Last week, Rush Limbaugh called Michael J. Fox “cruel” for giving people “false hope” that stem cell research will lead to medical breakthroughs:
When you start telling them there’s a cure around the corner if only somebody gets elected, you are misleading them. You are creating a false hope scenario and that is cruel.
Today on ABC, Fox responded, “What is crueler? To not have hope or to have hope?” He pointed out that “it’s not false hope, it’s a very informed hope. I mean, it’s hope that’s informed by the opinion of our leading scientists, almost to the point of unanimity” that embryonic stem cell research offers tremendous potential for treating and and even curing a wide range of diseases and injuries. (Read a list HERE.) Watch it:
Full transcript:
STEPHANOPOULOS: We stopped for a moment because Michael was getting warm.
FOX: I’m just about to hit a pocket. This is good.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But after a short break his medication kicked in. (To Fox:) You’re just saying you were about to hit a pocked.
FOX: I just hit a nice pocked. I should be calm for a sec. It’s kind of like surfing. You wait for a wave and I just hit a nice wave.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I don’t want to rile you up but I want to bring up Rush Limbaugh one more time.
FOX: (Laughing) There he goes!
STEPHANOPOULOS: One of the thing he says when you’re talking about all these cures you’re giving people false hope.
LIMBAUGH (tape): When you start telling them there’s a cure around the corner if only somebody gets elected, you are misleading them. You are creating a false hope scenario and that is cruel.
FOX: What is crueler? To not have hope or to have hope? And it’s not false hope, it’s a very informed hope. I mean, it’s hope that’s informed by the opinion of our leading scientists, almost to the point of unanimity, that embryonic stem cells, because [inaudible], because they have the capacity to be anything are truly — you know, will it be a straight path to victory? Probably not, probably you’ll have stutter step along the way. In fact, they just did some work where they found it relieved the symptoms of Parkinson’s in one test, but there was residue, some tissue residue that built up, which is not ideal. But two steps forward, one step back, you know, it’s a process. It’s how this country was built. It’s what we do. I don’t want to get too corny about it, but isn’t that what the person in the harbor with the thing (referring to the Statue of Liberty) — it’s about hope and so to characterize hope as some kind of malady or some kind of flaw of character or national weakness is to me really counter to what this country is about.
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