Media battle over Missouri Amendment 2

As the November election draws ever closer, proponents of the Missouri embryonic stem-cell research bill, known as Amendment 2, are making their strongest push yet to secure votes. Their commercials have become even more midleading. Those who know the truth, however, have raised their voices in the past couple of weeks as well.

There is a outstanding ad that was broadcast on Thursday evening, during the World Series, to the Missouri viewers of the game. This ad, which can be seen here, included the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan, Kansas City Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner just to name a few. This ad was specifically designed to counter an ad shown by proponents of the amendment featuring Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease. He appears on the ad showing the actor with serious effects of the disease. He is swaying and having uncontrollable twitching throughout the ad, which is consistent with Parkinson's disease.

This ad is so deceptive in a number of ways. First, the actor claims that the amendment specifically bans cloning, which is absolutely untrue (see my blog entry from Sept. 29th titled Missouri Constitutional Amendment #2). Secondly, it has been reported that Michael J. Fox, in order to manifest the symptoms of his disease, either did not take his medication for that day or he exaggerated the symptoms (see this article). Lastly, these ads again mislead the public into believing that cures for dozens of diseases are just months or a couple of years away, but that restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research are holding back these cures. Even if embryonic stem-cell research was ethical, the experts themselves admit that the possibility of cures are at least 10 to 20 years down the road. Those who are claiming that voting yes on the amendment will save their lives are simply wrong. Unfortunately, any cures that could come about from embryonic stem-cell research will not happen until after these persons have died.

The reason I have been speaking on this Missouri amendment is because it isn't just a state issue. The media beyond Missouri is responding to the battle because both proponents and opponents of embryonic stem-cell research see this as a landmark legislative issue. Numerous media outlets, such as MSNBC, CBS and Yahoo.com, are putting out stories about the ads and the amendment debate.

Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to focus all my blog entries on this upcoming election. Most of my entries will be on the Missouri amendment, but there are also other issues and politicians that threaten the dignity of life. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 17:47 | link | comments |
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