Stemming The Tide

The closer we get to the elections in November, the more convinced I am that, barring a major fumble by Democrats, we can take back both houses of Congress.

Republicans Say Bush's Veto Is Risky

By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer

July 20, 2006, 6:48 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- After waiting 5 1/2 years to make good on a veto threat, President Bush used his first to underscore his politically risky stand against federal funding for the embryonic stem cell research that most Americans support.

Some political strategists say Bush's high-profile stance on such an intensely emotional issue could hurt the party's congressional candidates in November in heartland places like Missouri.

"This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others," Bush said after rejecting calls that he change his policy. "It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect."

The veto puts some Republicans in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between the wishes of their conservative backers who consider embryonic stem cells to be early human life and those in greater numbers who want to use the cells for research that could one day save lives.

Or, to be more precise:

But most Republicans are not George Bush--among other things, they still need to get re-elected--which is why, as a Northeastern G.O.P. official said, the issue of stem-cell research could be "a stinker" for the party. "When you're portrayed as arguing against treatment of disease," he admits, "it's a tough place to be politically."

"Defending disease." Sounds like a good campaign slogan to me! :-)

Yesterday, Bush surrounded himself with a slew of so-called "snowflake babies" when vetoing the bill. "We see that value in the children who are with us today. Each of these children began his or her life as a frozen embryo that was created for in vitro fertilization, but remained unused after the fertility treatments were complete. Each of these children was adopted while still an embryo, and has been blessed with the chance to grow up in a loving family." You know? Fair enough argument. If we can convert those embryos to little babies to populate our country and bring closure to countless numbers of parents who can't have children anymore, then I'm OK with that. And besides, this way we can breed an army to fight the wars he'll leave to the next three generations...

So let's take a look at some numbers, shall we? Currently in storage, there are 400,000 IVF embryos. Wow. That's a LOT of kids! That means Bush could have held this signing at RFK Stadium and still had an overflow crowd!

Oh. Wait. According to a Rand Institute study in 2003, there are just more than 100 snowflake babies alive today. So that means we can expect some 399,900 babies to be summarily executed. That's gonna spike up the abortion figures a bit...

This is from the "party of life"?

So in effect, to quote Walt Handlesman (a cartoonist I would link to if Blogger would cooperate): "We must protect the unborn so that they too can grow up and have the same rights as everyone else to die from an illness research might prevent."

Very smart, Republicans, very smart. Well, you broke it, you pay for it. We Dems will be off planning on how to fix the world once you children are done.

snarkasm, snarcasm, snarky

Bush
stem cells
snowflake babies