reeve's stance on stem cell research on his campaign Web site. Kerry said:

(Reeve) was an inspiration to all of us and gave hope to millions of Americans who are counting on the life-saving cures that science and research can provide.

Can't the Democrats at least let Reeve's family process his sudden death before they start exploiting it for political gain? Using Reeve's death as a campaign issue will backfire on the Democrats.

But this should not be surprising. Democrats exploited the passing of Ronald Reagan to advocate for stem-cell research. While Reeve was at least a supporter of such research, President Reagan was a staunch opponent of abortion throughout is eight years in the White House. It stands to reason that the pro-life Reagan would not support stem-cell research.

Democrats accuse President Bush of denying "science" in not allowing federal funding to be used to create more lines of stem cells to be used for research. But it is the Democrats who are denying science in their push for embryonic stem-cell research. The fact is (as a member of the audience pointed out in a question to Kerry in the October 8 debate) that embryonic stem-cell research has not produced cures or treatments for diseases. Adult stem-cell research, however, has produced many treatments, without the ethical concerns that surround embryonic stem-cell research.

President Bush recognizes the need to balance science and ethical concerns. Extracting stem cells from human embryos results in the destruction of that embryo. A human embryo is, scientifically speaking, a human being at the very beginning stages of life. All that is required for that human being to grow and develop through the stages of life is present. The only thing that is added to a human embryo is time, nutrition and shelter, just as with a newborn baby.

Many people, like President Bush, believe that it is not acceptable to destroy one life in order to find cures for other lives. Such a position is not "anti-science" any more than opposition to the "research" done by Josef Mengele was "anti-science". While it is important to advance medical science, we cannot do so at the cost of human lives. President Bush understands this. John Kerry does not.