Limbaugh Apology

[paula_w]

He still doesn't get it.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0002>Now, people are telling me that they have seen Michael J. Fox in interviews and he does appear the same way in the interviews as he does in this commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9WB_PXjTBo) for Claire McCaskill. All right, then I stand corrected. I've seen him on Boston Legal. I've seen him on a number of stand-up appearances. I know he's got it; it's pitiable that he has the disease. It is a debilitating disease, and I understand that fully. Just stick with me on this.

All I'm saying is I've never seen him the way he appears in this commercial for Claire McCaskill. So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act, especially since people are telling me they have seen him this way on other interviews and in other television appearances.

BREAK TRANSCRIPThttp://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0007>Let me just say this about it. The reason I went and grabbed the audio from John Edwards, where he said in 2004 on the campaign trail, "If we can do the work that we can do in this country, the work we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again." That was about stem cells, and that was a misleading statement, and it didn't work for the Breck Girl, implying that if it weren't for George W. Bush and his stubbornness on stem cells that we've got a cure for spinal deterioration and injury, and we don't. We do not have anywhere near a cure. We can't we regenerate nerves yet, folks, and that's what has to happen to cure paralysis in the spine. Stem cells do not promise any such thing, nor do they for Parkinson's disease. So the reason that I went and got the Breck Girl to compare it to Michael J. Fox is because I think the intent here is the thing. I think, if I may be blatantly honest, brazenly so, I think this is much more offensive than Hillary's Senate opponent implying that she's ugly.

Michael J. Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited and in the process is shilling for a Democrat politician. In the process of doing that, creating an impression like John Edwards tried to do that is not reality. Michael J. Fox is using his illness as a way to mislead voters into thinking that their vote for a single United States Senator has a direct impact on stem cell research in Missouri. It doesn't, and it won't. So Mr. Fox is using his illness as another tactic to try to secure the election of a Democrat senator by implying that with her election, that we'll be on the road to stem cell research her opponent opposes and people who suffer from Parkinson's disease as he does will have a cure. It's a negative ad, and negative ads work, and people criticize them all the time as I am doing to this one, but when you see it, there's something wrong about it in the get-go. It's the exploitation of someone's illness. I wonder if this would become a trend and all kinds of illness were being exploited how people would end up reacting to it and feeling about it. So if this was not an act, then I apologize. I've not seen this type of appearance by Michael J. Fox before and that's why it struck me the way it did. But despite all that, I mean it's pitiable and it's very sad anybody has this disease, because it is debilitating in ways that people that don't have it don't even understand. But to exploit it like this in misrepresenting the political agenda of a particular candidate, there's nothing admirable about that.

BREAK TRANSCRIPThttp://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gifI must share this. I have gotten a plethora of e-mails from people saying Michael J. Fox has admitted in interviews that he goes off his medication for Parkinson's disease when he appears before Congress or other groups as a means of illustrating the ravages of the disease. So lest there be any misunderstanding, we talked about a half hour ago of the commercial that's running for Claire McCaskill featuring Michael J. Fox on what appears to be when he's off his meds. I have never seen him this way and I stated when I was commenting to you about it that he was either off his medication or acting. He is an actor after all, and started hearing from people, "Oh, no, I've seen him on TV this way, this is how the disease has affected him when he's not on his medications." Then the e-mails started coming in saying he's admitted not to taking them in certain circumstances so as to illustrate how the disease affects people. All of which I understand, and I'm not even critical of that. Parkinson's disease is hideous.

Let me just stress once again in what I said in closing this out, that I think this is exploitative in a way that's unbecoming either Claire McCaskill or Michael J. Fox, because in this commercial for Claire McCaskill he's using his illness in a way to mislead voters that there's a cure for Parkinson's disease if only Claire McCaskill gets elected, if only Jim Talent is defeated. And of course it's all about stem cell research, which is a huge ballot initiative in Missouri anyway. I'm sorry, Missoura. He pronounced it Missoura. There are two ways to pronounce my home state, Missouri and Missoura. And Missoura, in certain sectors is the preferred pronunciation. It is a way to relate to certain Missourans. We never say Missourans, we say Missourians. But it's a way to reach out, "I understand you, I know your state" and so forth. There's a lot of politics in the commercial. But Mr. Fox was allowing his illness to be used as a tactic to trying to secure the election of a Democrat senator who is going to somehow, her election is going to lead to the cure for Parkinson disease via stem cell research because her opponent, Jim Talent, opposes it, which is not true. He may oppose embryonic stem cell research, does not oppose adult stem cell research or even cord blood, I don't believe, research, umbilical cord research.

The comparison is obvious, and that is to the Breck Girl, John Edwards, who did the same thing by saying Christopher Reeve will walk again if only John Kerry is elected because we will do the work that needs to be done. And that kind of thing, when you start making false promises to people who suffer from diseases like this that are horrible and debilitating, when you start telling them that there's a cure right around the corner if only somebody gets elected, you are misleading them, you are creating a creating a false-hope scenario, and that is cruel, if you ask me, that is cruel and it is mean to lead people to believe that we are much further along in research than we are. There's nobody involved in the research who is saying we're anywhere near any kind of a cure for spinal disease, paralysis, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's. In fact, the closest we are to Alzheimer's is nicotine. I mean supposedly nicotine will limit or lessen the impact of Alzheimer's down the road. And now they're also saying it about pot, the evil weed.

So let there be no misunderstanding about this. I stand corrected, did not know and had never seen Michael J. Fox in the way I saw him in this commercial for Claire McCaskill. But people have and have seen him say in interviews that he doesn't take his medications when he wants to make an impression to show people just how horrible the disease is. And it's true of all Parkinson's patients. At some point the medication will not work, and the condition will become permanent, and there's nothing pleasant about it. It's one of the most frustrating diseases one can have. Pope had it. It's not pleasant in any way, shape, manner, or form, nor did I mean to implicate that one could easily act it out for the purposes of a commercial.

END TRANSCRIPThttp://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif (http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/)

[Yam1]

But he does "get it". He knows exactly what he is saying and why he is saying it.

This makes me even more grateful for MJF and the work he does on our behalf.

[paula_w]

yeah you are right. Well the media has it now I just saw it on cable news.


paula

[Yam1]

Limbaugh and his cronies must be worried that the ad is helping this candidate. Why else launch a vicious, politically motivated attack such as this?

[stevem53]

Sounds like an apology wrapped up in an insult

[ZucchiniFlower]

Perfect description, Steve!

[Curious]

Sounds like an apology wrapped up in an insult

in my dad's words on rush's comments..." "spam sandwich" looks good from the outside....but one taste and you know you've been had."

[BEMM]

I see nothing wrong with exploiting one's own illness for a good cause - including a political cause.
M.J.F is not exploiting his and our illness by his appearances, but if he did exploit it, he would be perfectly justified.
Exploiting children, the aged, the ill is wrong, but exploitng the nasty illness that is crippling yourself is perfectly acceptable. It is one of the very few ways in which having the illness can be used to the advantage of its sufferers.

birte

[paula_w]

BIrte I completely agree and just sent another email:

Mr. Limbaugh,

By explaining your apology as coming from "people who have seen him like that" is completely skirting the actual truth.

1. As stated in a previous email, what you see in those PSAs are medication side effects - not being off meds.

2. If he were off meds, whch he has admitted to doing way back when he was far less along in this progressive disease, he would be mask -faced, wouldn't be able to walk unassisted, completely rigid and cramped, speech would be affected...this is what Parkinson's looks like when OFF meds. Intermittent VIOLENT tremors would accompany. Here the problem is inability to move.

3. What you are seeing in the ads is Dyskinesia - which is a medication side effect almost as debilitating as the illness. Here the problem is excessive movement.

4. You are confusing showing an example of an illness and a genuine right to express support for candidates who can help his cause [isn't that what we do in America?} with exploitation of the illness.

Your apology needs to acknowledge that Michael was on his med.

And please stop using the word "pitiable".

[BEMM]

Mr. Limbaugh,

You have no idea at all what you are saying when you speak of Michael J. Fox exploiting his Parkinson's Disease by appearing before Congress and on television unmedicated. If Mr. Fox really were to do as you say, he would be unable to sit in a chair, unable to speak, all but unable to move voluntarily at all. Parkinson's Disease is a progressive, incurable PARALYSIS.
At Mr. Fox's stage of the illness it is not just arms and legs that are affected, the heart, the circulation the whole system suffers, and it is dangerous not to take the medicine on a regular schedule.
The constant movement you witness when Mr. Fox is on television is CAUSED by the medication not by the illness.
The medicine available to us today allows us to move for a number of years longer than we would be able to without it. But the movement comes with a cost, because one of the medicine's side effects is dyskinesia, which means UNCONTROLLABLE MOVEMENT.
So eat your sanctimonious outrage and apologize to Mr. Fox and to all of us who know first hand how Mr. Fox feels when he rocks and flails. He is a brave man, a good man, a far better man than you.

B. Myers
10 years of Parkinson's Disease and still hoping for a cure.

Rush is a slippery one, Paula, I heard him once give a raspberry to someone whose argument was so brilliant that Rush was lost for a counter argument. And he managed to make the raspberry derisive, as if the argument had not been worthy if an answer.

[ZucchiniFlower]

Paula, you are so brilliant! I mean it. Perfect email.

By the way in the Actor's Studio interview, Michael told a student with dystonia that he gets painful facial dystonia. If Rush could truly see how bad PD gets, he still would not change his position. He seeks facts only to validate his preconceived views.

Birte, I didn't see your email. Very important points. Thank you.

I'm going to send the link to this thread, and the first, to a columnist at the Boston Herald, Margery Eagan.

[paula_w]

Hey thanks zf - Birte and I were thinking alike there.

If you have time and are going to send this in to the paper. could you further drive the point home in an intro statement that living with PD becomes an every waking moment challenge at avoiding no movement [going off] and excessive movements [ abundance of levadopa], everyday is different and eventually you start to lose the battle.

thanks and good luck, people don't understand anything about what they are seeing and now its all about the politics.

paula

[rosebud]

The best you can do with the Rush Limbaughs of the world is ignore them...or possibly ship them off to Iran or North Korea. Hmmm...would they conform and thrive or be shot on the spot? Hard to say really. The man's not stupid, just a opportunist.

[paula_w]

i'm not worried about what Rush thinks, but I do worry about how it is affecting the public's perception of our illness. That dyskinesia is not faked and it is not a symptom of being off. That doesn't help our cause

paula

[stevem53]

I wonder if Rush ever thought about what would happen if he ever stopped taking his oxycontins abruptly?..He'd be doubled over with stomach cramps squirming on the floor like an ant on a hot tin roof, and crapping his pants like a newborn baby..:D

[Thelma]

You know you can only fight the unknowing and uncaring of another with the truth of logic.

When you go off on these tangents of ridicule and threats and bad wishes for the demise or hurting of another you are defeating your purpose and those who would want to know just exactly what he is talking about and where he is wrong wil tend not to care if this is the pervading attitude of anyone who dares to question.

They may want to turn their back and n;ever think about Parkinson's Disease again without the words that are being expressed here.

Limbaugh is already talking about receiving email from people correcting him. He is keeping the subject in the forefront of the people who in just a couple of weeks are going to the polls,

jeez keep him talking and argueing about Parkinson's and keep your emails going to the letters to the editors etc putting him straight.

Let his defenders and detractors argue about parkinsons any way they want to, in other words let the talk continue on


Let him do the name calling..............rise above the man

[paula_w]

I don't know about in Canada, but it's all over the media in the US. A neurologist just came on our local news and said, "He could have been off his meds."

geez
paula

[ZucchiniFlower]

Geesh! Gotta love those neurologists! NOT.

[BEMM]

how some talking head can always be found to support the most blatant lies and accusations?
It doesn't matter any more if something is false, once it is mentioned in the media it acquires an existence, it poses as a possibility, and if mentioned often enough, it becomes a phantom 'fact'. People hear it, believe it, and it sticks.
Innuendo, sly little untruths and big howling lies ooze over us daily.

[paula_w]

how some talking head can always be found to support the most blatant lies and accusations?
It doesn't matter any more if something is false, once it is mentioned in the media it acquires an existence, it poses as a possibility, and if mentioned often enough, it becomes a phantom 'fact'. People hear it, believe it, and it sticks.
Innuendo, sly little untruths and big howling lies ooze over us daily.

Outstanding description Brite! When confronted, say a big bunch of nothing.

A friend called furious because she knows what dyskinesia looks like after knowing me for over twenty years. She said to write all the tv networks . If they didn't broadcast it chances are an affiliate has. I'll post one more time with some changes to hopefully inspire you and let you feel the power that only you have. Feel free to use it. I sent to several major networks:
--------------------------------

There needs to be some serious correction and retraction of what has been said about Mike Fox's appearance in the candidates' ads.

If you are on the list and shouldn't be because you didn't report it at all..sorry, but your affiliates may have.

First the facts: There isn't just a Parkinson's Disease. There is a Parkinson's Community. People with Parkinson's are focused, informed, online and watching. This one is not just inaccurate, but highly inaccurate.

2. If MJF were 'off 'meds, which he has talked about doing back when he was far less along in this progressive disease, he would be mask -faced, wouldn't be able to walk unassisted, be completely rigid and cramped, speech would be affected. This is what Parkinson's looks like when one is 'OFF' meds. Intermittent VIOLENT tremors would accompany. Here the problem is inability to move/function. It is far worse than Dyskinesia.

3. What you are seeing in the ads is Dyskinesia - which is a medication side effect almost as debilitating as the illness. Here the problem is excessive movement. Involuntary and humiliating. Can't imagine why he would try not to let people see him like that ...can you? You have to be 'on' meds to get this way.

Everyone personally involved or who has seen him lately knows Michael's dyskinesia gets out of control, a fate which possibly awaits us all with PD. Life becomes a 24/7 challenge of balancing meds so as to look as close to "normal" as you can, plus try to get some sleep. Eventually you begin to lose the battle.

4. You are confusing showing an example of an illness and a genuine right to express support for candidates who can help his cause [isn't that what we do in America?} with exploitation of the illness.

Here's a little helper.....On/Off.......On/Moving/Dyskinesia......Off/RIgid/Slow/Frozen.

Michael has been libeled.

[stevem53]

You know you can only fight the unknowing and uncaring of another with the truth of logic.

When you go off on these tangents of ridicule and threats and bad wishes for the demise or hurting of another you are defeating your purpose and those who would want to know just exactly what he is talking about and where he is wrong wil tend not to care if this is the pervading attitude of anyone who dares to question.

They may want to turn their back and n;ever think about Parkinson's Disease again without the words that are being expressed here.

Limbaugh is already talking about receiving email from people correcting him. He is keeping the subject in the forefront of the people who in just a couple of weeks are going to the polls,

jeez keep him talking and argueing about Parkinson's and keep your emails going to the letters to the editors etc putting him straight.

Let his defenders and detractors argue about parkinsons any way they want to, in other words let the talk continue on


Let him do the name calling..............rise above the man


Thelma..I understand where youre coming from..But with all due respect..I call them as I see them, and I never had any use or respect for Rush, and now naturally more than ever he doesnt even rank high enough to be on my **** list..His partisanship and greed, not to mention his drug problem that he is doing nothing about has rendered him blinder that a flock of bats..Partisanship is one of my major pet peeves, because it is everything thats gone wrong with America..Nothing is right or wrong anymore..Everything is "political" now..Morals and values are eroding, and as a consequence sick people continue to suffer because cures are not profitable, or God forbid.."politically correct"..And it makes me sick and angry..Im also a recovering alcoholic and I know what it takes to stay on the straight and narrow..And I'll guarantee that Rush is ether still using or well on his way to relapse..I know this because only an insane person would attack someone with the credibility and integrity of someone like Micheal J Fox..Folks who are involved in recovery dont get on the air and start attacking peoples good character without reason or provocation..Ive seen types like Rush come and go and find themselves in the gutter..Rush is already in the gutter, he just doesnt know enough to lay down..Meanwhile the truth is out there, and it will reveal itself as it always does..Trying to hide the truth is like trying to hide a candle in the dark..Truth is real and can be proven..Lies live only in the disturbed mind of the beholder..and it takes more lies to cover up the lies already told, ad infinitum

In a round about way Rush may have helped our cause more that he has tried to discredit it..He definately made a big mistake when he attacted, and questioned MJF's character, and he will succeed only in further exposing himself for the habitual partisan liar that he is, and always was

[chasmo]

first Rush is NOT a politcal commentator, he is, by his own admission an entertainer.
HE does owe Michael an apology, don't hold your breathe waiting for that one.....

As far as withholding his oxycontin, he kicked that and good for him for being forthright about it. I would never want to see anyone suffer through any withdrawals.

Whether you agree with him or not, Rush puts an interesting spin on his topics. I used to listen to him sometimes.

He certainly put his foot in his mouth RE: MJF!!

His response to this affair will be interesting indeed.

CHarlie

[paula_w]

It's interesting to hear people outside our tightly knit community speak of things like gene therapy. Rush is going to end up doing PD some good I hope. But Mike Fox is no victim. He makes his own decisions. He'd probably rather be criticized than be called a victim. He'll handle this on the high road as he always does.


http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0001>Michael J. Fox Is Not Infallible;
He's Just the Latest Victim Used by the DemocratOctober 24, 2006
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102406/content/rush_is_right.Par.0001.ImageFile.gif (http://mfile.akamai.com/5020/wma/rushlimb.download.akamai.com/5020/clips/06/10/102406_2_michael_j_fox.asx)

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0002>RUSH: One of the big issues in the Missouri Senate race -- as you know, we touched on it yesterday (http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102406/content/democrats_exploit.guest.html) -- is the Michael J. Fox commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9WB_PXjTBo) which is entirely misleading and which is in itself an attack ad, and it is filled with disinformation about embryonic stem cell research and how Jim Talent wants to criminalize it. Embryonic stem cell research -- and, by the way, Fox is doing similar commercials (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,224339,00.html) in Maryland now for Ben Cardin against Michael Steele. But embryonic stem cell research is currently legal and completely unrestricted in both Maryland and Missouri and in the vast majority of other states. It's largely personal and institutional ethics that keep scientists from cloning research.

The debate we're having is almost always about governmental funding or radical measures like the one currently on the ballot in Missouri, which is Amendment 2, which would write a right to cloning into the state constitution of Missouri, and it's one of these cleverly worded things that makes you: if you vote yes, you're voting no, and vice-versa. So we'll talk more about the Michael Fox situation because, as I knew yesterday, the Drive-By Media, including things like Inside Edition, are all panting (panting) to make something out of this that isn't. We will address that, but Michael J. Fox entered the political arena long ago. He became a US citizen in 2000.

He's from Canada. He was active in the Kerry campaign in 2004 and he's entered the political arena again with this series of commercials for Ben Cardin in Maryland and Claire McCaskill in Missouri. One of the tactics the Democrats have -- and they've used this consistently. They bring forth people who they think are victims for the purposes of exploiting them, and when you bring forth -- for example, if you're talking about embryonic stem cell research, and you want to convey the notion that the Republicans are opposed to it, and in effect they're for people having Parkinson's Disease. Make no mistake that's what the intent is.

Then you bring forth a person who's suffering the disease, and you illustrate the disease and the ravages and the suffering on TV to create sympathy and infallibility, because you're not supposed to be able to attack somebody or criticize somebody in any way or in any regard if they suffer from the disease. It's considered cold-hearted and cruel. What's happening here is that Michael Fox has entered the political arena with his attack, which includes false information about Senator Talent and Michael Steele in Maryland. That's fair game, and I am not going to follow the script that says we're not allowed to comment on the things said by participants, "victims," what have you, that the Democrats put forth as infallible in the middle of a political campaign.

I would argue that Mr. Fox is damaging what has traditionally been a bipartisan effort at addressing and curing illnesses, and that is the primary point here. Democrats are politicizing diseases and illnesses. The Breck Girl, John Edwards, promising, if John Kerry is elected, that Christopher Reeve and others with spinal paralysis would walk, when there's no such is evidence that any research into embryonic stem cells will create any immediate cure toward anything. It is irresponsible to mislead victims of people suffering from these horrible diseases in such a fashion. But that's exactly what has happened. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0007>That's what the Democrats are doing, politicizing diseases and illnesses, damaging what has traditionally been a bipartisan effort at addressing and curing illnesses, and the same time they claim if you don't embrace their political and cultural agenda, then you're for Parkinson's disease, and you are for spinal paralysis. It's no different than the way they do it in the environmental movement. They talk about dirty water and dirty air, and if you oppose the environmentalists, why, you must be for dirty water and dirty air! You don't want clean water and clean air, and this is a script that they have written for years. Senate Democrats used to parade victims of various diseases or social concerns or poverty up before congressional committees and let them testify, and they were infallible. You couldn't criticize them.

It was the same thing with the Jersey Girls after 9/11, and in the period of time when the 9/11 commission was meeting publicly. Victims are infallible. Whatever they say cannot be challenged. I don't follow the script anymore. Now, in terms of Michael J. Fox, I did some research today, and I found his book that was published. It's "Lucky Man (http://www.michaeljfox.org/news/article.php?id=5)," 2002, but he admits in the book that before Senate subcommittee on appropriations I think in 1999, September of 1999, he did not take his medication for the purposes of having the ravages and the horrors of Parkinson's disease illustrated, which was what he has done in the commercials that are running for Claire McCaskill and Jim Talent. So when you insert yourself into the political arena this way, to expect insulation and absolution and to expect yourself not to have what you say criticized in the manner in which you're trying to sway opinion is a little bit I think above the fray. I mean, to think that you're immune from any sort of criticism, it's worked in the past for Democrats, but it doesn't work here.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let me explain to you, ladies and gentlemen, what's going on in my home state that has made this whole stem cell debate so controversial there, and it is typical of the Democrats in this country and the left who can only succeed by misleading. Here's the history in Missouri. For four years, legislators in Missouri have tried to pass a simple ban on human cloning, something that neighboring states to Missouri have done. It's a one-page piece of legislation, a one-page bill. It has never passed. It says that "somatic cell nuclear transfer," that's cloning, "will be a crime in Missouri. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is the scientific term for cloning, the same method used to clone Dolly the sheep.

"The other side makes hysterical claims that this bill would criminalize embryonic stem cell research and put patients in jail, and both claims are utterly false. Today in Missouri, there is a constitutional amendment called Amendment 2, and it calls itself the 'Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.' McCaskill favors it. Senator Talent opposes it. Amendment 2 is misleading in that it appears to put stem cell research in the Constitution and to ban human cloning, but the fine print creates a right to do somatic cell nuclear transfer, cloning, which is the scientific term for cloning, the same method used to clone Dolly the sheep." Now, The Amendment 2 proponents are using Michael J. Fox and trotting out other people with sick relatives to try to convince Missourians that there will be no cures for their diseases without Amendment 2, which is a cloning amendment that has nothing to do with stem cell research. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0010>The truth is, all stem cell research is legal today in Missouri. Jim Talent does not seek to criminalize it, as Michael J. Fox asserts in his television commercial. Stem cell research is legal today in Missouri, it is happening at universities across the state. The truth is Amendment 2 would put human cloning in the Constitution. Now, the Michael J. Fox ad says that Talent wants to criminalize research, and this is false. It is already legal and it's already happening. Senator Talent and other opponents of Amendment 2 are not touching stem cell research in any way. What they want to do is stop human cloning from becoming a new right in the Missouri Constitution, and so they have named the pro-cloning bill the stem cell research and cures initiative so that people will go to the polls on November the 7th and think they're voting for stem cell research, which is already legal.

Michael J. Fox is participating in this disinformation campaign. Folks, I don't care what anybody says, it is unseemly, it is exploitative, and it is downright mean to mislead people who suffer from incurable diseases at the moment or horrible diseases, that there is a cure around the corner if only, if only Republicans could be defeated. There has been a tradition in this country of bipartisan efforts to cure all of these diseases or to come up with vaccinations for them, but never mind that, we're in the process here now of damaging what has traditionally been this bipartisan effort in addressing and curing illnesses by politicizing them. We're now politicizing diseases and illnesses.

The Democrats politicized spinal paralysis and spinal injuries in the 2004 campaign, and now they are politicizing Parkinson's disease, and they've done that, and it's all about stem cell research, and of course embryonic stem cell research. Any bit of information or research that shows progress in either of these areas that does not involve stem cell, embryonic stem cell research, is rejected by the left. Now, why is this? What is so damned important about embryonic stem cell research? Why not adult stem cells? Why not research on umbilical cord blood cells that can be extracted from the blood in the umbilical cord? Because you can't take abortion out of this mix.

Just because it's not being talked about in this campaign, do not be lulled and fooled into thinking that abortion does not remain the sacrament of the Democratic Party and its religion. It is the thing that they will never once compromise on, and they think that anything that stands in the way of embryonic stem cell research is going to be an obstacle to having abortions, and the converse is true. If you can open up the field of embryonic stem cell research and just go out and get an embryo, what do you have to do to get an embryo? I've heard some Democrats say, "Well, an embryo is not fertilized, is it?" How little they know. Of course it's fertilized, and you have to kill it, and of course that advances the notion I told you long ago, folks.

If you leave it up to these liberals, you're going to end up with a culture where they are going to decide who lives and who dies based on the convenience and personal preferences of theirs. We're already eliminating kids in the womb. We're eliminating the elderly because they're an inconvenience, and now we want to eliminate the embryos and fetuses because we might be able to cure disease even though there's no evidence whatsoever for it. So for people to say that it is unfair to criticize things said by people who enter this arena just because they suffer from a certain disease, that may be the Democrats' script for all these years, but it is not a script I'm going to follow anymore.

Again, Michael J. Fox is saying that Jim Talent, a Republican incumbent Senator wants to criminalize research. It is false. Talent and other opponents of Amendment 2 in Missouri are not touching stem cell research in any way. What they want to do is stop human cloning from becoming a new right in the Missouri Constitution. Missourians against human cloning are up against a $30 million spin campaign. It's an unheard of amount of money. It breaks all records for statewide campaigns in the history of Missouri. And their main spin is that the somatic cell nuclear transfer isn't cloning. But the National Academy of Sciences and so forth and other organizations say that it is. It is more deception from the left designed to trap you into voting for something that actually isn't on the ballot at all. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0011>RUSH: All right, people are asking for the cite, that's c-i-t-e. This would be Michael J. Fox, an excerpt (http://www.michaeljfox.org/news/article.php?id=5) from his book "Lucky Man" June 1, 2002. Here is what he writes regarding his appearance before a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing in Washington on September 28th, 1999: "I had made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication. It seemed to me that this occasion demanded that my testimony about the effects of the disease and the urgency we as a community were feeling be seen as well as heard. For people who had never observed me in this kind of shape, the transformation must have been startling," as it was for me when I saw the commercial he was running in Missouri, because I had never seen him that way before, ever, and I got numerous e-mails from people saying he had said that he does this: goes off the medication to illustrate the ravages of the disease to people and so it's in his own book, that he admits doing this.

Now, Kathryn Jean Lopez (http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzcwMGRkMjg2MWVhZWIxYTY0N2NmNTYwNDMzMGQ2M2Q=) at National Review Online has a story on their website today: "Doc Hollywood on the Campaign Trail; What Michael J. Fox learned while on Spin City," and in it she quotes Princeton professor Robert P. George, who sits on the president's bioethics commission, and he says this: "I have great sympathy for Mr. Fox and other victims of Parkinson's and similarly horrible diseases. I understand how desperately he hopes for a cure for what afflicts him and so many others. I have seen members of my own family suffer, and I too want to hasten the day when the great engine of science conquers the diseases that cause so much suffering. But the fact that Mr. Fox is a victim is not a license for him to mislead or manipulate the public.

"The truth — the whole truth — must be told. Those politicians who, for political gain, have run these ads in which the truth is distorted and people are misled deserve the most severe of reprimands. Win or lose, they have brought upon themselves disgrace." That, ladies and gentlemen, is my whole point: "that Mr. Fox is a victim is not a license for him to mislead or manipulate the public. The truth -- the whole truth -- must be told. Those politicians who for political gain have run these ads in which the truth is distorted and people are misled deserve the most severe of reprimands. Win or lose, they have brought upon themselves disgrace." That, ladies and gentlemen, is my whole point. "Mr. Fox is a victim is not a license for him to mislead or manipulate the public. The truth -- the whole truth -- must be told. Those politicians who for political gain have run these ads in which the truth is distorted and people are misled deserve the most severe of reprimands. Win or lose, they have brought upon themselves disgrace."

That is happening to Claire McCaskill in Missouri today. Ben Cardin in Maryland are both disgracing themselves by exploiting the suffering of this disease in the effort to politicize it and to make it appear to voters in their states, Missouri and Maryland, that voters for -- well, let's put it this way: Making it appear that their opponents, Jim Talent in Missouri and Michael Steele in Maryland, are for Parkinson's disease because they are opposed to research which would cure it. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can't emphasize this enough. Embryonic stem cell research in Missouri is legal, and it is ongoing, and nobody wants to criminalize it. To the phones we go. This is Carol is it San Diego. You're up first today. It's nice to have you with us.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Mega dittos from the left coast.

RUSH: Thank you. Nice to have you with us.

CALLER: I called because I saw on, I believe it was Fox News. Dr. Rosenfeld has a show. I think it's on Sunday.

RUSH: That would be Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,34772,00.html), yes.http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0012>CALLER: That's him, and he was talking about a cure that they're coming up with for Parkinson's disease that has nothing to do with stem cells, it has to do with a virus that is going to be injected in the brain, a harmless virus. The body produces whatever it is that the Parkinson's disease people are missing. The brain would actually produce this, and the disease would disappear.

RUSH: This is the hope. Now, wait, this is the hope. I have a story here that I think is along the lines of what Carol is talking about. It is a UPI story (http://news.monstersandcritics.com/health/printer_1210393.php) from October the 11th, 13 days ago. "Researches at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago..." and I am not making this up, ladies and gentlemen. "Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago have said a new Parkinson's disease treatment reduced symptoms by 40 percent. However, researchers said the test only involved 12 patients and may have been affected by the placebo effect, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday. Further tests of the gene therapy method could solidify the treatment as the first known to slow, halt or possibly reverse damage done by the progressive disease.

"Treatments are currently available to relieve symptoms of the illness, but do not stop the disease from progressing. The procedure features two nickel-size holes drilled into the top of a patient's head by a brain surgeon. A virus..." She's right. "A virus containing the desired gene is then inserted into the brain using a needle, and the virus carries the gene to the brain cells. The cells are then instructed by the gene to produce a protein that protects and regenerates cells that make dopamine." Dopamine is what's missing in Parkinson disease sufferers. Now get this. Here's the clincher: "The results were announced at a meeting of the American Neurological Association in Chicago. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research has donated $1.9 million for a follow-up study."

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102406/content/rush_is_right.Par.0012.ImageFile.gif So the Michael J. Fox Foundation currently, with its namesake, doing commercials misleading Missourians and Marylanders on the effects of stem cell research and the idea that Republicans want to criminalize this research and stop and prevent a cure for Parkinson's disease has actually funded a follow-up study to this virus research that involves gene therapy. Do I need to say more? They're still not sure about this but it shows promising results, far more promising than anything that has come from embryonic stem cell research to date, ladies and gentlemen. Now, this has to be known by Mr. Fox since his foundation donated $1.9 million for a follow-up study on this and yet he still is producing these commercials. Now, who do you want to blame, you want to blame Fox or do you want to blame the candidates for running them? Robert George, the professor at Princeton, blames the candidates. They're the ones who are disgraced by exploiting and using the sufferers of this disease to politicize the illness and for political gain. Jane, Lees Summit, Missouri, welcome to the program.

CALLER: Primo dittos to you, Rush.

RUSH: Thank you, thank you very much.

CALLER: I count it a privilege to talk to you. I wanted to call regarding this embryonic stem cell research as a person who has brain cancer, type one diabetes, taking four shots a day, had rheumatoid arthritis, two broken bones in my leg that have not healed in six years --

RUSH: Why, is that because of diabetes?

CALLER: Right. Right, and so I'm in a wheelchair. So I have a vested interest in this. But I see this stem cell research as being another gambling issue in Missouri. They say one thing, but they do another. They talk about creating a cure, but what they really want to do is clone, and I am totally against the cloning, and I see Claire McCaskill as just being another deceptive liberal.

RUSH: No question about it. There's no other way to categorize this. Again, ladies and gentlemen, not to beat a dead horse, but repetition is the best way people learn. Amendment 2 on the ballot in Missouri, it calls itself the stem cell research and cures initiative. It has nothing to do with that. It is a cloning initiative. The way they're getting away with this is that the scientific name for cloning is "somatic cell nuclear transfer" The syllables all run together for people that pay average amounts of attention. It's a pro-cloning bill, calling itself the stem cell research and cures initiative, and this is what makes this commercial by Michael J. Fox so all the more misleading. He's actually trying to tell voters in this commercial that Claire McCaskill is running that Jim Talent "opposes stem cell research" and Jim Talent wants to "criminalize" it. So does Michael Steele in Maryland. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0013>Thus they want people who suffer these diseases to continue to, when in fact the Amendment 2 is not even about stem cell research. It's about cloning! The bill has failed to become law for four years. For four years, legislators have tried to pass a ban on human cloning, and the bill has never passed, and so they're trying to write a cloning amendment to the US Constitution, and they're making everybody think that the cloning amendment is nothing more than stem cell research. They're preying on people's ignorance, they're creating false hope for people who suffer from these diseases that this vote for Amendment 2 will lead to a cure for what they have, no different than what John Edwards was doing in 2004 when promising that if John Kerry is elected we'll do the work necessary and Christopher Reeve will be walking soon. So Jane, how many people do you run into in Missouri that are confused about this?

CALLER: Oh, probably every third person. I have a fairly large group of friends, and we have talked about it incessantly, and it's just, you know, everybody is confused and --

RUSH: Well, that's the idea.

CALLER: Right, and to me, if liberals are for it, then I'm against it.

RUSH: Yeah. (laughing) You and I on the same page.

CALLER: Right, and I see this as a whole cottage industry growing up to harvest women's eggs and taking advantage of young women who are in a financial crisis, harvesting their eggs and then at some point they will find out that they've sacrificed their fertility.

RUSH: Yeah. There is an upside to this.

CALLER: Yeah?

RUSH: The only upside is that liberals will be continuing to abort themselves, which will weaken their political strength in the future -- which, you know, makes this a tough call on the political side. Morally and ethically, of course, it's simple.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: Jane, great call, I'm glad you took the time to get through.

CALLER: Thank you very much sir.

RUSH: All the best.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Steve in Kankakee, Illinois. You're next, sir. It's great to have you with us.

CALLER: Yeah. Rush, mega dittos.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: Vietnam veteran and retired police officer. I just wanted to call on how the Democrats are -- with their sympathy vote, they recruited Tammy Duckworth to run for Henry Hyde's seat in DuPage County, and I think this is just another example of them going --

RUSH: Tell people out there in Rio Linda who Tammy Duckworth is.

CALLER: Well, Tammy Duckworth is the veteran of the Iraq war, and she lost two legs while in combat, and when she came back, they, Democrats, now they've recruited her to run against Peter Roskam for Henry Hyde's seat in DuPage County up around Elmhurst.

RUSH: Yeah. Well, I know it's the fear thing -- or the sympathy thing -- but I actually think it's something else out there, Steve, and I think it's not new. There's nothing new in the Democratic Party playbook. This is nothing but fear. The Michael J. Fox ads in Missouri and Maryland play on people's fears. The attempt to come up with a cure for spinal paralysis is nothing but an attempt to play on people's fears. Throughout my political awareness, my adult years, I have listened to Democrats say that the election of Republicans will lead to the end of Social Security; that people will be kicked out of their homes, that their money will be snatched in any number of ways; that senior citizens will be eating dog food as opposed to getting prescriptions because the Republicans are going to fix it so they don't have enough money to do both. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0014>This is quite common, but fear is something that everybody battles through every day. Everybody fears something multiple times a day. If you're a Social Security recipient, and that's all you've got, and a trusted Democrat politician comes along and tells you that the Republicans are going to take it away from you, you may not be able to take the chance that they're lying to you. Take a look at NAACP ads in 2000 and 2004. We had radio ads suggesting (in St. Louis, by the way) that Bush was responsible for black churches burning. We had a television ad, the James Byrd ad, a lynching ad that Bush didn't do anything about James Byrd being dragged behind the bumper of a fast-moving automobile down a dirt road.

These are frequent and common appearances. So the Tammy Duckworth situation, there may be a little difference here, but, you know, Democrats, in addition to Tammy Duckworth, have gone out and recruited eight Iraq war veterans -- and none of them are doing well. Some of them didn't even survive their primary. Within a week of Bush taking office in 2000, he was responsible for leaving arsenic in the water that was going to poison everybody! Forty-three to 53 million Americans don't have health insurance and cannot go to the doctor, and they're just one breath away, one inhale away from getting a fatal disease. So this is unseemly stuff, and it's playing not so much on sympathy but on fear.

You take people are horrible diseases, like Michael J. Fox has, Parkinson's disease or something else that gets progressively worse over time -- Alzheimer's, you name it, cancer that is not curable -- to exploit these diseases and to try to convince voters that there is a political party who doesn't want the cure to ever happen, that they want people to get sick and they want people to die. It's no different than saying they're going to take all your money away by cutting your Social Security and kick you out of your house. I'll never forget, 1985, '86, working at -- '84, actually, in Sacramento, Ronald Reagan was responsible for AIDS.

Ronald Reagan and the Republicans wanted AIDS victims to die -- and you know why? Because Reagan never uttered the word! Reagan never talked about AIDS. You go look at the federal budgets, the outlays on AIDS research, and you'll see the lie put to that myth. Now, this is a common Democrat tactic. It is very common to lie and misname ballot initiatives to convince people they're voting for just the opposite of what they think they're voting for. This is how Democrats operate. Ladies and gentlemen, learn it; love it; live it: Democrats cannot look you in the eye and say here's what we're for and convince you to vote for it. They have to trick you, they have to lie to you, they have to try to fool you or mislead you while camouflaging themselves, and this latest tactic of the Michael J. Fox commercial in Missouri and Maryland is just the latest incarnation.http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0009>END TRANSCRIPThttp://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<A id=0004>Read the Background Material...(RedState: Michael J. Fox is wrong: Jim Talent supports stem cell research) (http://breakingnews.redstate.com/blogs/redlightgrnlight/2006/oct/22/michael_j_fox_is_wrong_jim_talent_supports_stem_ce ll_research)
(AP: Actor Michael J. Fox Endorses Maryland U.S. Senate Democratic Hopeful) (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,224339,00.html)
(NRO: Doc Hollywood on the Campaign Trail - Kathryn Jean Lopez) (http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzcwMGRkMjg2MWVhZWIxYTY0N2NmNTYwNDMzMGQ2M2Q=)
(Nature: Stem-cell treatment for Parkinson's brings mixed results) (http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061016/full/061016-16.html)
(Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research: Excerpt from Lucky Man) (http://www.michaeljfox.org/news/article.php?id=5)
(UPI: Parkinson`s treatment reduces symptoms) (http://news.monstersandcritics.com/health/printer_1210393.php)
(ET: Michael J. Fox Gets Political) (http://www.etonline.com/celebrities/news/37530/)
(NRO: Fox's Foul - Kathryn Jean Lopez) (http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWQ2ZWJhNWY4ZDY3ODBkOGIwNmZiOTVmMDhkNTBjYTM=)

Read Rush's Original Coverage...
(Democrats Exploit Michael J. Fox's Illness - 10.23.06) (http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102406/content/democrats_exploit.guest.html)http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/0.gif<

[BEMM]

another twist. And there you have it. The desciples calling in with compliments. I especially enjoyed (maybe not quite the right word) this one: "Whatever the liberals are for, I'm against it."
The polarization is amazing.

[BrownEyedGirl]

I really liked this part:

RUSH: The only upside is that liberals will be continuing to abort themselves, which will weaken their political strength in the future -- which, you know, makes this a tough call on the political side. Morally and ethically, of course, it's simple.

[paula_w]

I really liked this part:

RUSH: The only upside is that liberals will be continuing to abort themselves, which will weaken their political strength in the future -- which, you know, makes this a tough call on the political side. Morally and ethically, of course, it's simple.


Oh real nice isn't he? Amazing.

I just watched a debate on Fox News about the issue and they are missing the point. No one seems interested in determining whether Rush was incorrect about Michael not being on meds. It just ended up being a political debate. That's fine, Mike does l eave himself open when he enters the political arena.....but the real issue is being falsely described as acting or off his meds and the Parkinson's information going out is showing ignorance about the subject and is inaccurate.

[Steve]

how Rush never lets the facts intrude.

First, MJF did similar commercials for Republican Senator Arlen Specter. Somehow, Rush didn't find anything to say about those.

Second, the initiative in MO specifically prohibits cloning. It has nothing to do with cloning. It's purely a pack of lies.

[chasmo]

I agree Thelma, let the other guy do the name -calling, we need to use these precious moments to further our cause. We cannot afford to alienate one liberal or conservative.
We have the facts in our corner, we just need to get them out there to the public.
I would love to have Rush championing our cause, he'd be very effective with conservatives!!
This is a winable battle. We just have to get opinion to swing our way just a little more.
Personally I think we should ask the Democrats and Republicans to butt out, as their rhetoric only inflames this sensitive issue. This is an issue that will eventually directly affect every single person in this country. WE all eventually get sick and die, often prematurely.
Stem cells offer a new chance at life, as close to resurrection as we mortals will ever come.
Personally I think a relatively few new lines will keep our research going. I think they should be closely monitored by the NIH. I think their uses should be spelled out and stiff penalties for mis-using them (Cloning) should be in place.
This solves my Christian right wing objections to ESCR.

Charlie Black

[stevem53]

I couldnt agree more Charlie..This shouldnt be a partisan or a political mud slinging issue..PD and all the other diseases out there dont discriminate..everybody is eligible for anything at any time, but unfortunately we are advocating a sensative issue at a vulnerable time with the 2006 elections coming up, and evidently everything seems to be fair game for debate and ridicule.. even PD

[BrownEyedGirl]

The upside to all of this attention to PD, stem cell research, Rush & MJF is that these issues will be on the minds of the voters. There will be folks out there who take offense to Rush and his comments and want to vote for stem cell research just because they want to make a stand against him.

Whatever the reasons, PD is in the news! People are taking notice - possibly people who never really gave it a second thought before. I think this whole episode is getting people talking about PD and that might just turn out to be a good thing.

Lora

[katt]

could somebody please talk to me

[chasmo]

whats wrong?? You need to check back til you find someone in the chatroom, or hang out til someone shows up. I assume you are looking for someone to chat with.

[Thelma]

Email me if you want to talk here or in chat and I will be there. If you need privacy let me know and I will call you on the phone.

Thelma

[pegleg]

Right on, Lora!

Peg

[GregD]

Ya know, it's really disturbing to think Rush Limbaugh's big mouth may be responsible for changing the way a nation thinks about Stem Cell Research. Like most everyone else, take em where you get em.

GregD

[CTenaLouise]

hi charlie and steve and thelma,
I agree completely!
The better man or woman will stop the bashing!




I agree Thelma, let the other guy do the name -calling, we need to use these precious moments to further our cause. We cannot afford to alienate one liberal or conservative.
We have the facts in our corner, we just need to get them out there to the public.
I would love to have Rush championing our cause, he'd be very effective with conservatives!!
This is a winable battle. We just have to get opinion to swing our way just a little more.
Personally I think we should ask the Democrats and Republicans to butt out, as their rhetoric only inflames this sensitive issue. This is an issue that will eventually directly affect every single person in this country. WE all eventually get sick and die, often prematurely.
Stem cells offer a new chance at life, as close to resurrection as we mortals will ever come.
Personally I think a relatively few new lines will keep our research going. I think they should be closely monitored by the NIH. I think their uses should be spelled out and stiff penalties for mis-using them (Cloning) should be in place.
This solves my Christian right wing objections to ESCR.

Charlie Black