Biden: If “Republicans” care so much about kids with birth defects, why not support stem-cell research?
posted at 3:27 pm on September 9, 2008 by Allahpundit
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No particular Republican is named but it’s no mystery whom this is aimed at.
Was Joe Biden referring to Sarah Palin, a mother of a child with Down syndrome, when he made this comment?
“I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there’s joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well guess what folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”
Biden received a thunderous ovation when he made the remark at a town hall style meeting this morning in Columbia.
Team Maverick’s sending around a reminder of what The One said about the families of candidates being “off limits” and offers the obligatory outrage:
Barack Obama’s running mate sunk to a new low today launching an offensive debate over who cares more about special needs children. Playing politics with this issue is disturbing and indicative of a desperate campaign. — Ben Porritt, McCain-Palin Spokesman
Eh, he’s not going after Trig, he’s going after Palin for a position she’s taken on a specific policy issue. Compare and contrast with the media’s descent on Bristol Palin last week, which had nothing to do with policy — Palin’s stance on abstinence education was a fig leaf they reached for afterwards — and everything to do with proving that Palin’s a bad mom. I’m with Ambinder on this one, though: It’s worse than a crime, it’s a mistake. For one thing, in true Biden fashion, it’s clumsily phrased. Presumably he means embryonic stem-cell research, not stem-cell research generally; putting it the way he did leaves McCain open to remind centrists that he supports ESCR and Palin open to tout alternatives to the embryonic approach to take control of the issue. For another thing, even partisans as unhinged as Sullivan have felt obliged to praise her for her commitment to life in carrying Trig to term knowing his condition. It’s one of the strongest testaments to her character in her biography. All this does is push that fact back in front of voters. But beyond that, his question is simply stupid and easily answered: She doesn’t support ESCR because she believes in life at conception and isn’t willing to sacrifice it even to help her own son. Unlike Joe Biden, of course, who also claims to believe in life at conception and yet seems willing to sacrifice it at every opportunity.
Exit question: How happy do you think the infanticide candidate is to have this issue suddenly back on the table?
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Life at conception? An embryo does not have a brain. Even a fly has a brain, but an embryo does not. An embryo has the potential to have a brain, but then every possible combination off sperm and egg that is intraspecies has that potential.
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 4:14 PM
What’s Hillary got to do with it?
marklmail on September 9, 2008 at 4:14 PM
I’m no doctor/geneticist, so I’ll have to if we take the word of the experts that potential stem cell therapies will not help children/people with birth defects.
So doesn’t this comprise a gaffe????
I’m so glad that the MSM have hopped on Biden this as they did with Palin yesterday. /sarc
Oh, that’s right, silly me, I just haven’t applied nuance.
Speaking of nuance, do they sell it in a bottle? I want to get some for the next time I’m in the dog house with the wife.
I know they must sell it some form because my teenagers try to use it on me all the time.
rockhead on September 9, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Why are Liberals so obsessed with the killing of babies? It’s like a religion to them. Sick ass people!
Keemo on September 9, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Sometimes Biden is such a motor mouth.
Besides, thus far the real advances in research have been in adult stem cell research and Republicans support that. So the statement is not only clumsy and weird, it is untrue.
Terrye on September 9, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Very happy. He’s just as clueless as Biden on this issue.
Loxodonta on September 9, 2008 at 4:15 PM
mjk on September 9, 2008 at 4:14 PM –
Wouldn’t want Obama’s hand touching me. Nuh uh. Have any idea where that hand has been?
coldwarrior on September 9, 2008 at 4:15 PM
What’s Hillary got to do with it?
marklmail on September 9, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Sometimes? It’s his identifying personality trait.
lorien1973 on September 9, 2008 at 4:16 PM
Mark the Great…you stole my thunder. Good job. No one ever points this out to these imbeciles when they distort the truth. Biden’s indeed an idiot.
Jarhead68 on September 9, 2008 at 4:16 PM
He is “Willy Loman,” reincarnated.
Star20 on September 9, 2008 at 4:18 PM
You got to admit, we were right. Biden is going to be the gift that keeps on giving. Or David Axelrod. Not sure who is giving this bozo his talking points.
Kat_Mo on September 9, 2008 at 4:19 PM
“Life at conception? An embryo does not have a brain”.
KentEmbryo on September 9, 2008 at 4:14 PM
Bishop on September 9, 2008 at 4:19 PM
Does a sperm have a brain? It’s alive, as is the ovum. Where’s that life go once the egg is fertilized?
Akzed on September 9, 2008 at 4:20 PM
So let’s see, kill a baby in order to save another baby’s life. Did I understand that correctly Mr. Biden?
CH on September 9, 2008 at 4:21 PM
Talking points?
Kat_Mo on September 9, 2008 at 4:19 PM –
Biden just makes it up as he goes along. Ya’d think that after 35 years he’d figure out how to keep that foot out of his mouth.
coldwarrior on September 9, 2008 at 4:22 PM
But he only has to fool Democrats. Very low bar, there.
Akzed on September 9, 2008 at 4:23 PM
“low bar” LOL
“The only time Biden opens his mouth is to change feet.”
marklmail on September 9, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Akzed on September 9, 2008 at 4:23 PM –
Low bar? Bet Biden has spent a lot of time in some pretty low bars.
coldwarrior on September 9, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Can I get in a plug for Biden?
fogw on September 9, 2008 at 4:24 PM
There may be ways to reprogram cells in specific organs to work around the extra set of chromosomes in Down’s syndrome.
However, only adult stem cells show any promise in this area.
Right_of_Attila on September 9, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Biden is having a bad day. First, Archbishop Chaput gets in his grill about that niggling abortion issue:
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/09/denver-bishop-to-biden-abortion-foundational-issue/
Now, this mistake.
It’s both pathetic and hilarious.
Exit question 1: With, as reported earlier here at Hot Air, Obama revving up the 527s, if they fail to change the course of the race, at what point does Biden contract some strange autumnal malady and Hillary is asked to come to the rescue?
Exit question 2: If asked, does Hillary, safely on shore, simply wave goodbye as Obama and Biden go down with their rowboat, the U.S.S. Hope ‘n’ Change?
BuckeyeSam on September 9, 2008 at 4:25 PM
They should take the high road in this case. They have made their statement. Now drop it. While I don’t doubt that Biden never would have said what he did without Trig in the picture, it appears the Team is just piling on while trying not to get flagged for a penalty. It’s a fine line to walk. They should be careful not to appear to be “outraged” about everything.
Mr_Magoo on September 9, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Ewwww. And how are you going to be paying for my therapy?
:)
mjk on September 9, 2008 at 4:25 PM
fogw on September 9, 2008 at 4:24 PM –
+1
coldwarrior on September 9, 2008 at 4:26 PM
Readers doing exit questions now? Aren’t we something. (Just needling.)
Mr_Magoo on September 9, 2008 at 4:26 PM
Who says a brain is necessary for life to exist? Pelosi and Reid are examples that brains are not necessary for life to exist, but it would be unlawful to kill them, wouldn’t it?
Brass Pair on September 9, 2008 at 4:26 PM
News on Paul Harvey JUST this morning said that scientists (I wonder if they were scientists that believe in creation?) have discovered a way to change cells into other cells with going through the stem-cell stage at all!
Isn’t that FANTASTIC! So not only are adult stem-cells the only ones that work, but we don’t even need them anymore!
PWND!!!1!one!eleventy!
kirkill on September 9, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Even the sperm that helped lead to Einstein did not have a brain.
A plant is alive.
The molecules in a sperm do not cease to exists.
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 4:28 PM
Not really, in their minds, life doesn’t begin at conception. It only begins once you run for President, and neither of them have.
kirkill on September 9, 2008 at 4:29 PM
I don’t oppose stem cell research. Go crazy with adult stem cells, stem cells from umbilical cord blood, and whatever else. In reality, the most promising therapies are springing from research with adult cells, which don’t start sprouting tumors like embryonic cells.
No, I’m all for stem cell research. But because I believe, as does Joe Biden, that life begins at conception, I oppose the destruction of embryos for medical research. The difference between me and Biden? I’m consistent.
marc@hubsandspokes on September 9, 2008 at 4:31 PM
Biden, IF Life begins at Conception like you says it does, why did you vote against protecting the innocent life from harm during the actions of another crime?
Chakra Hammer on September 9, 2008 at 4:31 PM
I have no idea who says that. I have gone quite a ways in forming an idea as to your reading comprehension level however.
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 4:32 PM
“Can I get in a plug for Biden” hee hee, funnnnnneeeee
anniekc on September 9, 2008 at 4:32 PM
Greasy Joe is doubling down after reading the memo from the Archbishop.
dont taze me bro on September 9, 2008 at 4:33 PM
I do support stem cell research… or course I’m a pro-choice republican…
Kaptain Amerika on September 9, 2008 at 4:34 PM
But seriously- these two morons, (Obama, “spazlo” and Biden, “lazlo”) are too stupid to even be considered for any office higher than DMV clerk! I would say dog catcher, but I love dogs!
anniekc on September 9, 2008 at 4:34 PM
No way, no how, no genuine-Obama-support from Hildebeest. She’d be stupid to do a full court press for him. By only giving him symbolic support, she does her part to get McCain-Palin in office. If McCain-Palin wins, it could be Sarah v Hillary in 2012 or 2016. If Obama wins, her POTUS aspirations are over. Hildy ain’t stupid. As a matter of fact, she’s pretty darn smart.
JustTruth101 on September 9, 2008 at 4:35 PM
If one thinks in one dimension, as in a line, the strident hard core hate-the-other-side people on the right and the strident hard core hate-the-other-side people on the left appear to be very far apart, but if one thinks in two dimensions, as in a circle, one can easily see that in reality they are actually very close together.
semloh on September 9, 2008 at 4:36 PM
Embryonic stem cell research has produced little to nothing. Adult stem cell research is making leaps and bounds. The McCain campaign should fire back with a contrast between the advancements in adult stem cell research and embryonic sten cell research. Also point out how Democrats do not differentiate between the two and note that conservatives have NO problem funding adult stem cell research. If Democrats care, so, much, why fund research that goes nowhere while you can invest in adult stem cell research and treat/cure diseases?
Theworldisnotenough on September 9, 2008 at 4:37 PM
I think even Michael J. Fox will stay away from this one.
BigD on September 9, 2008 at 4:37 PM
So are you saying that it’s ok to kill an embryo because it does not have a brain? Riddle me this – how long does this worthless embryo remain disposable? Cuz’ it’s not like it just sits there (unless frozen?) – it immediately divides, and grows. How much brain does it take? Any answer to that question, in my opinion, is completely arbitrary. As is our current law.
I’m not saying that those of us who believe that human life begins at conception will ever be able to convince everyone of that. We all have to live with the rule of law. But we will never acknowledge any other explanation in defining when life begins. It is illogical.
connertown on September 9, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Neither do you, apparently, but nobody’s talking about offing you…
fossten on September 9, 2008 at 4:41 PM
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 4:32 PM
Who are you going to be – KentEmbryo or KentAllard?
Brass Pair on September 9, 2008 at 4:43 PM
semloh on September 9, 2008 at 4:36 PM
If you actually believe that Conservatives and Liberals are actually “very close together”, you need to rethink that circle theory. 30-40 years ago, Democrats and Republicans shared many of the same values. In today’s world, Liberalism has infected the Democrat Party, pulling it’s people way out of the mainstream.
Keemo on September 9, 2008 at 4:43 PM
You sound like a frustrated and immature child.
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 4:45 PM
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 4:45 PM -
This from a pedant?
coldwarrior on September 9, 2008 at 4:47 PM
McCain and Palin need to say, once and for all, that embryonic stem cell research has never produced ANY positive clinical results, while adult stem-cell therapies have produced MANY clinical cures and improvements in health, WITHOUT killing embryos. Science and morality are on the same side here, but our candidates have to OWN this issue.
The stem-cell lie has gone on long enough. Too bad we can’t bring back those embryos, or Senator Jim Talent, who lost his seat over this.
Steve Z on September 9, 2008 at 4:47 PM
So what? A brain is not required to have life. It’s just an arbitrary criteria conjured up by liberals to justify terminating human life for their own hedonistic purposes.
Darth Executor on September 9, 2008 at 4:48 PM
Who says a human embryo doesn’t have a brain?
bloggless on September 9, 2008 at 4:49 PM
The Republicans do support stem cell research. They just don’t support embryonic stem cell research, which is of dubious value anyway. The best results are being achieved from adult stem cells.
It’s bad enough that the abortion industry is a multi-billion dollar business without the additional incentive of looting stem cells. It cannot be justified. Scientific advancement can proceed apace without this atrocity.
cheeflo on September 9, 2008 at 4:50 PM
You seem to have missed my point completely. Maybe the strident hard core hate-the-other-side people on the left would also, which would make the circle even more complete.
semloh on September 9, 2008 at 4:52 PM
This is the dehumanizing and type of false information that passes for “scraping cells” as birth control.
Abortion is like a vagina sneezing….vote Democratic.
Hening on September 9, 2008 at 4:54 PM
And who said that it was? Even a plant has life, as I have said. There is certainly a big need for reading comprehension among some here that is very clear.
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 4:56 PM
Debating Embryonic Stem Cell is like debating which is better: Betamax or VHS. A completely moot topic.
ESCR is old, obsolete technology. Somatic cells are much better since they come from the patient themselves so there is no genetic conflict.
kurtzz3 on September 9, 2008 at 4:59 PM
Don’t tell me Biden gives a hoot about finding treatments for Downs Syndrome. As far as I can tell, there’s no research being funded for it, because the treatment of choice is abortion.
The only treatment currently available specifically for DS is nutritional therapy designed to compensate for the metabolic dysfunction caused by the extra chromosome. That therapy was developed by parents and private researchers without any help from the government.
The caring left! Pffft! Give me a break!
nobaloney on September 9, 2008 at 4:59 PM
semloh on September 9, 2008 at 4:52 PM
FWIW, I don’t hate the people I disagree with on the left. I hate the practice of abortion. This is an important distinction. Among most Christians (I know most people don’t think I’m a Christian) there is guiding philosophy that you can hate the sin but love the sinner. Among statists there is no such philosophy.
Mormon Doc on September 9, 2008 at 5:01 PM
wasn’t there recently an article about some type of cloning of cells or something that basically made the stem cell debate moot? i mean they no longer required aborted babies to get stem cells from? anyone remember what i’m talking about?
anna on September 9, 2008 at 5:02 PM
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 4:56 PM
I apologize but I must be one who needs help with reading comprehension but what was your point with your post?
You may also want to consider that if a number of people did not grasp your point that perhaps it wasn’t properly made. Just a thought.
Mormon Doc on September 9, 2008 at 5:03 PM
“A brain is not required to have life.
Darth Executor on September 9, 2008 at 4:48 PM
And who said that it was? Even a plant has life, as I have said. There is certainly a big need for reading comprehension among some here that is very clear.
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 4:56 PM”
The comprehension problem is your own. If you conceed that a brain is not required to have life, then I take it you accept the point that embryos are alive.
If you conceed that point, then I ask you – what kind of life is it? The answer is human. Which makes abortion murder.
If you care to argue the point that embryos are alive, having a brain notwithstanding, then we can continue the argument. We pro-lifers believe that embryos are alive.
But it was you who posited that having a brain was relevant. We are arguing that it is not relevant. Do you comprehend?
connertown on September 9, 2008 at 5:04 PM
It is a simple and undeniable fact that – “An embryo does not have a brain. Even a fly has a brain, but an embryo does not.” , so there is no need to get hysterical.
I think you are helping to make the point that was made in semloh on September 9, 2008 at 4:36 PM which I understood, even though some apparently did not.
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 5:04 PM
Well, there goes Michelle O’s “Barack not afraid to pick the smarts” meme.
Sir Napsalot on September 9, 2008 at 5:07 PM
Perhaps I did misoverestimate the point grasping ability of some here. Just a thought.
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 5:08 PM
You should all be made aware that however unwittingly you may have entered it, you have all just been test subjects in a psychological experiment. So smile, you have been on Candid Psychological Camera.
Sigmund on September 9, 2008 at 5:13 PM
Oh, that makes sense. Soooo, a human fetus has less right to life than a fly. F–kin’ brilliant!!!!
Andy in Agoura Hills on September 9, 2008 at 5:15 PM
KentAllard on September 9, 2008 at 5:08 PM
As a writer I always try to think of my audience. If I don’t get my point across I always assume it’s my fault.
Is your response on a no on clarifying your point? I am interested.
Mormon Doc on September 9, 2008 at 5:16 PM
It sounds like he’s from Scanton.
Fuquay Steve on September 9, 2008 at 5:18 PM
BINGO!!!!
Andy in Agoura Hills on September 9, 2008 at 5:19 PM
They do that on purpose. It fits in with the lie that Christians are anti-science.
jgapinoy on September 9, 2008 at 5:24 PM
Biden:
“If you care so much about kids, why don’t you want to kill some to benefit others?”*
*There is no benefit. The most promising results have been in other kinds of stem-cell research.
jgapinoy on September 9, 2008 at 5:26 PM
It is not just killing babies. Democrats were enthusiastic about letting Terry Schiavo starve to death because she was no longer of any use to her husband (even though her parents wanted to keep feeding her.) Democrats enthusiastically passed the Right to Die law in Oregon, were children can kill their parents if they are a burden on society. DEMOCRATS/LIBERALS LOVE KILLING PEOPLE (or letting OTHER people kill people)>
jerseyman on September 9, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Go back to fondling your daughter and do another line.
Hening on September 9, 2008 at 5:28 PM
If Palin is as smart as I think she is, she will first correct Biden about what type of research Republicans in general are against supporting with federal funding and which with they have no problem.
Then she will speak of how embryonic stem cells were spoken of as a panacea for so long, but never yielded the promised results. Democrats turned it into a political football (John Edwards: “Christopher Reeve will get out of his chair and walk…” Michael J. Fox, et al). Some of those spectacular claims resulted in false promises expectations that, hundreds of millions of tax dollars later, were later proved to be fraudulent.
Meanwhile, tests with adult stem cells exceeded expectations, until finally researchers proved adult cells were just as pliable as embroynic cells. Wrap up with the fact is that no ground in the fight against disease has been lost by rejecting the call to federally fund the creation of human life for the purpose of destroying it.
She also might do well to consult Commentary magazine’s story of how George W. Bush came to his thoughtful, Solomonesque decision in 2001 to ban funding of research on newly-created embryonic cells, but allow it for existing cell lines.
L.N. Smithee on September 9, 2008 at 5:32 PM
So, let’s assume I have a reading comprehension problem. Please explain to me what point you were trying to make regarding embryos not having brains. Were you trying to say that since flies have brains and we don’t have any problem with killing flies, the same should be true for human embryos since they don’t have brains?
taznar on September 9, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Such projection displacement. I can only pray that your poor daughter is able to call the police soon.
Sigmund on September 9, 2008 at 5:49 PM
Just an old Freud joke, Sigmund
Hening on September 9, 2008 at 6:02 PM
Y’all have to read his entire message and link the quote to his quote.
Kent is saying that Sarah Palin could not have believed in life at conception because there is no brain present at conception.
He was scoffing at the previous poster’s lack of one word that it should have read (paraphrasing) Sarah Palin believes that life begins with conception.
Either that, or Mr. Allard is just blowing in a non sequitur that pretty much has nothing to do with anything that is being discussed but, within its own limitations, is a fact that cannot be disputed — i.e., an embryo has not brain at conception.
Superior intellect, indeed. Thank you, Mr. Kentallard. Your petard has been firmly hoisted by yourself.
Tennman on September 9, 2008 at 6:05 PM
Whoops!
Should read: i.e., an embryo has no brain at conception.
Where’s my petard? I feel like hoisting one myself!
Tennman on September 9, 2008 at 6:07 PM
prolific writer AND director, eh?
john1schn on September 9, 2008 at 6:09 PM
There, fixed it.
TooTall on September 9, 2008 at 6:13 PM
McCain supports embrionic stem cell research.
jim m on September 9, 2008 at 6:13 PM
Well Kent, since you obviously are above us all, what was your point. Spell it out for us lesser thinkers. Why do you keep tap dancing now that you made your post? Not even sure yourself what your point was?
Big John on September 9, 2008 at 6:22 PM
And people still deny that Biden and Obama are evil. For them the only Salvation is power…power they control.
Tim Burton on September 9, 2008 at 6:25 PM
“Doh… did I say that outloud, that was suppossed to be just a thought”, Veep nominee Biden said.
“Brain anurysim, yea, I can use that as an excuse…”
“Senator, you are still talking outloud”, replied the manicly depressed press secretary.
Hog Wild on September 9, 2008 at 6:25 PM
Too Tall, that’s not fair. Narcissism and male pattern baldness are NOT birth defects.
L.N. Smithee on September 9, 2008 at 6:32 PM
Lord, I hope not cause then I might be in danger.
TooTall on September 9, 2008 at 7:22 PM
Sank.
Tzetzes on September 9, 2008 at 7:44 PM
Except that Plug’s missive was aimed at Republicans in general, and even then, Plug couldn’t get it right. His doll hair must be causing his brains to leak out.
You can always tell when Biden steals a thought. It sounds reasonable by comparison to when his own synapses are firing.
john1schn on September 9, 2008 at 7:48 PM
So, will Hussein fire Biden?
Of course not, which makes Hussein a liar.
madmonkphotog on September 9, 2008 at 8:12 PM
Because, by using the same logic, we could say: “If ‘Democrats’ care so much about population control, why not support genocide?”
Does that answer your question, Joe?
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on September 9, 2008 at 8:46 PM
Congrats, Wildcat. You just came up with a great term for embryonic stem cell research: Mengelianism. Considering we’ve all been called Nazis by the Left, it seems like a most appropriate, and well-deserved, insult.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on September 9, 2008 at 9:03 PM
Does that answer your question, Joe?
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on September 9, 2008 at 8:46 PM
Doctor, huh? Let me guess…physical therapist, right? But definitely correspondence school, yes?
DanKenton on September 9, 2008 at 9:15 PM
By now he probably enjoys the taste.
Harpazo on September 9, 2008 at 9:27 PM
Catholic Biden is the ultimate oxymoron. Those of us opposed to embryonic stem cell use have an important point of view to be respected — particularly in light of very promising stem cell research that does not require the killing of human embryos. There is so much effort in making these embryo killings a casual, everyday occurrence, why? (And regrettably, there is no law against the practice, just a Bush policy to not provide funds from US taxpayers on new embryo destruction.) This is such a callous, empty, and uncaring posture toward the miracle of life.
Mark30339 on September 9, 2008 at 9:36 PM
Just so you know, our medical doctors are being taught in human embryology that human development, human life, begins at conception (and, yes, it is a process).
Science states when human life begins. Those who use myths and even religion to justifiy their position are, for the most part, those who support choice or abortion; which is one and the same in my book.
The argument has never been when life begins, that was learned long before, but the argument has truly always been about what we afford that new human life.
TexasDude on September 9, 2008 at 11:31 PM
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