Hitting Back At Obama Team, Perino Insists Bush Did Not Ban Stem Cell Research
Hitting Back At Obama Team, Perino Insists Bush Did Not Ban Stem Cell Research
On Fox News Sunday yesterday, John Podesta, President-elect Barack Obama’s transition chief, said Obama would move swiftly to overturn a range of executive orders by President Bush, “whether that’s on energy transformation, on improving health care, on stem cell research.” Podesta explained, “I think across the board, on stem cell research, on a number of areas, you see the Bush administration even today moving aggressively to do things that I think are probably not in the interest of the country.”
Asked about it during today’s press briefing, Dana Perino defended Bush’s stem cell policy and insisted that Bush had never, in fact, banned stem cell research:
Unfortunately, the president’s position on stem cells has been misconstrued over the years, with the suggestion that President Bush put a ban on research for embryonic stem cell research. That is not true. … The President made a very important choice after a lot of careful deliberation.
Watch it:
It’s technically true that Bush did not ban stem cell research — he just strictly limited funding of it. Vetoing bipartisan legislation that even ardent pro-life conservative Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) supported, Bush arbitrarily limited funding to research of just 60 stem cell lines cultivated before Aug. 9, 2001. The number eventually shrank to a dismal 21 after some lines were found to have been contaminated or retrieved unethically. The limits make scientists’ work more difficult and less effective, and — since the thousands of embryos not implanted in women are eventually destroyed — don’t even save the embryos Bush considers to be “human life.”
Despite Perino’s attempt to blame the media for “misconstruing” Bush’s policy, even his own scientists agree that his research limits are profoundly harmful:
– Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Bush’s former Director of the National Institute of Health: “American science will be better served — and the nation will be better served — if we let our scientists have access to more cell lines that they can study with the different methods that have emerged since 2001.”
– Story Landis, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: “We are missing out on possible breakthroughs,” she told Congress, adding that the ability to work on newly derived stem cell colonies — currently precluded from federal funding — “would be incredibly important.”
Perhaps if Bush got his ideas from scientists rather than science-fiction novels, American stem cell research would be on the path to curing diseases.
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42 Responses to “Hitting Back At Obama Team, Perino Insists Bush Did Not Ban Stem Cell Research”
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A difference without a distinction.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:39 pmOne nice improvement in having Obama in office will be getting parino off the air..I may even go back to watching the press releases from the white house..Blessings
November 10th, 2008 at 1:42 pmSounds like a unilateral pre-emptive ban to me.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:43 pmStem cell lines are not the same as embryonic stem cells. The former are derived from the latter, but the cell lines are laboratory-produced rather than being obtained directly from embryos as the latter are.
Thus, Bush did, indeed, ban research on embryonic stem cells, and Perino's comments are disingenuous at best and demonstrate her (and probably the administration's) complete lack of understanding of the basic science behind stem cell research. But then, what would you expect from a bunch of head-in-the sand creationists?
November 10th, 2008 at 1:47 pmUnfortunately, the president’s position on stem cells has been misconstrued over the years, with the suggestion that President Bush put a ban on research for embryonic stem cell research. That is not true
If TP's reporting is accurate, this is a classic straw man from the Lying Sack of Cute™. Perhaps John Podesta did say something about "banning" stem cell research, but what is quoted above does not.
Seems like Dana Perino is not above "misconstruing" the words of others in an effort to charge them with misconstruing the policies of her boss.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:48 pmPeople as stupid, and ignorant, as Chimpy view science as magic which they judge as black or white. And even the white magic is feared.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:49 pmI don't know where Dana gets her brain washed, but they need to withdraw that place's license.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:52 pmSorry about the brutal syntax. I'm caffeine deficient.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pmYeah, he didn't BAN it. C'mon you people!
All Bushie did was make it impossible to do any research on it.
That's a big difference!
Like, he didn't BAN black people from New Orleans. He just made it impossible for them to survive storms while living there!
Just sound conservative governance. Nothing to see here. Move alon.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:54 pmYou know, one of the best things about a President Obama? No more Bimbo Perino!
November 10th, 2008 at 1:55 pmUntil the wingnuts start protesting fertility clinic( oh thats right the AMA is in the rupug pocket) I don't think their arguements are anything more than a straw man. Flush the unused embryoes down the toilet as medical waste, rather than to try and advance science, because that WJWD..or so they would have the dinosaurs roamed the earth with man crowd believe.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:58 pm.
Barbi Perino delineates the difference between "Executive Orders" and Congressional Legislation. One is where a single man dictates to the people of a Nation what to do and how to do it. The other is a democratic process OF, FOR, and BY the People.
... Of course, Bush IS the "Decider".
.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:58 pmBilbo Hussein Baggins Says
November 10th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
You know, one of the best things about a President Obama? No more Bimbo Perino!
____________________________________________________
Yeah -- NOW who do we have to make fun of? Bush will be gone, Rumsfeld's been gone, Perino and Fratto (each one trying to out-funny the other) will be gone, Palin is gone...
We still have Michele Bachmann for comic relief...but it's a pity that her vote counts in the HOR.
November 10th, 2008 at 2:01 pmThe fabricated 'moral dilemma' would not exist without the science and technology advancement to get to that point. They want to stifle the same science that allowed that 'life' to exist in the first place.
November 10th, 2008 at 2:01 pm"We didn't ban stem cell research, we just allowed the scientists the opportunity to work pro bono."
November 10th, 2008 at 2:03 pmBye bye, dana.
November 10th, 2008 at 2:03 pmWith your qualifications you should find no trouble securing a position with fox news.
I wonder if the people who oppose this will refuse the
November 10th, 2008 at 2:08 pmtreatments discovered?
The President made a very important choice after a lot of careful deliberation.
Bush made a very important decision allright. I am not sure having a few passages of Brave New World read to him qualifies as "careful deliberation".
November 10th, 2008 at 2:11 pmBush administration = criminals = denial at all times...
November 10th, 2008 at 2:12 pmIs it just me or do other people notice 'Puppy Chow' Perino's nose getting longer?
November 10th, 2008 at 2:15 pmDoes Dana's FoxNews show premiere on January 21?
November 10th, 2008 at 2:22 pmOnce stem-cell research is reinstituted, certain precautions should be taken to avoid use of fertilized eggs from Bimborino, anyone with the last name of Bush or Cheney, Failin' Palin or Bimbo Bachmann.
November 10th, 2008 at 2:23 pmThe amoeba swims
November 10th, 2008 at 2:27 pmAround aimlessly unless
Deliberating
It's all in the "Wording" with Bush, it's not "Torture" it's "Enhanced Interrogation".
Can't Bush and Cheney just leave and let the adults take over?
November 10th, 2008 at 2:32 pmFirst of all, even those "21 cell lines" were actually only 11. The rest were all contaminated, by mouse DNA I think. Secondly, by refusing to allow federal funding for this research, they also discouraged or prevented ethical guidelines for development of the science to be enacted. And thirdly, of course, they preferred viable embryos to be washed down the drain in fertility clinics, rather than utilized to help this and future generations of people. Typical of their definition of "Sanctity of life" and "compassionate conservative."
November 10th, 2008 at 2:56 pmSorry, I meant a distinction without a difference.
November 10th, 2008 at 3:13 pmAnd we're supposed to believe Bimbo Purina ...why?
November 10th, 2008 at 3:25 pmTechnically, dumbya didn't ban stem cell research, he just refused to fund it.
November 10th, 2008 at 3:36 pmictb,
November 10th, 2008 at 3:36 pmYou are correct about the contaminated lines. All of these lines were derived from human blastocysts. Most of the uncontaminated lines have developed genetic abnormalities over time that place their value for research in doubt.
Actually, they are called blastomeres. A blastocyst is a blastomere which has become attached to the wall of the uterus.
Too bad the religious wingnuts were able to popularize the inaccurate term "embryonic" stem cell research, even amongst doctors who should know better. A lot fewer people would be against blastomere research.
November 10th, 2008 at 3:44 pmherr dubyah has set back scientific advancements for the last 8 years. Thank God we now have a president who believes in science and education to undo the damages by this monster.
November 10th, 2008 at 3:46 pmSay What??
I watched this briefing this morning and it's worth noting that (beginning at 1:10 in the clip) Perino shocked me (if not the scientific world) by announcing that there has been embryonic stem cell research that doesn't destroy embryos.
I must have missed the news of this Nobel-worthy breakthrough.
Either that, or, like so often, Perino is pulling facts from the far end of her digestive system.
November 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pm"Perhaps if Bush got his ideas from scientists rather than science-fiction novels..."
...or the religious right for that matter.
November 10th, 2008 at 4:11 pmshoeless,
November 10th, 2008 at 4:25 pmThanks, I learned something today.
shoeless,
November 10th, 2008 at 4:53 pmI actually had it right in my post. Stem cells are derived from the cell mass in the blastocyst. I still learned something about the stage between the fertilized egg and the blastocyst.
At the blastocyst stage of development, the potential human is equivalent to a colony of cells in an ancient body of water containing disolved amino acids.
Walt,
November 10th, 2008 at 4:56 pmThat is what separates us from the wingnuts. We like to learn stuff.
Christ, I'm not gonna miss that little twit. It'll be good to have a president who actually embraces knowledge rather than trying to bury it. George, you were born eight hundred years too late.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:05 pmGonna miss the Bush headling rush into the Middle Ages . . .
November 10th, 2008 at 10:35 pmI'm sure this defense will work in any court in America. I didn't starve my children.
November 11th, 2008 at 4:08 amThey each got a half a slice of toast a day.
"The President made a very important choice after a lot of careful deliberation"
Yeah, right. That would be a first.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:54 amWhy are they not promoting the fact that you can get stem cells from umbilical cords? I am certain that is true. I know, I know, LINK, I'm working on it.
We passed Proposal 2 here in Michigan-that was stem cell research and I am all for it.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:59 amMs. Perino. Some people will sell their soul, morals, ethics and religious beliefs to make a buck and gain power.
You M'am are the poster child for those fundamentally unintellectual people.
How does it feel to get paid to bullshit the public and your fellow Americans everyday!
There is a special place in hell, right beside bush and cheney, for folks like you! Good luck with your eternity!
November 11th, 2008 at 7:52 am