Wallace Falsely Claims Missouri Stem Cell Initiative Would Allow ‘Human Cloning’
Wallace Falsely Claims Missouri Stem Cell Initiative Would Allow ‘Human Cloning’
Today on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace repeatedly pushed the incorrect right-wing talking point that the Missouri ballot initiative on stem cells would allow human cloning. Watch it:
The Missouri ballot initiative clearly prohibits human cloning and makes it a felony crime. The initiative reads, “No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.” The amendment does protect somatic cell nuclear transplant (SCNT), but it is not the same as human cloning, despite Wallace’s claim. Medical researchers, patient advocates, and others point out that the SCNT does not aim to duplicate a human being.
Additionally, as McCaskill notes, the initiative would actually tighten regulations for stem cell research by creating “a legal framework with sound ethical guidelines for this kind of research which frankly we don’t have in Missouri right now.”
Full transcript below:
WALLACE: Let’s turn to domestic issues. Stem cell research is a big issue in your campaign as it is in several around the country, and it’s particularly true in Missouri because there’s a constitutional amendment on the ballot that your opponent points out would allow some forms of human cloning. You support that measure.
McCASKILL: I do. But I disagree with Sen. Talent’s analysis. As a lawyer looking and reading the measure, it is very clear that it strictly prohibits human cloning. In fact, it provides a legal framework with sound ethical guidelines for this kind of research which frankly we don’t have in Missouri right now. So not only would it make sure the research could go forward in Missouri as long as it was legal at the federal level, it also will provide a much needed ethical and legal framework for this research that all of us want in Missouri and frankly all of us want in America.
WALLACE: But, Mrs. McCaskill, the ballot measure provides for something — this gets technical — provides for something called somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is a form of therapeutic cloning. Isn’t that a slippery slope if you get into any kind of cloning at all?
McCaskill: Well, the bottom line is you are not going to get a baby out of a petri dish. This measure, which we don’t have right now, strictly prohibits any implantation of any cells in order for a human being to be created.
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Mike Wallace is either a complete idiot or is trying to deceive the public by creatiog his own news.
November 5th, 2006 at 10:55 amRemind me again…this weasel is somehow genetically related to Mike Wallace, correct? All due respect to Mike Wallace, but did he reproduce with a demon or something? Chris Wallace is to Journalistic Integrity as caffeine is to aiding sleep.
November 5th, 2006 at 10:56 amI’ve had it with you boy! Go cut me a switch!
November 5th, 2006 at 10:59 amFox News has been progressively losing viewers over the last 6+ mo as more people become sick and tired of the endless lies, distortion of the facts and the same old GOP talking points.
When the Dems win back the House on Tues. it’s going to be the start of the steady decline of the GOP and their MSM pondscum like Chris Wallace.
In 2008 Dems will win Senate and take back executive branch hopefully with Wes Clark as Pres.
November 5th, 2006 at 10:59 amMake that Chris, not Mike in #1.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:00 amI’ve seen three posts disappear in ten minutes.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:03 amExactly. They also had a special on this on CNN a few days back with Anderson Cooper and Cooper specifically mentioned this fact over and over (That cloning would be forbidden).
It clones hearts, livers, etc. Not people. No more rejections, no more waiting for transplants. Just give some stem-cells, and get your own cells back. Its quite awesome.
Too bad arseholes won’t support it.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:03 amChris doesn’t care if what he’s saying is accurate or not — he’s simply trying to trip up McCaskill. I’d say that’s not his job, but he does work for FOX…
November 5th, 2006 at 11:09 amOne on the dissapearing posts was mine…I’m done with Think Progress !
November 5th, 2006 at 11:09 am*I had one post dissapear yesterday,but re-posted it later..ok. May be a glitch?…or a really pissed off cheney…lol.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:17 amEveryone. We have a new spam filter, it’s better than the last one but it’s still new.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:17 amBarebear with us as we sort out the issues.What exactly is the religious right’s peeve with cloning? That a baby is some how not really a baby unless it’s clawed its way out of a woman’s uterus? And they wonder why I call them a misogynistic religion…
I understand not wanting to mass clone people. We’ve already got too many humans on this planet as it is, but isn’t cloning not really that far removed from the rest of petri dish baby making? I mean, if it’s about not wanting humans to play god, then well, stay out of the fertility clinic to begin with – as that is precisely what any of that science is doing – validating the lack of need for god figures. We can create life…
November 5th, 2006 at 11:19 amThe disappeared comments are apparently re-appearing. Weird.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:20 amBare with us as we sort out the issues.
Comment by Judd
Ok, Judd, I’m sitting here naked, but I really don’t see how that will help…
Heh.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:21 amZOOEY!!!….go to your room!….lololol.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:24 amAcknowledged on spam filter…
The Difference Two Years Made
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/opinion/05sun1.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
There’s a long (though incomplete) list of the abuses of power that this administration, and this Congress, have pushed through, and the editorial ends with:
This election is indeed about George W. Bush — and the Congressional majority’s insistence on protecting him from the consequences of his mistakes and misdeeds. Mr. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 and proceeded to govern as if he had an enormous mandate. After he actually beat his opponent in 2004, he announced he now had real political capital and intended to spend it. We have seen the results. It is frightening to contemplate the new excesses he could concoct if he woke up next Wednesday and found that his party had maintained its hold on the House and Senate
Good news
November 5th, 2006 at 11:26 amDems will win back House with +20 to +26 ( they need +15 to win back House )
Wish I could say same about Senate where Dems look solid on +3 with 3 tossups. ( they need +6 to win back Senate )
I’m sitting here naked
Comment by Zooey — November 5, 2006 @ 11:21 am
We can always count on Zooey to spice up the conversation ;-)
November 5th, 2006 at 11:27 amWe can expect the faux news network to be the lead on every rove/cheney talking point for the next two days. It will be interesting to see which base they feel they need to spur into action.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:29 amthat is the funniest thing I’ve read all weekend!
November 5th, 2006 at 11:29 amThanks for starting my day off with a great big belly laugh!
wisedup & Gregor,
Judd has asked us to “bare” with him, so I think we should all get naked to help him out. :)
November 5th, 2006 at 11:29 amOk, Judd, I’m sitting here naked, but I really don’t see how that will help…
Comment by Zooey — November 5, 2006 @ 11:21 am
Brillo pads please… (no offense, I’m just not into girls :)
Also, the spam filter ate my compliment to you last week, so I figure it’s a sadistic spam filter that likes sarcasm and the sort. Especially since MA has been able to post his rants.
Well, thanks Judd for the heads-up. I’ll get back on topic now…
November 5th, 2006 at 11:30 amYou too, true. Strip down…
November 5th, 2006 at 11:30 amDang Zooey – I hope you are not sitting on leather!!
November 5th, 2006 at 11:30 amLeave me out.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:32 amWould *not* be a pretty picture.
On topic:
Sometimes I don’t know if Wallace an incompetent, lazy, misinformed halfwit, or a purposeful, cunning, cold-blooded prevaricator.
Who would have thought it would be so difficult to tell the difference?
Good thing McCaskill stood her ground and corrected Wallace. Twice.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:33 amWould *not* be a pretty picture.
Comment by trueblue
Oh. It has to be a pretty picture? Ok, I’ll get dressed…
Good morning, everyone!! Made ya laugh!
November 5th, 2006 at 11:34 amChris Wallace is not one – tenth the journalist that his father is.
Then again, GWB isn’t one tenth the President GHWB was. (and I didn’t even care for him!)
November 5th, 2006 at 11:41 amWallace is fueling the firestorm of misinformation spread by the republiscum.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:44 amKeeping people ignorant and then preying upon their ignorance – that’s the republican way.
I find it fascinating that the anti-science flat earthers straight from the Dark Ages, you know, the folks whose faith is so fragile they abuse their children by homeschooling them and denying them proper socialization, these zipperheads have developed an informed and educated opinion about what does and what does not constitute cloning, a much more mature opinion in fact than the people working in the industry.
Keep in mind that these very same zipperheads can’t even program their VCRs to tape the NASCAR race in case they get drunk and pass out before they get to the checkered flag. Yet they’re going to tell you, me, and the rest of the world with a straight face what somatic cell nuclear transplant implies.
I don’t think so, there, Shrimp Boat.
November 5th, 2006 at 12:11 pmEquating somatic cell nuclear transplant with human cloning seems to be on the Repub talking points sheet, because Kathleen Parker was ragging about it in her editorial last week (which the Tribune dutifully published). The reason conservatives are being rallied against this is that publicly funded stem cell research would result in a cure that couldn’t be monopolized by a single company but instead would be available to all. It’s all about the money. Of course, the sheeple don’t understand this so they have to come up with bogus claims like this.
November 5th, 2006 at 12:11 pmSigh, I miss out on all the fun!
November 5th, 2006 at 12:15 pmIt’s an all out push to fill the airwaves with as many lies as possible.
November 5th, 2006 at 1:44 pmNow, lets see the blow back.
Apprently, it time to fill the airwaves with as many lies as possible.
November 5th, 2006 at 1:46 pmNow, lets watch the blowback.
Ok I will admit that Fox News and Chris Wallace et al are idiots. Not all conservatives slurp that putrid junk up. However there are idiots on both sides with extremely polarized and often unsubstantiated views. I am a conservative that was going to vote yes on 2 in Missouri, but to make sure I was informed I took the time to actually read the proposal. Too many folks are too vulnerable to commericials about the subject because they refuse to actually read. For now I have changed my mind. The proposal should be re-written.
November 5th, 2006 at 3:27 pmThey played the race card in Tenn, seeing that success, they’re playing the cloning humans card in Mo.
November 5th, 2006 at 4:15 pmI truly hope the voters in Mo aren’t that dumb, but …
zooey
“Ok, Judd, I’m sitting here naked, but I really don’t see how that will help…”
Erp… now I have firm proof that I’m not a closet gay.
:-)
November 5th, 2006 at 5:32 pmThe Missouri initiative redefines human cloning to include implantation. However, for the International Society of Stem Cell Researcher’s definition of “cloning,” go to their glossary: http://www.isscr.org/StaticContent/StaticPages/ISSCRTaskForceGuidelinesDRAFT6-30-06.pdf
November 5th, 2006 at 6:24 pmWe here in Missouri are hopeful, but also fearful, that our fellow citizens are that dumb.
November 5th, 2006 at 8:42 pmhello?
November 5th, 2006 at 9:30 pmthe national inquirer comes to television in the name of FOX. they are always talking about what should be banned, it should be them!
November 5th, 2006 at 9:30 pmToes – no offense intended. My grandma was from Joplin. Let’s hope together!
November 5th, 2006 at 9:34 pmIf I’m sick of this guy’s shit, how do you think his father feels?
November 5th, 2006 at 10:23 pmat this point, WHO CARES what his father thinks? The time has come and gone, several times, where a good father and true American would have stepped forward to make a correction…..and he didn’t. Maybe he thinks it’s “tough love” time–and I hope he still feels the same when W is headed for the Hague.
November 6th, 2006 at 7:00 amAs for the cloning issue– I was born and raised in Missouri, and yes, some of the people there are that stupid. I take that back, they are not stupid, only lazy. Lazy in the sense that it’s easier to listen to what an “authority” figure tells them than it is to actually do some research. The real crime here is that the “authority” figures many look to are in the church as opposed to the sciences…….?
Wikipedia does define Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer as a form of cloning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_cell_nuclear_transfer
Also check wikipedia’s definition of “Human Cloning”. There’s Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer included in the definition.
The scope of the phrase “Stem Cell Research” is conveniently expanded or contracted to meet political objectives. Amendment 2 conveniently defines cloning to mean:
Yet, that narrowing of the definition skirts the other acceptable, publicly acknowledged uses of the word “cloning” in the public debate.
November 6th, 2006 at 1:21 pmSee the thing about playing god is… if you can do it, obviously its not god. what god does should be impossible for humans do too.
November 6th, 2006 at 6:17 pmThe difference between cloning and somatic cell nuclear transplant (SCNT) is purely semantical. “Cloning” is defined as “creating an exact duplicate of an individual.” Identical twins are clones of each other, for example.
SCNT does not create an exact copy of either donor, because the genetic material outside the nucleus comes from the egg’s donor. The result does contain all the genetic information that a fertilized egg contains, though. Theoretically, it has the potential to grow into a fully-formed human being; hence the moral objections from pro-life constituencies.
November 6th, 2006 at 8:43 pmA bunch of people must have emailed him telling him that, don’t you think? Junior can’t think like daddy. Recessive jeans are a b***h.
November 6th, 2006 at 8:47 pm#44 Good point. If we weren’t supposed to do it wouldn’t god have put a stop to it? Or is it a test, like those fake dinosaur bones? Oh, how confusing Christianity is!!!
November 6th, 2006 at 8:49 pmWhat is an embryo? It is what all of were for the first two months of our life. Embryonic stem cell research destroys that embryo.
November 7th, 2006 at 9:38 amYes, SCNT is cloning a human embryo. By definition cloning a human being. The only step Amendment 2 prevents is emplaning it in a uterus to create a full term baby.
My problem with Amendment 2 is that it doesn’t spell that out on the ballot. If people understand what they are voting for, and the Amendment passes, that is democracy. If people are misled into voting for an Amendment that doesn’t fit their beleifs, that is not.
Another point… This Amendment will allow for in vitro fertilized embryos be created for stem cell research. So not just cloned embryos, but new life. See sections 6(5) and 6(6) here.
November 7th, 2006 at 11:38 amWe can only pray to G-d almighty that the reprobates who would use the sorrow of disease to promote the unethical cloning experiments of the immoral left in this nation might all be struck with Michael J. Fox disease and turned into shaking liberal demons. G-d bless the GOP their holy crisade against the moslem inspired demoncrats.
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